Dev Articles 12/16/2003 01:15:06 PM

Programming with MySQL and .NET Technologies

A topic not covered by many is that with entales developing web sites with MySQL within the .Net Framework. Ahm
illustrates how you can use these two technologies under the one roof using the Dataset family.

This article explains how to create database applications using MySQL and C# (or VB.NET). You will see how to work with ADO.NET Dataset.
The concept of Dataset and the benefit from disconnected model of Dataset is also discussed.

If you have been building database programs with Microsoft technology, you are probably familiar with the object named Recordset, which is
nothing but a flat tablelike view of the data in the memory. Dataset represents disconnected inmemory replica of a database. Datasets provide a
number of benefits.

Fig: Dataset represents disconnected inmemory replica of database

Dataset Pros and Cons

Working with multiple tables: A Datasets can contain more than one table of results, you can work with the tables individually or navigate between
them as parentchild tables, it also has ability to enforce rules of integrity in memory rather than in at database level.

Data from multiple sources: A Dataset can represent data from different sources (from different databases, from XML files, spreadsheets and so on)
and all in the same Dataset, you can manipulate it and relate it in a homogeneous format as if it had come from a single format. This means,
regardless of the data source, your code interacts with Dataset in the same way. This allows you to change the underlying data source without
changing your code.

Exchange with other application: Dataset includes extensive support for serializing data as XML and reading and writing XML Schemas.

Reuse: A Dataset allows us to work with the same records repeatedly without requiring the database.

Performance: The most important benefit of using Datasets, however, is improved performance. Since the Dataset is disconnected from the
underlying databases, your code will make fewer calls to the database, boosting performance.

The above performance optimization comes with a price. Since the Dataset object is disconnected from the underlying database, there is always
chance that the data is out of date. Data concurrency issues arise when multiple users have access to the same data and any single user can update the
data without the other users knowledge.Fortunately, the Dataset object comes with builtin support for catching data concurrency issues as they
arise so that application can react accordingly. Read more about this issues from this link.

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Walkthrough Example

In this walkthrough you will create a windows application that display data in data grid, DataGrid control is one of the flexible and powerful controls
available in Windows Forms. You can add new records (by clicking the last row of the grid), update records (by changing the existing value in the
grid cells) and delete records (by clicking the DEL button from the keyboard) on a data grid with very little effort. A very important point is that
Update and Delete statements do not work unless the database table contains a primary key.

At first download and install Odbc_net.msi reference library. Open a new project and add to Reference.

Fig: Windows form (insert, update or delete a record)

Now add following namespace to work with ODBC database. If you want to know more about namespaces follow this link. Please find the support
materials with this article for full source code developed with Microsoft Visual Studio.NET.

Fig. Data adapters copy data to and from a database

using Microsoft.Data.Odbc;
private void Form1_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
PopulateDataGrid();
}
private void PopulateDataGrid()

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{
clsDbAccess DbAccess=new clsDbAccess();
MyConnStr=DbAccess.DbAccess_GL;
sConnString=MyConnStr;
Conn = new OdbcConnection(sConnString);
ds = new System.Data.DataSet();
try
{
Conn.Open();
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
strSQL ="select sbiStudid, sbiFirstName, sbiLastName, sbilogin, sbipassword from astabstudentbaseinformation";
da =new OdbcDataAdapter(strSQL,Conn );
CmdBld= new OdbcCommandBuilder(da);
da.Fill(ds,"Students");
dataGrid1.DataSource = ds.Tables["Students"].DefaultView;
Conn.Close();
Conn.Dispose();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
clsDbAccess DbAccess=new clsDbAccess();
MyConnStr=DbAccess.DbAccess_GL;
sConnString=MyConnStr;
Conn = new OdbcConnection(sConnString);
da =new OdbcDataAdapter(strSQL,Conn );
CmdBld= new OdbcCommandBuilder(da);
cmdBuilder=new OdbcCommandBuilder();
Copy_of_DS=new DataSet();
// D A T A has modified
if(ds.HasChanges(DataRowState.Modified))
{
MessageBox.Show("modified:");
Copy_of_DS=ds.GetChanges(DataRowState.Modified);
int ChangeRecords;
ChangeRecords=da.Update(Copy_of_DS,"Students");
if(ChangeRecords>0)
{
MessageBox.Show(ChangeRecords.ToString());
}
}
//Data is deleted
if(ds.HasChanges(DataRowState.Deleted))
{
Copy_of_DS=ds.GetChanges(DataRowState.Deleted);
int ChangeRecords;
ChangeRecords=0;
ChangeRecords=da.Update(Copy_of_DS,"Students");
if(ChangeRecords>0)
{
MessageBox.Show(ChangeRecords.ToString());
}
}
//Data is added
if(ds.HasChanges(DataRowState.Added))
{
Copy_of_DS=ds.GetChanges(DataRowState.Added);
int ChangeRecords;
ChangeRecords=0;

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try
{
ChangeRecords=da.Update(Copy_of_DS,"Students");
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
}
if(ChangeRecords > 0)
{
MessageBox.Show(ChangeRecords.ToString()+ " Record Added.");
}
}
ds.AcceptChanges();
dataGrid1.Refresh();
}

This article briefly explains how to load data into Dataset object and how to use DataGrid to insert, update and delete
data. This article barely scratches the surface of what you can do with the Dataset family objects. For more information
you can see www.csharpcorner.com , www.informit.com, www.vbhelper.com/vbdb.htm.

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