How to find if a column is referenced in a computed column?

Question

I'm trying to mass retype columns. That means first dropping and recreating any constraints they are part of.

I found columns referenced by these constraints

• Foreign Keys,
• Primary Keys,
• Indexes,
• Check constraints,
• Rules,
• Default constraints.

But I cannot find Computed columns.

I've looked into INFORMATION_SCHEMA.CONSTRAINT_COLUMN_USAGE, but it doesn't include Computed Columns.

There is also sys.computed_columns which shows definition, but doesn't list columns in searchable manner.

Is there anywhere else I can look? If SQL Server can figure out the dependence, I thought I would be able to as well.

Answer 1

Thanks to Scott Hodgin I found it in sys.sql_expression_dependencies

SELECT 
    OBJECT_NAME(sed.referencing_id)     AS referencingTable
    , pc.[name] AS computedColumn
    , pc.is_computed
    , cc.[name] AS referencedcolumn
    , cc.is_computed
FROM sys.sql_expression_dependencies sed
JOIN sys.[columns] pc ON sed.referencing_minor_id = pc.column_id AND sed.referencing_id = pc.[object_id]
JOIN sys.[columns] cc ON sed.referenced_minor_id = cc.column_id AND sed.referenced_id = cc.[object_id]
WHERE sed.referencing_minor_id > 0      -- referencing object is Column
AND sed.referenced_minor_id > 0         -- referenced object is Column
AND sed.referencing_id = sed.referenced_id  -- references the same table

Answer 2

There is also sys.computed_columns which shows definition, but doesn't list columns in searchable manner.

If I understand correctly you want to find which columns are referenced by the computed column.

One solution would be searching the definition in sys.computed_columns with CHARINDEX() for each column where the object_id matches

SELECT DISTINCT c.name, 
                cc.definition 
FROM sys.columns c
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT definition from sys.computed_columns cc
WHERE c.object_id = cc.object_id
AND CHARINDEX(c.name,cc.definition) > 0
) as cc;

---

Quick test

--Create a heap table.
CREATE TABLE dbo.test(id int,
                      val int);
-- add computed column on two columns.
ALTER TABLE dbo.test 
ADD computedcolumn as id + val;

-- add a column that is not part of any computed column.
ALTER TABLE dbo.test 
ADD bla int;

The query for one specific table

SELECT DISTINCT c.name, 
                cc.definition 
FROM sys.columns c
CROSS APPLY
(
SELECT definition from sys.computed_columns cc
WHERE c.object_id = cc.object_id
AND CHARINDEX(c.name,cc.definition) > 0
) as cc
where c.object_id = object_id('dbo.test');

Result

name    definition
id  ([id]+[val])
val ([id]+[val])