SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server

Introduction

Using deprecated system catalog views in SQL scripts can lead to compatibility issues, as they may be removed in future versions of SQL Server.

Description

Using deprecated system catalog views in SQL Server can lead to potential issues in your T-SQL code. These views, which provide metadata about database objects, are marked for deprecation and may be removed in future versions of SQL Server. Relying on them could cause your applications to break or require significant rewrites when upgrading to newer SQL Server versions.

For example:

-- Example of problematic query using deprecated system catalog view
SELECT * FROM sys.sysobjects WHERE type = 'U';

This query uses the sys.sysobjects catalog view to list user tables. However, this view is deprecated in favor of the sys.objects view. The older view may stop functioning as expected in future releases, leading to maintenance challenges.

Potential application downtime if reliant code breaks when upgrading SQL Server.
Increased maintenance burden to replace deprecated views with supported alternatives.

How to fix

To address the issue of using deprecated system catalog views, modify your SQL scripts to use the recommended views provided by SQL Server. This helps ensure compatibility with future SQL Server versions and reduces maintenance burdens.

Follow these steps to address the issue:

1.Identify all occurrences of deprecated system catalog views in your SQL code. These are views marked for potential removal in future SQL Server versions, such as sys.sysobjects .

2.Determine the modern equivalent for each deprecated view. For example, replace sys.sysobjects with sys.objects to ensure compatibility with future SQL Server releases.

3.Update the SQL queries to utilized the supported system catalog views. Change the syntax accordingly to match the newer views.

For example:

-- Corrected query using supported catalog view
SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE type = 'U';

Scope

The rule has a Batch scope and is applied only on the SQL script.

Parameters

Rule has no parameters.

Remarks

The rule does not need Analysis Context or SQL Connection.

Effort To Fix

20 minutes per issue.

Additional Information

Deprecated Database Engine Features in SQL Server 2017

Example Test SQL

select *
from users

select *
from sys.traces

select *
from sys.trace_events

select *
from sys.trace_event_bindings

select *
from sys.trace_categories

select *
from sys.trace_columns

select *
from sys.trace_subclass_values

select *
from sys.numbered_procedures

select *
from sys.numbered_procedure_parameters

select *
from sys.sql_dependencies

select *
from sys.endpoint_webmethods

select *
from sys.soap_endpoints

Analysis Results

	Message	Line	Column
1	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	5	9
2	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	8	9
3	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	11	9
4	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	14	9
5	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	17	9
6	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	20	9
7	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	23	9
8	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	26	9
9	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	29	9
10	SA0204 : The system catalog view is deprecated and may be removed in a future version of SQL Server.	32	9
	…

Analysis Rules