Database Access with Visual Basic® .NET, 3rd Edition

Whether you are using WinForms, WebForms, or Web Services, Database Access with Visual Basic® .NET, Third Edition, is your practical guide to developing database applications with Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET. The authors provide real-world solutions to the data-access issues Visual Basic .NET developers face every day and share their secrets for becoming a more effective database programmer using .NET technologies.

The book begins by reviewing the fundamentals of database development, Structured Query Language (SQL), and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000. It then examines how to use the major ADO.NET objects to access data stored in relational databases. Through detailed examples, readers learn how to use properties and methods, as well as more advanced features and techniques. Extensive code listings in Visual Basic .NET illustrate each concept, while business cases apply concepts to real-world applications. The final chapters provide a solid examination of how XML and ASP.NET integrate with ADO.NET to create various types of database applications. A companion Web site provides the code used in the book's myriad examples, all of which is compatible with Visual Basic .NET 2003.

Key topic coverage includes:

SQL queries and commands

Using SQL Server 2000

ADO.NET objects

Advanced ADO.NET features and techniques

SQL Server and OLEDB, as well as ODBC .NET Data Providers

Using Visual Studio .NET Data Projects for managing SQL Scripts

Integrating XML with ADO.NET

Developing Web-based database applications with ASP.NET

Web services and middle-tier objects

Database Access with Visual Basic® .NET, Third Edition, equips VB developers with the knowledge and skills needed to build a powerful new generation of database applications in less time using .NET technologies.

0672323435B01092003

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Preface

The purpose of this book is to show you how to development database applications using Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET.

Although both the OLEDB and the ODBC Data Providers for .NET are discussed (Chapter 4), almost all of the examples in this book will be for Microsoft SQL Server 2000. This is because it is readily available and used by most of our readers. Moreover, applying the concepts and making the required code modifications for other data sources is normally very straightforward. We tried to point out where there are significant differences.

Even though we expect that most readers will be working with SQL Server, we do not assume that they are experienced with it. This may be because they are new to database applications, or because they only have experience with other databases such as Microsoft Access or Oracle. We have therefore included a hefty overview of Microsoft SQL Server. If you are experienced with SQL Server, you may want to skip this chapter, although since it covers a wide variety of topics, you may still find a "nugget" or two that makes it worthwhile for you to read the chapter.

Along with the coverage of database access using SQL Server, we have included coverage of XML and XML integration with ADO.NET. This is a crucial aspect of developing database applications with VB .NET that is often overlooked or short-changed. However since XML is so important to developing modern data-driven applications, we have provided rather extensive coverage of this topic.

You will notice that this book contains a lot of code and examples. We believe that this is the best way to understand the concepts that are presented. We normally provide relatively simple examples to demonstrate the concepts, and then present Business Cases to put the concepts into a "real-world" context.

Who This Book Is For

We assume that the reader of this book is already familiar with Visual Basic .NET. Although the code examples code step-by-step instructions, this book does not teach VB .NET syntax. We assume that you are comfortable enough with VB .NET and Visual Studio .NET, and do not waste your time reviewing these concepts once again. For example, we will not normally step through basic tasks, such as opening and savings project files, except maybe the first time we encounter them. We will, however, often show how to do the same thing in several different ways—we hope that this will extend your knowledge of VB .NET, without rehashing the basics. To the same end, you may also notice variant coding styles, and even screen shots on different versions of Windows—all illustrating the flexibility of VB .NET.

Most of the examples in this book are shown using Windows Application (Windows Forms) as the project type. This is because nearly all VB programmers are most familiar and comfortable with this type of application. This allows us to focus on database access, rather than the technologies involved in the different types of .NET projects. Still, in later chapters, we do discuss and show ASP.NET web applications and web services, so that you see database access examples using these technologies and project types.

How This Book Is Organized

This book can be though of as containing three parts. The first part, consisting of Chapters 1-3, are the "preliminaries". The coverage of database basics, SQL, and SQL Server are meant to provide the fundamentals required to proceed comfortably throughout the rest of the book. At the same time, these chapters provide a good review of these topics even for someone who is experienced is these areas.

The second part could be thought of as the core of the book. Chapters 4-7 provide in-depth explanations and numerous examples of the major ADO.NET objects and the use of their properties and methods. Chapter 7 goes beyond the basics to explore advanced features and techniques of the ADO.NET objects.

The third part of the book goes beyond the fundamental use of ADO.NET and shows how the technologies and techniques previously presented should be used to build real applications. This part includes the use of Visual Studio Data Projects for managing SQL scripts (Chapter 8), as well as a discussion of XML (Chapter 9) and the integration of XML and ADO.NET in Chapter 10. Finally, shown are additional types of projects that utilize ADO.NET—Chapter 11 covers ASP.NET Web Applications and Chapter 12 covers Web Services and middle-tier objects.

The Software Environment

We are assuming that the reader has already installed, or is capable of installing, Visual Studio .NET. The only thing to note regarding this is that there are significant differences between available capabilities and behaviors of the visual database tools, depending on the edition of Visual Studio and the type of database that you use.

Parts of Chapters 1, 2 and 8 use features found only in the Enterprise Developer or Enterprise Architect versions of Visual Studio.

Regarding the installation of SQL Server, Chapter 3 provides step-by-step instructions for installing SQL Server 2000, for those not familiar with the process. It is recommended that you make a copy or backup of the pubs sample database that is installed with SQL Server, since many of the code examples use this database and some of them modify the data that it contains.

All of the Business Cases and many of the other code examples use the Novelty database, designed for this book. Both Chapters 3 and 8 show the development of SQL scripts to create this database. The following are the steps required to create the Novelty database on your SQL Server:

In order to use many of the code samples in the book, you must first create and populate the "Novelty" database on a SQL Server 2000 machine. The steps provided here assume that the user you are logging in as has the rights necessary to create a database on the server. Keep in mind that some people may refer to a database and actually mean the application that handles the data—that is not the case on any page of this book. When the word database is used here, it explicitly means the container of organized, relational data kept in SQL Server 2000.

0672323435P11062002

Table of Contents

Preface.


1. Database Basics.

2. Structured Query Language Queries and Commands.

3. Getting Started with SQL Server 2000.

4. ADO.NETData Providers.

5. ADO.NETThe DataSet.

6. ADO.NETThe DataAdapter.

7. ADO.NETAdditional Features and Techniques.

8. Visual Studio.NET Database Projects.

9. XML and .NET.

10. ADO.NET and XML.

11. WebForms: Database Applications with ASP.NET.

12. Web Services and Middle-Tier Technologies.

Index. 0672323435T01242003

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