Question

Is there any way to get a table’s last modification datetime on Sql Server 2005? Preferably without creating triggers..

And for databases?

EDIT The solution of this question contemplated only CREATE and ALTER modifications. For INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE please look my next question

Answer 1

this will list all object types from most recent change to oldest, you can easily modify as necessary…

DECLARE @SearchParams   varchar(500)
SET @SearchParams='yourObjectName'

SELECT
    CONVERT(varchar(23),modify_date,121) AS modify_date
        ,type_desc
        ,name
    FROM sys.objects
    WHERE is_ms_shipped=0 AND name LIKE '%'+@SearchParams+'%'
    ORDER BY modify_date DESC

if you just want tables, try:

DECLARE @SearchParams   varchar(500)
SET @SearchParams='YourTableName'
SELECT
    CONVERT(varchar(23),modify_date,121) AS modify_date
        ,type_desc
        ,name
    FROM sys.objects
    WHERE type='U'
        AND name LIKE '%'+@SearchParams+'%' --can use "=@SearchParams" if you have the entire table name
    ORDER BY modify_date DESC