Posted by serge on 10/01/54 11:22

>> Is it safe to use and rely the system tables?

> Yes and no. The INFORMATION_SCHEMA views are a better source for lots of
> the metadata and they are usually recommended as the preferred method
> whenever possible. However, the information schema doesn't cover
> everything (no indexes for example) so you may still need to make use of
> system tables for some things. If you rely only on the features documented
> in Books Online and avoid referencing the stuff that isn't explained or
> that's marked as "reserved" then you should be fairly safe. Be sensible
> though and don't use system tables when you don't have to. Check out the
> "Meta Data Functions" topic in Books Online for other alternatives.

I started reading about Meta Data last week in SQL Books Online and I
am interested to learn more. However I can only do one thing at a time so
I am trying to understand the system tables first and find out ways
how/when/why I could and should use them.
I'll check out "Meta Data Functions" to see what they do.

>> I also want to know if it's pretty safe for me to make changes in these
>> tables.

> Never. Not if you value the integrity of your server and your database.
> All the things you need to do are supported through procs and DDL
> statements. That includes renaming objects and adding new columns. Don't
> mess with updates against the system tables.

Understood. I won't make any changes in these tables. You are right if I can
use the supported procs and DDL statements then I'll use them.

Thank you

[Back to original message]