Getting All Changed Tables and Rows Using Change Tracking in SQL Server

Discover how to effectively retrieve all modified tables and the corresponding row IDs in SQL Server using Change Tracking with our step-by-step guide.
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Unlocking Change Tracking in SQL Server: Retrieve Changed Tables and Row IDs

Change Tracking in SQL Server can be a powerful feature for identifying modifications in your database. If you've ever wanted to find out which tables have changed and gather the specific row IDs that were updated, you’re not alone. Many developers grapple with generating a comprehensive view of database activity, and understanding how to do this efficiently is crucial for maintaining data integrity and accuracy.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to effectively collect information about changed tables and their associated row IDs, utilizing Change Tracking. Let's dive in!

Understanding the Problem

You might find yourself in a situation where you want to keep track of changes made to multiple tables in your SQL Server database. For instance, if you have two tables, table1 and table2, and you want to know which specific rows were changed, your goal would be to generate a list that not only identifies the altered tables but also highlights the IDs of the changed rows.

Example Scenario

Given the following changes:

In table1, rows with IDs 15 and 16 were modified.

In table2, rows with IDs 200 and 201 were modified.

Your desired output should look like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step-by-Step Solution

Step 1: Identify Tracking Tables and Their Primary Keys

The first task is to identify all tracked tables along with their corresponding primary keys. The data returned by CHANGETABLE includes the primary key of the tracking table—not a generic row identifier.

To find the tracked tables and their primary keys, execute the following SQL query:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This query fetches the names of the tables that are tracked and their associated primary key columns.

Step 2: Run CHANGETABLE for Each Tracking Table

Once you have a list of tables with their primary keys, the next step is to run CHANGETABLE for each of these tables to gather the changes. Here is how to structure your SQL script:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Breaking the Script Down

Get Current Tracking Version: We identify the current version number of the tracking system to capture changes that occurred since the last check.

Create Temporary Tables: We prepare temporary tables to hold our tracked table names, their primary keys, and the changes we will capture.

Loop Through Tracked Tables: We loop through each tracked table, applying the CHANGETABLE function, and gather raw data into our @ changes table.

Final Output

After executing the script, you will get a comprehensive list of all tables that have been modified along with the specific row identifiers for those changes, perfectly structured for your reporting needs.

Conclusion

Using SQL Server's Change Tracking feature can simplify your ability to monitor database changes, ensuring data integrity and efficient query management. By following the steps in this guide, you can effectively extract detailed change information for your database tables, making your data management tasks much more manageable.

With this knowledge in your toolkit, you should be well-equipped to tackle similar challenges in the future. Happy querying!