Exploring ADO.NET: The Open Source Guide

Exploring ADO.NET: The Open Source Guide

A Comprehensive Guide to Using ADO.NET for Data Access in .NET Applications

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Lonnie McRorey
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3 min read

Table of contents

ADO.NET is Microsoft's data access technology for .NET applications. It allows .NET applications to connect to data sources and execute SQL statements. This article will explore the basics of ADO.NET and how to use it in your .NET applications.

What is ADO.NET?

ADO.NET stands for ActiveX Data Objects. NET. It is a set of .NET Framework classes designed to access and manipulate data stored in various sources. Some of the critical components of ADO.NET are:

Data Providers

Data providers allow ADO.NET to connect to different data sources. Some typical data providers are:

  • SqlClient - Connects to SQL Server databases

  • OleDb - Connects to ODBC data sources and OLE DB data providers

  • OracleClient - Connects to Oracle databases

  • Odbc - Connects to ODBC data sources

DataSet

The DataSet is an in-memory cache of data retrieved from a data source. It contains DataTable objects that represent the data.

DataTable

The DataTable represents a collection of related data. It contains DataRow objects that represent the individual rows of data.

DataRow

The DataRow represents a single record in a DataTable. It includes columns that map to the columns defined in the DataTable.

DataAdapter

The DataAdapter fills the DataSet with data from the data source. It also synchronizes changes made to the DataSet back to the data source.

Commands

Command objects like SqlCommand represent SQL statements or stored procedures that can be executed against a data source.

Benefits of ADO.NET

  • Provides a consistent object model for accessing data - The same classes and patterns are used across different data providers.

  • Supports disconnected data access - Data can be retrieved from the data source and manipulated locally in the DataSet.

  • Supports data binding - Data can easily be bound to UI controls for display and editing.

  • Helps cache of data - This DataSet acts as an in-memory data cache from the data source.

  • Supports data filtering, sorting, and editing - The DataSet provides methods to filter, sort, and edit data.

  • Supports transactions - Transactions can span across multiple data access statements.

Connecting to a Data Source

It would be best to instantiate the appropriate data provider to connect to a data source in ADO.NET. For example, to connect to SQL Server, you would use SqlConnection:

string connectionString = "Data Source=.;Initial Catalog=Northwind;Integrated Security=SSPI";

using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
    // Use connection
}

The connection string contains information about the data source, like the server name, database name, authentication mechanism, etc.

You can then use SqlCommand objects to execute SQL statements against the database:

string query = "SELECT * FROM Customers";

using (SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(query, connection))    
{
    // Execute command 
}

Retrieving Data

To retrieve data from a data source, you can execute a SqlCommand and map the results to a DataTable or DataSet:

DataTable table = new DataTable();
table.Load(command.ExecuteReader());

// OR

DataSet set = new DataSet();
set.Tables.Add(table.Load(command.ExecuteReader());

The DataTable will contain the results of your SQL query, which you can then bind to UI controls or manipulate programmatically.

I hope this helps explain the basics of ADO.NET! Let me know if you have any other questions.

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