SQL Server 2008 R2 DMV - sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities - query usage

Question

I am trying to get all dependencies for a list of tables using the sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities DMV.

This query gives me the list of all tables:

SELECT TableName from FinalTableList;  

This query gives the dependencies for TableA:

SELECT  referencing_entity_name
FROM sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities ('dbo.TableA', 'OBJECT') ;  

I would like to combine the above 2 in a query or procedure so that I can get all dependencies in the following format:

TableA  Dependency1
        Dependency2
        Dependency3
TableB  Dependency1
        Dependency2
...................

How should the query be framed?

Answer 1

This is a great example of where you want to use cross apply . Here is an example:

SELECT  tablename, referencing_entity_name
FROM (select 'information_schema.columns' as tablename, 'object' as type) t cross apply
     sys.dm_sql_referencing_entities(t.tablename, t.type)

In the first subquery (which is called t ), you can just list all the pairs of arguments. Then, cross apply will run the function on each of them.