How to check if a Constraint exists in Sql server?

Question

I have this sql:

ALTER TABLE dbo.ChannelPlayerSkins
    DROP CONSTRAINT FK_ChannelPlayerSkins_Channels

but apparently, on some other databa

Answer 1

Just something to watch out for......

In SQL Server 2008 R2 SSMS, the "Script Constraint as -> DROP And CREATE To" command produces T-SQL like below

USE [MyDatabase]
GO

IF  EXISTS (SELECT * FROM dbo.sysobjects WHERE id = OBJECT_ID(N'[DEF_Detail_IsDeleted]') AND type = 'D')
BEGIN
ALTER TABLE [Patient].[Detail] DROP CONSTRAINT [DEF_Detail_IsDeleted]
END

GO

USE [MyDatabase]
GO

ALTER TABLE [Patient].[Detail] ADD  CONSTRAINT [DEF_Detail_IsDeleted]  DEFAULT ((0)) FOR [IsDeleted]
GO

Out of the box, this script does NOT drop the constraint because the SELECT returns 0 rows. (see post Microsoft Connect).

The name of the default constraint is wrong but I gather it also has something to do with the OBJECT_ID function because changing the name doesn't fix the problem.

To fix this, I removed the usage of OBJECT_ID and used the default constraint name instead.

(SELECT * FROM dbo.sysobjects WHERE [name] = (N'DEF_Detail_IsDeleted') AND type = 'D')

Answer 2

IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM sys.foreign_keys WHERE parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.TableName'))
 BEGIN 
ALTER TABLE TableName DROP CONSTRAINT CONSTRAINTNAME 
END 

Answer 3

IF EXISTS(SELECT TOP 1 1 FROM sys.default_constraints WHERE parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[ChannelPlayerSkins]') AND name = 'FK_ChannelPlayerSkins_Channels')
BEGIN
    DROP CONSTRAINT FK_ChannelPlayerSkins_Channels
END
GO

Answer 4

SELECT tabla.name as Tabla,

        restriccion.name as Restriccion, 
        restriccion.type as Tipo, 
        restriccion.type_desc as Tipo_Desc
FROM {DATABASE_NAME}.sys.objects tabla 

INNER JOIN {DATABASE_NAME}.sys.objects restriccion

ON tabla.object_id = restriccion.parent_object_id

WHERE tabla.type = 'U' - Solo tablas creadas por el usuario.

AND restriccion.type = 'UQ' --Tipo de Restriccion UNIQUE

ORDER BY tabla.name, restriccion.type_desc                

Answer 5

Easiest way to check for the existence of a constraint (and then do something such as drop it if it exists) is to use the OBJECT_ID() function...

IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.[CK_ConstraintName]', 'C') IS NOT NULL 
    ALTER TABLE dbo.[tablename] DROP CONSTRAINT CK_ConstraintName

OBJECT_ID can be used without the second parameter ('C' for check constraints only) and that may also work, but if your constraint name matches the name of other objects in the database you may get unexpected results.

IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.[CK_ConstraintName]') IS NOT NULL 
    ALTER TABLE dbo.[tablename] DROP CONSTRAINT CK_ConstraintName

OBJECT_ID can also be used with other "constraints" such as Foreign Key constraints or Primary Key constraints, etc. For best results, always include the appropriate object type as the second parameter for the OBJECT_ID function:

Constraint Object Types:

• C = CHECK constraint
• D = DEFAULT (constraint or stand-alone)
• F = FOREIGN KEY constraint
• PK = PRIMARY KEY constraint
• R = Rule (old-style, stand-alone)
• UQ = UNIQUE constraint

Also note that the schema is often required. The schema of constraints generally takes the schema of the parent table.

Failure to put your constraints (or whatever you are checking) in brackets when using this method may also cause a false negative -- if your object uses unusual characters (such as a .), the brackets are required.

Answer 6

You can use the one above with one caveat:

IF EXISTS(
    SELECT 1 FROM sys.foreign_keys 
    WHERE parent_object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.TableName') 
        AND name = 'CONSTRAINTNAME'
)
BEGIN 
    ALTER TABLE TableName DROP CONSTRAINT CONSTRAINTNAME 
END 

Need to use the name = [Constraint name] since a table may have multiple foreign keys and still not have the foreign key being checked for