How to find out what databses are on a server programmaticaly?

Question

Is there any way I could find out programmaticaly what databases exist on a server? It's because I would like to show user all available databases and allow him to choose the one he's interested in.

Answer 1

If you mean, "Which databases are on a specific instance of SQL Server", then the stored procedure sp_databases (accessible via Master) will help you.

Answer 2

use Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo, it lets you query for servers and databases, specifically when you call SmoApplication.EnumAvailableSqlServers().

Answer 3

• 2k5: select * from sys.databases
• 2k: select * from sysdatabases

Answer 4

Would depend on which database you were referring to. Each db has their own way of querying these meta info.

Answer 5

See Three Way To List All Databases On Your Server