SQL SERVER – Get the List of Object Dependencies – sp_depends and information_schema.routines

Recently, I read a question on my friend Ritesh Shah’s SQL site regarding the following: sp_depends does not give appropriate results whereas information_schema.routines do give proper answers.

I have quite often seen that information_schema. routines give proper dependency relationship where assp_depends returns an incorrect answer. However, as per book online sp_depends will be deprecated, and instead, sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities and sys.dm_sql_referenced_entities are recommended.

Let us quickly see where sp_depends fail and other solutions work fine.

Let us first create two scenarios.

Scenario 1: Normal Table Creation Order, where objects are created first and then used afterwards.

USE TempDB
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.TestTable
( ID INT,
Name VARCHAR(100))
GO
-- dbo.First is not created yet
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.Second
AS
EXEC dbo.First
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.First
AS
SELECT ID, Name
FROM TestTable
GO

Scenario 2: Objects are created afterwards and they are referenced first.

USE TempDB
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.TestTable
( ID INT,
Name VARCHAR(100))
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.First
AS
SELECT ID, Name
FROM TestTable
GO
-- dbo.First is already created
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.Second
AS
EXEC dbo.First
GO

Now let us run following three queries on both the scenarios.

-- Method 1:Using sp_depends
sp_depends 'dbo.First'
GO
-- Method 2:Using information_schema.routines
SELECT *
FROM information_schema.routines ISR
WHERE CHARINDEX('dbo.First', ISR.ROUTINE_DEFINITION) > 0
GO
-- Method 3:Using DMV sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities
SELECT referencing_schema_name, referencing_entity_name,
referencing_id, referencing_class_desc, is_caller_dependent
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities ('dbo.First', 'OBJECT');
GO

Result from Scenario 1

Result from Scenario 2

It is clear that sp_depends does not give proper/correct results when the object creation order is different or following deferred name resolution.

I suggest the use of the third method, in which sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities is used.

Use the following script to get correct dependency:

SELECT referencing_schema_name, referencing_entity_name,
referencing_id, referencing_class_desc, is_caller_dependent
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities ('YourObject', 'OBJECT');
GO

Let me know the type of scripts you use for finding Object Dependencies. I will post your script with due credit.

Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)