How do I identify views with broken dependencies in SQL Server?

Question

We have a large number of views in an inherited database which some of them are missing dependencies (table or even other views)?

What\'s the best way to identify th

Answer 1

Adrian Iftode's solution is good, but fails if there are views that are not associated with the default schema. The following is a revised version of his solution that takes schema into account, whilst also providing error information against each failing view (tested on SQL Server 2012):

DECLARE @stmt       NVARCHAR(MAX) = '';
DECLARE @vw_schema  NVARCHAR(255);
DECLARE @vw_name    NVARCHAR(255);

CREATE TABLE #badViews 
(    
      [schema]  NVARCHAR(255)   
    , name      NVARCHAR(255)
    , error     NVARCHAR(MAX) 
);

CREATE TABLE #nullData
(  
    null_data VARCHAR(1)
);

DECLARE tbl_cursor CURSOR FORWARD_ONLY READ_ONLY
FOR
    SELECT
          SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) AS [schema]
        , name
    FROM
        sys.objects 
    WHERE
        [type] = 'v';

OPEN tbl_cursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM tbl_cursor INTO @vw_schema, @vw_name;

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
    SET @stmt = CONCAT(N'SELECT TOP 1 NULL FROM ', @vw_schema, N'.', @vw_name);

    BEGIN TRY
      -- silently execute the "select from view" query
        INSERT INTO #nullData EXECUTE sp_executesql @stmt;
    END TRY 
    BEGIN CATCH
        INSERT INTO #badViews ([schema], name, error)
        VALUES (@vw_schema, @vw_name, ERROR_MESSAGE());
    END CATCH

    FETCH NEXT FROM tbl_cursor INTO @vw_schema, @vw_name;
END

CLOSE tbl_cursor;
DEALLOCATE tbl_cursor;    

-- print the views with errors when executed
SELECT * FROM #badViews;

DROP TABLE #badViews;
DROP TABLE #nullData;