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I’m working with a legacy database which due to poor management and design has had a wildgrowth of columns which never have been or are no longer beeing used.
Is it possible to some how query for column usage? As in how often a column is beeing selected (either specifically or with *, or joined on)?
Seems to me like this is something we should be able to somehow retrieve but i have been unable to find anything like this.
Greetings,
F.B. ten Kate
Unfortunately, this analysis on the DB side isn’t really going to be a full answer. I’ve seen a LOT of instances where application code only needed 3 columns of a 10+ column table, but selected them all anyway.
Your column would still show up on a usage report in any sort of trace or profiling you did, but it still may not ACTUALLY be in use.
You might have to either a) analyze the entire collection of apps that use this website or b) start drafting the a return-on-investment style doc on whether it’s worth rebuilding.