easy way to list tables & columns?

I have a newbie question about MS SQL EM:
Is there an easy process to list all the tables and columns of a particular
database? I just got this task and I wouldn't know where to start just yet.
What I'd like to see in my newly inherited database servers is a way to
quickly generate a list of a database's tables and columns within those
tables.
Is that too basic? I wouldn't mind seeing step-by-step, if somebody decides
to answer this.
Thanks very much,
BobStep-by-step comments are inline...
USE <your_database_name> /* this is the database for which you want to
see tables and columns */
SELECT sysobjects.name AS tablename /* our tables are listed in the
sysobjects system table (see where clause for filter)*/
, syscolumns.name AS columnname /* our columns are listed in
the syscolumns system table */
FROM sysobjects
INNER JOIN syscolumns
ON sysobjects.id = syscolumns.id /* we use the table id to
identify which columns belong to the table */
WHERE Objectproperty(sysobjects.id,N'IsUserTable') = 1 /* this will
list all the user tables and leave out system tables, stored
procedures, views, etc */
ORDER BY sysobjects.name /* list the tables in alphabetical order */
, syscolumns.name /* list the columns in alphabetical order
within their table */|||Bob wrote:
> I have a newbie question about MS SQL EM:
> Is there an easy process to list all the tables and columns of a
> particular database? I just got this task and I wouldn't know where
> to start just yet.
You can query the INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS table for this information.
You can also query the system tables directly in each database:
sysobjects (type = 'U') and syscolumns for the column information.
Some sample ADO code to do this:
http://www.avdf.com/aug98/art_vb006.html
David Gugick - SQL Server MVP
Quest Software