• Datasets store data in a disconnected cache and the application retrieves data from it.



• Data readers provide data to the application in a read-only and forward-only mode.

Connecting to a Database

The .Net Framework provides two types of Connection classes:

• SqlConnection - designed for connecting to Microsoft SQL Server.




• OleDbConnection - designed for connecting to a wide range of databases, like Microsoft Access and Oracle.

Example 1

We have a table stored in Microsoft SQL Server, named Customers, in a database named testDB. Please consult 'SQL Server' tutorial for creating databases and database tables in SQL Server.

Let us connect to this database. Take the following steps:

• Select TOOLS -> Connect to Database

  
  
  



• Select a server name and the database name in the Add Connection dialog box.

  
  
  



• Click on the Test Connection button to check if the connection succeeded.

  
  
  



• Add a DataGridView on the form.

  
  
  



• Click on the Choose Data Source combo box.




• Click on the Add Project Data Source link.

  
  
  



• This opens the Data Source Configuration Wizard.




• Select Database as the data source type

  
  
  



• Choose DataSet as the database model.

  
  
  



• Choose the connection already set up.

  
  
  



• Save the connection string.

  
  
  



• Choose the database object, Customers table in our example, and click the Finish button.

  
  
  



• Select the Preview Data link to see the data in the Results grid:

  
  
  

When the application is run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Example 2

In this example, let us access data in a DataGridView control using code. Take the following steps:

• Add a DataGridView control and a button in the form.




• Change the text of the button control to 'Fill'.




• Double click the button control to add the required code for the Click event of the button, as shown below:

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Public Class Form1

   Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _

   Handles MyBase.Load

        'TODO: This line of code loads data into the 'TestDBDataSet.CUSTOMERS' table.   You can move, or remove it, as needed.

      Me.CUSTOMERSTableAdapter.Fill(Me.TestDBDataSet.CUSTOMERS)

      ' Set the caption bar text of the form.   

      Me.Text = "tutorialspoint.com"

   End Sub

   Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

      Dim connection As SqlConnection = New sqlconnection()

      connection.ConnectionString = "Data Source=KABIR-DESKTOP; _

          Initial Catalog=testDB;Integrated Security=True"

      connection.Open()

      Dim adp As SqlDataAdapter = New SqlDataAdapter _

      ("select * from Customers", connection)

      Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet()

      adp.Fill(ds)

      DataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables(0)

   End Sub

End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Clicking the Fill button displays the table on the data grid view control:

Creating Table, Columns and Rows

We have discussed that the DataSet components like DataTable, DataColumn and DataRow allow us to create tables, columns and rows, respectively.

The following example demonstrates the concept:

Example 3

So far, we have used tables and databases already existing in our computer. In this example, we will create a table, add columns, rows and data into it and display the table using a DataGridView object.

Take the following steps:

• Add a DataGridView control and a button in the form.




• Change the text of the button control to 'Fill'.




• Add the following code in the code editor.

Public Class Form1

   Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

      ' Set the caption bar text of the form.   

      Me.Text = "tutorialspont.com"

   End Sub

   Private Function CreateDataSet() As DataSet

      'creating a DataSet object for tables

      Dim dataset As DataSet = New DataSet()

      ' creating the student table

      Dim Students As DataTable = CreateStudentTable()

      dataset.Tables.Add(Students)

      Return dataset

   End Function

   Private Function CreateStudentTable() As DataTable

      Dim Students As DataTable

      Students = New DataTable("Student")

      ' adding columns

      AddNewColumn(Students, "System.Int32", "StudentID")

      AddNewColumn(Students, "System.String", "StudentName")

      AddNewColumn(Students, "System.String", "StudentCity")

      ' adding rows

      AddNewRow(Students, 1, "Zara Ali", "Kolkata")

      AddNewRow(Students, 2, "Shreya Sharma", "Delhi")

      AddNewRow(Students, 3, "Rini Mukherjee", "Hyderabad")

      AddNewRow(Students, 4, "Sunil Dubey", "Bikaner")

      AddNewRow(Students, 5, "Rajat Mishra", "Patna")

      Return Students

   End Function

   Private Sub AddNewColumn(ByRef table As DataTable, _ 

   ByVal columnType As String, ByVal columnName As String)

      Dim column As DataColumn = _ 

       table.Columns.Add(columnName, Type.GetType(columnType))

   End Sub



   'adding data into the table

   Private Sub AddNewRow(ByRef table As DataTable, ByRef id As Integer,_

   ByRef name As String, ByRef city As String)

      Dim newrow As DataRow = table.NewRow()

      newrow("StudentID") = id

      newrow("StudentName") = name

      newrow("StudentCity") = city

      table.Rows.Add(newrow)

   End Sub

   Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

      Dim ds As New DataSet

      ds = CreateDataSet()

      DataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables("Student")

   End Sub

End Class

When the above code is executed and run using Start button available at the Microsoft Visual Studio tool bar, it will show the following window:

Clicking the Fill button displays the table on the data grid view control: