SQL Server: Easily Grant Select to All Tables and/or Views in a Database

(Note: I loved the code I found on the original posting, but it would not work without a simple change. I'm copying the post here and highlighting my changes, talk about a time saver!)

Granting Select to all tables for a login can be an extremely painful and lengthy process. Utilizing the SQL Server Management Studio to perform this means going table by table and checking the Select checkbox for each individual table, this makes a real nightmare if you are working with hundreds of tables. You can do this in mere seconds versus hours by using the Query window. Here’s how:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio.

2. Connect to the desired Server.

3. Click the New Query button.

4. Select the desired database from the dropdown in the toolbar.

5. To grant Select to all tables in the database, copy and paste the following into your Query window:

DECLARE @login varchar(50)

SET @login = 'loginname'

DECLARE @ROWID Int --Added by Juan Soto

DECLARE @SQLSTR VARCHAR(Max) --Added by Juan Soto

DECLARE @tables TABLE(ROWID int IDENTITY(1,1), SQLSTR varchar(500))

INSERT INTO @tables

SELECT 'GRANT SELECT ON ' + NAME + ' TO '+@login

FROM sysobjects

WHERE TYPE = 'U'

AND NAME NOT LIKE 'SYNC%'

DECLARE @rowid int, @sqlstr varchar(500)

SET @rowid = 0

SET @sqlstr = ''

DECLARE grant_tbl_cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT ROWID, SQLSTR

FROM @tables

ORDER BY ROWID

OPEN grant_tbl_cursor

FETCH NEXT FROM grant_tbl_cursor

INTO @rowid,@sqlstr

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

BEGIN

EXECUTE (@sqlstr)

FETCH NEXT FROM grant_tbl_cursor

INTO @rowid,@sqlstr

END

CLOSE grant_tbl_cursor

DEALLOCATE grant_tbl_cursor

6. In the second line of the pasted query, change loginname to the login that you wish to grant Select to all tables.

7. Execute the query.

To grant Select to all Views in the database, follow the above steps but use the following:

DECLARE @login varchar(50)

SET @login = 'loginname'

DECLARE @ROWID Int --Added by Juan Soto

DECLARE @SQLSTR VARCHAR(Max) --Added by Juan Soto

DECLARE @views TABLE(ROWID int IDENTITY(1,1), SQLSTR varchar(500))

INSERT INTO @views

SELECT 'GRANT SELECT ON ' + NAME + ' TO '+@login

FROM sysobjects

WHERE TYPE = 'V'

SET @rowid = 0

SET @sqlstr = ''

DECLARE grant_vw_cursor CURSOR FOR

SELECT ROWID, SQLSTR

FROM @views

ORDER BY ROWID

OPEN grant_vw_cursor

FETCH NEXT FROM grant_vw_cursor

INTO @rowid,@sqlstr

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

BEGIN

EXECUTE (@sqlstr)

FETCH NEXT FROM grant_vw_cursor

INTO @rowid,@sqlstr

END

CLOSE grant_vw_cursor

DEALLOCATE grant_vw_cursor