SA0230 : Identifier uses different case than object's actual name

Introduction

Maintaining consistent casing for database object names is crucial to avoid runtime errors or unexpected behavior when deploying code between case-insensitive and case-sensitive SQL Server environments.

Description

In T-SQL code, it’s crucial to maintain consistent casing for database object names, such as tables and columns. SQL Server instances can be configured to be either case-sensitive or case-insensitive. However, when code is developed in a case-insensitive environment and then deployed to a case-sensitive one, mismatches in identifier casing can result in runtime errors or unexpected behavior.

For example:

-- Example of a query with inconsistent casing
SELECT ColumnName FROM TableName WHERE columnname = 'value';

In a case-sensitive database, the above query will fail if the actual column name is ColumnName but is incorrectly referenced elsewhere as columnname . This can lead to:

Execution errors when deployed to case-sensitive environments, where identifiers must match exactly.
Increased debugging and maintenance workload to trace and correct these inconsistencies.

How to fix

Maintain consistent casing for identifiers to prevent errors in case-sensitive SQL Server environments.

Follow these steps to address the issue:

1.Determine if the SQL Server environment is case-sensitive by examining the database collation using sp_helpdb or checking the collation settings in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

2.Identify any inconsistencies in the case of identifiers by reviewing your T-SQL scripts and comparing them with the case used during the creation of these objects.

3.Update the T-SQL scripts to ensure that all object identifiers, such as table and column names, match the exact case as they were defined in the SQL Server database.

4.Test the updated scripts in a case-sensitive environment to verify that no runtime errors occur due to identifier casing mismatches.

For example:

-- Example of corrected query with consistent casing
SELECT ColumnName FROM TableName WHERE ColumnName = 'value';

Scope

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

Parameters

Rule has no parameters.

Remarks

The rule requires Analysis Context. If context is missing, the rule will be skipped during analysis.

Effort To Fix

2 minutes per issue.

Additional Information

There is no additional info for this rule.

Example Test SQL

CREATE PROCEDURE [HumanResourceS].[uspUpdateEmployeeHireInfo]
@BusinessEntityID [int],
@JobTitle [nvarchar](50),
@HireDate [datetime],
@RateChangeDate [datetime],
@Rate [money],
@PayFrequency [tinyint],
@CurrentFlag [dbo].[Flag]
WITH EXECUTE AS CALLER
AS
BEGIN
  SET NOCOUNT ON;
  BEGIN TRY
    BEGIN TRANSACTION;
    UPDATE [HumanResources].[EmployeE]
    SET [JobTitle] = @JobTitle
    ,[HireDate] = @HireDate
    ,[CurrentFlag] = @CurrentFlag
    WHERE [BusinessEntityId] = @BusinessEntityID;
    INSERT INTO [HumanResources].[EmployeePayHistory]
    ([BusinessEntityID]
    ,[RateChangeDate]
    ,[Rate]
    ,[Payfrequency])
    VALUES (@BusinessEntityID, @RateChangeDate, @Rate, @PayFrequency);
    COMMIT TRANSACTION;
  END TRY
  BEGIN CATCH
    IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0
    BEGIN
    ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
    END
    EXECUTE [dbo].[UspLogError];
  END CATCH;
END;

Example Test SQL with Automatic Fix

CREATE PROCEDURE [HumanResources].[uspUpdateEmployeeHireInfo]
@BusinessEntityID [int],
@JobTitle [nvarchar](50),
@HireDate [datetime],
@RateChangeDate [datetime],
@Rate [money],
@PayFrequency [tinyint],
@CurrentFlag [dbo].[Flag]
WITH EXECUTE AS CALLER
AS
BEGIN
  SET NOCOUNT ON;
  BEGIN TRY
    BEGIN TRANSACTION;
    UPDATE [HumanResources].[Employee]
    SET [JobTitle] = @JobTitle
    ,[HireDate] = @HireDate
    ,[CurrentFlag] = @CurrentFlag
    WHERE [BusinessEntityID] = @BusinessEntityID;
    INSERT INTO [HumanResources].[EmployeePayHistory]
    ([BusinessEntityID]
    ,[RateChangeDate]
    ,[Rate]
    ,[PayFrequency])
    VALUES (@BusinessEntityID, @RateChangeDate, @Rate, @PayFrequency);
    COMMIT TRANSACTION;
  END TRY
  BEGIN CATCH
    IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0
    BEGIN
    ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
    END
    EXECUTE [dbo].[uspLogError];
  END CATCH;
END;

Analysis Results

	Message	Line	Column
1	SA0230 : The case of the identifier [HumanResourceS].[uspUpdateEmployeeHireInfo] does not match the real stored procedure name [HumanResources].[uspUpdateEmployeeHireInfo].	1	17
2	SA0230 : The case of the identifier [HumanResources].[EmployeE] does not match the real table name [HumanResources].[Employee].	15	9
3	SA0230 : The case of the identifier [BusinessEntityId] does not match the real column name [BusinessEntityID].	19	8
4	SA0230 : The case of the identifier [Payfrequency] does not match the real column name [PayFrequency].	24	3
5	SA0230 : The case of the identifier [dbo].[UspLogError] does not match the real stored procedure name [dbo].[uspLogError].	33	10

Analysis Rules