SSMS Tips and Tricks 1-10: Dependency Tracking
In early versions of SQL Server, the only way to try to track dependencies between tables, procedures, functions, etc. was to use the sp_depends stored procedure.
And everyone thought it lied.
The real problem was that it didn’t understand partial dependencies and deferred resolution of objects. For example, it got confused if you created a procedure that mentioned a table, then later created the table.
SQL Server 2012 introduced far superior dependency views, and SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) shows dependencies using those views under the covers.
2025-05-27