How can foreign key constraints be temporarily disabled using T-SQL?

Question

Are disabling and enabling foreign key constraints supported in SQL Server? Or is my only option to drop and then re-create

Answer 1

SET NOCOUNT ON

DECLARE @table TABLE(
   RowId INT PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY(1, 1),
   ForeignKeyConstraintName NVARCHAR(200),
   ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema NVARCHAR(200),
   ForeignKeyConstraintTableName NVARCHAR(200),
   ForeignKeyConstraintColumnName NVARCHAR(200),
   PrimaryKeyConstraintName NVARCHAR(200),
   PrimaryKeyConstraintTableSchema NVARCHAR(200),
   PrimaryKeyConstraintTableName NVARCHAR(200),
   PrimaryKeyConstraintColumnName NVARCHAR(200),
   UpdateRule NVARCHAR(100),
   DeleteRule NVARCHAR(100)   
)

INSERT INTO @table(ForeignKeyConstraintName, ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema, ForeignKeyConstraintTableName, ForeignKeyConstraintColumnName)
SELECT 
   U.CONSTRAINT_NAME, 
   U.TABLE_SCHEMA, 
   U.TABLE_NAME, 
   U.COLUMN_NAME
FROM 
   INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE U
      INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS C
         ON U.CONSTRAINT_NAME = C.CONSTRAINT_NAME
WHERE
   C.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY'

UPDATE @table SET
   T.PrimaryKeyConstraintName = R.UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME,
   T.UpdateRule = R.UPDATE_RULE,
   T.DeleteRule = R.DELETE_RULE
FROM 
   @table T
      INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS R
         ON T.ForeignKeyConstraintName = R.CONSTRAINT_NAME

UPDATE @table SET
   PrimaryKeyConstraintTableSchema  = TABLE_SCHEMA,
   PrimaryKeyConstraintTableName  = TABLE_NAME
FROM @table T
   INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS C
      ON T.PrimaryKeyConstraintName = C.CONSTRAINT_NAME

UPDATE @table SET
   PrimaryKeyConstraintColumnName = COLUMN_NAME
FROM @table T
   INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE U
      ON T.PrimaryKeyConstraintName = U.CONSTRAINT_NAME

--SELECT * FROM @table

SELECT '
BEGIN TRANSACTION
BEGIN TRY'

--DROP CONSTRAINT:
SELECT
   '
 ALTER TABLE [' + ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema + '].[' + ForeignKeyConstraintTableName + '] 
 DROP CONSTRAINT ' + ForeignKeyConstraintName + '
   '
FROM
   @table

SELECT '
END TRY

BEGIN CATCH
   ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
   RAISERROR(''Operation failed.'', 16, 1)
END CATCH

IF(@@TRANCOUNT != 0)
BEGIN
   COMMIT TRANSACTION
   RAISERROR(''Operation completed successfully.'', 10, 1)
END
'

--ADD CONSTRAINT:
SELECT '
BEGIN TRANSACTION
BEGIN TRY'

SELECT
   '
   ALTER TABLE [' + ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema + '].[' + ForeignKeyConstraintTableName + '] 
   ADD CONSTRAINT ' + ForeignKeyConstraintName + ' FOREIGN KEY(' + ForeignKeyConstraintColumnName + ') REFERENCES [' + PrimaryKeyConstraintTableSchema + '].[' + PrimaryKeyConstraintTableName + '](' + PrimaryKeyConstraintColumnName + ') ON UPDATE ' + UpdateRule + ' ON DELETE ' + DeleteRule + '
   '
FROM
   @table

SELECT '
END TRY

BEGIN CATCH
   ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
   RAISERROR(''Operation failed.'', 16, 1)
END CATCH

IF(@@TRANCOUNT != 0)
BEGIN
   COMMIT TRANSACTION
   RAISERROR(''Operation completed successfully.'', 10, 1)
END'

GO