Determine table referenced in a view in SQL Server

Question

How can i get to know the tables used in a view in SQL Server? Is there a script or a tool that could let me know the tables used in a view and can also list down the fields

Answer 1

This information is available from the INFORMATION_SCHEMA

SELECT * 
    FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE AS cu
    JOIN    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS AS c
    ON      c.TABLE_SCHEMA  = cu.TABLE_SCHEMA
    AND     c.TABLE_CATALOG = cu.TABLE_CATALOG
    AND     c.TABLE_NAME    = cu.TABLE_NAME
    AND     c.COLUMN_NAME   = cu.COLUMN_NAME
    WHERE   cu.VIEW_NAME    = 'viewtablename';

Answer 2

You can use DISTINCT to get only the tables.

  Select   DISTINCT cols.referenced_entity_name from  
   sys.sql_expression_dependencies objs   outer apply
   sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities (
   OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(objs.referencing_id) + N'.' +
   object_name(objs.referencing_id), N'OBJECT' ) as cols where  
   objs.referencing_id = object_id('viewname')

Answer 3

select
  cols.*
from
  sys.sql_expression_dependencies objs
  outer apply sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities ( OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(objs.referencing_id) + N'.' + object_name(objs.referencing_id), N'OBJECT' ) as cols
where
  objs.referencing_id = object_id('view_name_here')

Reference: sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities (Transact-SQL) .

Answer 4

The simplest way to see the content of (most) objects would be:

sp_helptext blah

Where you substitute blah with the name of the object. This would yield the actual code which created the object. in this case, for instance it could result in:

CREATE VIEW blah
AS
  select blah.column1,blah.column2 from blah_table