November 17, 2008 at 10:39 am
What does it mean if Microsoft does not document a stored procedure?
Does it mean they will get rid of it in future versions of their software?
November 17, 2008 at 11:29 am
No. Most undocumented procedures seem to live for awhile.
It is really an indication that they may remove it, rename it, or change it without telling anyone. There have been some cases in which they have changed undocumented procedures with service packs and version upgrades.
They are, however, are like any other software company and they tend to not change the footprint of a procedure or function often because they have to retest their own code that may be calling it.
If you do use them, be prepared to re-test them with every service pack and version upgrade. Of course, if you write a procedure that selects data from system tables, you run the same risks.
November 17, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Shoot... you can say the same thing for documented things, as well. For example, sp_MakeWebTask is very well documented but they changed the privs in 2k-sp4 so that you need system admin rights to do it. If you have code that doesn't use sysadmin privs... BOOM! And, I believe it goes away altogether in 2k8.
By the way... sp_MSforEachTable and sp_MSForEachDB are nothing but big ol' fat cursors... you might be better off growing your own.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
November 19, 2008 at 7:55 am
Thanks for the info, folks!
November 19, 2008 at 1:48 pm
As another idea... if you want to be careful for support going forward you can script out the code in the undocumented stored procedure and then re-write your own procedure that follows the same basic logic they are using. Then you have less worry about it changing going forward.
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