SQL Server database : moving from 2008 to 2005 - encrypted procedure issue

Question

I could normally use generate scripts / DTS to move data and tables etc. However one of the databases has a large amount of encrypted procedures that I can't script to move.

Neither do I have older 2005 backup of the database.

I do not have decrypted procedures to restore manually.

Is there any way to just copy/move them over?

Answer 1

If you have the database running in a SQL Server instance today, why not just backup the database and restore it to the new instance? Then everything will come across as expected.

Answer 2

I ran into this problem a few years back myself. However because SQL Server doesn't actually "encrypt" the objects that you create (it obfuscates them) you can quite easily reverse the process of obfuscation to get the definition back.I use the following procedure to script out encrypted objects:

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.ShowDecrypted(@ProcName SYSNAME = NULL)
AS
--Jon Gurgul 27/09/2010
--Adapted idea/code from shoeboy/joseph gama
SET NOCOUNT ON
IF EXISTS 
(
SELECT * FROM sys.dm_exec_connections ec JOIN sys.endpoints e 
on (ec.[endpoint_id]=e.[endpoint_id]) 
WHERE e.[name]='Dedicated Admin Connection' 
AND ec.[session_id] = @@SPID
)
BEGIN

DECLARE @i BIGINT,@a NVARCHAR(MAX),@b NVARCHAR(MAX),@d NVARCHAR(MAX),@c NVARCHAR(MAX)
SET @a=(SELECT [imageval] FROM [sys].[sysobjvalues] WHERE [objid] = OBJECT_ID(@ProcName) and [valclass] = 1 and [subobjid] = 1)
SET @b='ALTER PROCEDURE '+ @ProcName +' WITH ENCRYPTION AS '+REPLICATE('-', 8000)

    BEGIN TRANSACTION
        EXECUTE (@b)
        SET @c=(SELECT [imageval] FROM [sys].[sysobjvalues] WHERE [objid] = OBJECT_ID(@ProcName) and [valclass] = 1 and [subobjid] = 1) 
    ROLLBACK TRANSACTION

SET @d = REPLICATE(N'A', (DATALENGTH(@a) /2 ))
SET @i=1
WHILE @i<=(DATALENGTH(@a)/2)
BEGIN
SET @d = STUFF(@d, @i, 1,NCHAR(UNICODE(SUBSTRING(@a, @i, 1)) ^(UNICODE(SUBSTRING('CREATE PROCEDURE '+ @ProcName +' WITH ENCRYPTION AS ' + REPLICATE('-', 8000), @i, 1)) ^UNICODE(SUBSTRING(@c, @i, 1)))))
SET @i=@i+1
END

SELECT @d [StoredProcedure]

END
ELSE
BEGIN
    PRINT 'Use a DAC Connection'
END

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

The original article where this can be found is http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/transactsql/thread/e7056ca8-94cd-4d36-a676-04c64bf96330

I hope this is of help to you.