List only the visible columns in a view?

In SQL Server 2005, when using INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE I get a
row for every column in a view including those that might not be visible but
used only in the WHERE or ORDER BY clauses for example.
Is there an easy way to reduce the list to only show the columns that
actually appear in the SELECT clause of the view definition?
I've tried examining Profiler when expanding the columns node under the View
in Management Studio as it seems to load only one node per visible column
but haven't been able to make much sense of how it does this.
BTW I'm using that view as it promises to only show views and columns "to
which the current user has permissions". Is this reliable or is there a
preferred way of listing visible views, talbe, & columns etc?
cheers,
Paul.Hi, Paul
Look in the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS view.
Razvan|||Use the catalog schema views...
SELECT
name
FROM
sys.columns
WHERE
object_id = OBJECT_ID('dbo.YourViewName');
"Paul Ritchie" <REMOVEpritchie@.REMOVExtra.REMOVEco.REMOVEnz> wrote in
message news:%23S90IfVBGHA.4004@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> In SQL Server 2005, when using INFORMATION_SCHEMA.VIEW_COLUMN_USAGE I get
> a
> row for every column in a view including those that might not be visible
> but
> used only in the WHERE or ORDER BY clauses for example.
> Is there an easy way to reduce the list to only show the columns that
> actually appear in the SELECT clause of the view definition?
> I've tried examining Profiler when expanding the columns node under the
> View
> in Management Studio as it seems to load only one node per visible column
> but haven't been able to make much sense of how it does this.
> BTW I'm using that view as it promises to only show views and columns "to
> which the current user has permissions". Is this reliable or is there a
> preferred way of listing visible views, talbe, & columns etc?
> cheers,
> Paul.
>|||Thanks Aaron - much appreciated.
Is there an easy way to determine which columns a user might have access to
when using the "sys" tables? That was what the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views
seemed to promise although there was some doubt in newsgroups as to their
accuracy in SQL2000 due to them being derived from the sysdepends table.
I'm betting that this will have changed in 2005.
However moving back to the sys tables/views will mean I have to determine
this permission information in some other way. Any seggestions would be
appreciated tremendously.
cheers,
Paul.
"Aaron Bertrand [SQL Server MVP]" <ten.xoc@.dnartreb.noraa> wrote in message
news:OCq14hWBGHA.1180@.TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Use the catalog schema views...
> SELECT
> name
> FROM
> sys.columns
> WHERE
> object_id = OBJECT_ID('dbo.YourViewName');
>
> "Paul Ritchie" <REMOVEpritchie@.REMOVExtra.REMOVEco.REMOVEnz> wrote in
> message news:%23S90IfVBGHA.4004@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>|||> Is there an easy way to determine which columns a user might have access
> to when using the "sys" tables?
Take a look at sys.database_permissions
I believe the join between sys.database_permissions p and sys.comments c
would be:
ON
c.object_id = p.major_id
AND c.column_id = p.minor_id
WHERE
p.class = 1
AND p.grantee_principal_id = SUSER_ID('username');
I am not 100% sure on that, and don't have time today to experiment with
column-level permissions. But hopefully that gets you started.

> accuracy in SQL2000 due to them being derived from the sysdepends table.
Permissions derived from sysdepends? I think that is inaccurate.
A