SQL Server 2008 R2 : Creating and Managing Stored Procedures - Viewing Stored Procedures

You can view the source code for stored procedures in SQL Server 2008 by querying the definition column of the object catalog view sys.sql_modules or by using the system procedure sp_helptext (see Listing 1).

Listing 1. Viewing Code for a Stored Procedure by Using sp_helptext

exec sp_helptext title_authors
go

Text
--------------------------------------------------------------
CREATE PROCEDURE title_authors
AS
BEGIN
   SELECT a.au_lname, a.au_fname, t.title
      FROM titles t INNER JOIN
           titleauthor ta ON t.title_id = ta.title_id RIGHT OUTER JOIN
           authors a ON ta.au_id = a.au_id
   RETURN
END

By default, all users have permission to execute sp_helptext to view the SQL code for the stored procedures in a database. If you want to protect the source code of stored procedures and keep its contents from prying eyes, you can create a procedure by using the WITH ENCRYPTION option. When this option is specified, the source code stored in the database is encrypted.

You can also view the text of a stored procedure by using the ANSI INFORMATION_SCHEMA view routines. The routines view is an ANSI standard view that provides the source code for the stored procedure in the routine_description column. The following example uses the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.routines view to display the source code for the title_authors stored procedure:

select routine_definition
from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.routines
where specific_catalog = 'bigpubs2008'
  and specific_schema = 'dbo'
  and routine_type = 'Procedure'
  and routine_name = 'title_authors'
go

routine_definition
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREATE PROCEDURE title_authors
AS
BEGIN
   SELECT a.au_lname, a.au_fname, t.title
      FROM titles t INNER JOIN
           titleauthor ta ON t.title_id = ta.title_id RIGHT OUTER JOIN
           authors a ON ta.au_id = a.au_id
   RETURN
END

However, the routine_description column is limited to only the first 4,000 characters of the stored procedure code. A better way to view the code with a query is to use the sys.sql_modules object catalog view:

select definition
    from sys.sql_modules
    where object_id = object_id('title_authors')
go

CREATE PROCEDURE title_authors
AS
BEGIN
   SELECT a.au_lname, a.au_fname, t.title
      FROM titles t INNER JOIN
           titleauthor ta ON t.title_id = ta.title_id RIGHT OUTER JOIN
           authors a ON ta.au_id = a.au_id
   RETURN
END

Finally, one other method of displaying the source code for a stored procedure is to use the new object_definition() function. This function takes the object ID as a parameter. If you, like most other people, do not know the object ID of the procedure in question, you can use the object_id() function. The following is an example of using the object_definition() function:

select object_definition(object_id('dbo.title_authors'))
go

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CREATE PROCEDURE title_authors @state char(2) = '%'
AS
BEGIN
   SELECT a.au_lname, a.au_fname, t.title
      FROM titles t INNER JOIN
           titleauthor ta ON t.title_id = ta.title_id RIGHT OUTER JOIN
           authors a ON ta.au_id = a.au_id
   RETURN
END