SQL SERVER – Drop All the Foreign Key Constraint in Database – Create All the Foreign Key Constraint in Database

Earlier I wrote a blog post about how to Disable and Enable all the Foreign Key Constraint in the Database. It is a very popular article. However, there are some scenarios when user needs to drop and recreate the foreign constraints. Here is a fantastic blog comment by SQL Expert Swastik Mishra. He has written a script which drops all the foreign key constraints and recreates them. He uses temporary tables to select the existing foreign keys and respective column name and table name. Then determine the primary key table and column name and accordingly drop and recreate them.

Here is a script by Swastik and it works great.

SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @table TABLE(
RowId INT PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY(1, 1),
ForeignKeyConstraintName NVARCHAR(200),
ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema NVARCHAR(200),
ForeignKeyConstraintTableName NVARCHAR(200),
ForeignKeyConstraintColumnName NVARCHAR(200),
PrimaryKeyConstraintName NVARCHAR(200),
PrimaryKeyConstraintTableSchema NVARCHAR(200),
PrimaryKeyConstraintTableName NVARCHAR(200),
PrimaryKeyConstraintColumnName NVARCHAR(200)
)
INSERT INTO @table(ForeignKeyConstraintName, ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema, ForeignKeyConstraintTableName, ForeignKeyConstraintColumnName)
SELECT
U.CONSTRAINT_NAME,
U.TABLE_SCHEMA,
U.TABLE_NAME,
U.COLUMN_NAME
FROM
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE U
INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS C
ON U.CONSTRAINT_NAME = C.CONSTRAINT_NAME
WHERE
C.CONSTRAINT_TYPE = 'FOREIGN KEY'
UPDATE @table SET
PrimaryKeyConstraintName = UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT_NAME
FROM
@table T
INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS R
ON T.ForeignKeyConstraintName = R.CONSTRAINT_NAME
UPDATE @table SET
PrimaryKeyConstraintTableSchema = TABLE_SCHEMA,
PrimaryKeyConstraintTableName = TABLE_NAME
FROM @table T
INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS C
ON T.PrimaryKeyConstraintName = C.CONSTRAINT_NAME
UPDATE @table SET
PrimaryKeyConstraintColumnName = COLUMN_NAME
FROM @table T
INNER JOIN INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE U
ON T.PrimaryKeyConstraintName = U.CONSTRAINT_NAME
--SELECT * FROM @table
--DROP CONSTRAINT:
SELECT
'
ALTER TABLE [' + ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema + '].[' + ForeignKeyConstraintTableName + ']
DROP CONSTRAINT ' + ForeignKeyConstraintName + '

GO’
FROM
@table
–ADD CONSTRAINT:
SELECT
‘
ALTER TABLE [‘ + ForeignKeyConstraintTableSchema + ‘].[‘ + ForeignKeyConstraintTableName + ‘]
ADD CONSTRAINT ‘ + ForeignKeyConstraintName + ‘ FOREIGN KEY(‘ + ForeignKeyConstraintColumnName + ‘) REFERENCES [‘ + PrimaryKeyConstraintTableSchema + ‘].[‘ + PrimaryKeyConstraintTableName + ‘](‘ + PrimaryKeyConstraintColumnName + ‘)
GO’
FROM
@table
GO

Thanks Swastik for a great script. Swastik, please send me email at my mail id and I will send USD 20 worth Amazon Gift Card or INR 1000 Flipkart Gift Voucher for your wonderful contribution. If you use any such script in your daily routine. Please send me email and I will be glad to post the same on blog with due credit.