Using SQL Server Express

with Visual Basic.NET

Professor Ralph Westfall

April 2011

Sample Code
Create Visual Basic.NET Project

Start>All Programs>Microsoft Visual Studio

2008

Click Project link after Create: on left side

Expand Visual Basic>click Windows>Windows
Forms Application>rename as Olympics-SQL>
OK

File>Save All>[check Create Directory for

solution if available>]browse to the
Desktop>Save

File>Exit
 SQL Server Express Versions

You may get SQL Server Express 2005 when

you install Visual Studio Professional 2008
If so, you should also install SQL Server Express
2008 to go with it (download the x64 version for
Vista, or the x86 one for other Windows
versions)
If you can avoid installing SQL Server Express
2005 when installing Visual Basic, it will make it
easier to install SQL Server Express 2008
 Set Up SQL Server Express

I was having trouble connecting with SQL

Server 2008 until I did the following
See the following slide if these menu choices
arent available

Start>All Programs>Microsoft SQL Server

2008>Configuration Tools>SQL Server
[Surface Area] Configuration Manager
click lower link that says Surface Area
Configuration for Services and Connections
Click Remote Connections>Local and remote
connections>Using TCP/IP only>OK
 Set Up SQL Server Express

I installed a later version and it was like this:

Start>All Programs>Microsoft SQL Server

2008>Configuration Tools>SQL Server
Configuration Manager
Click SQL Server Services>if Log On As is not
LocalSystem, right-click SQL Server
(SQLEXPRESS)>Properties>Built-in
account:>select LocalSystem>OK>Yes
Then close Tools>SQL Server Configuration
Manager
 Create a SQL Server Database

Start>All Programs>Microsoft SQL Server

2008>SQL Server Management Studio>OK
Be sure Windows Authentication is being used,
write down the Server name:>click Connect

Expand server name and then Databases in

Object Explorer window on lower left
if get error message, minimize, click refresh button
at top of Object Explorer and try again

problem may be a database that wasn't detached before
deletion
right-click Databases>New Database>type
Olympics as Database name:>OK
 Import Data

File for following instructions: olympics.csv

Opens in Excel, save from there>Yes (to keep
CSV format, then No on save changes)

Right-click Olympics (database name)>

Tasks>Import Data>Next>
select Flat File Source>Browse and select Files
of type: CSV files (*.csv) to get
olympics.csv>select Format: Delimited>Next>

(use Format: Ragged right for *.txt files)
Next >Next (Use Windows authentication)>
Next> click Edit Mappings button
 Modify Fields, View Data

Change field names and properties in

Destination column:
1st column = Country, Data Type = nchar(20)
Next three rows should be Gold, Silver, Bronze,
each with Data Type of int
Last row should be Pop, with Data Type of
decimal with Precision = 7, Scale = 2>OK

Create destination table should be checked

Next>Next>Next>Finish> Close
 Modify Database Structure

Expand database name in Object Explorer

Right-click Olympics>Refresh
Expand Tables>right-click dbo.olympics>Design

Set up key field

Right-click first row>Insert Column>make name be
ID>change Data Type to int>unclick Allow nulls (but
leave checked for other fields)
Right-click ID>Set Primary Key
In Column properties below, expand Identity
Specification, set (IsIdentity) as Yes, set Identity
Seed as 100 or 101 (makes all keys same length)
 Saving New Database Table

File>Save Olympics>Yes (ignore warnings)

If still cant save: Tools>Options>Designers>
uncheck Prevent saving changes >OK and
then try to save again

Right-click table name>Edit Top 200 Rows

Verify that proper data is in right-most fields
(integers in Bronze, decimals in Pop
Edit data if necessary to fix problems
 Field Length Data Types

int 4 bytes, values range from 2 billion

char is number of bytes in parentheses

Reserves that much space for fields
nchar is for international (Unicode) applications

varchar is for variable length text fields

Only uses as much space as is needed for each
field (saves space in database)
Use nvarchar for international applications

decimal (x, y) is more accurate than float for

decimal values (x=total digits, y=decimals)

Can have missing values with Allow Nulls

Never allow ID field value to be missing!
 Detach Database

Right-click Olympics (database name) in

Object Explorer>Facets>select and copy
PrimaryFilePath>OK

Open File Explorer and paste that path into

address box

Close the Design and/or Edit windows on the

right of Management studio>right-click
Olympics>Tasks>Detach>check Drop>OK

Close Management Studio

 Move SQL Server Database

Select and Cut Olympics.mdf and

Olympics_log.ldf files in Windows Explorer

Create a new folder named cis338 on the C:\

drive

Then paste the two files into that directory

 Microsoft Access 2007

File for following instructions: olympics.csv

Start>All Programs>Microsoft Office>

Microsoft Office Access 2007

Click Blank database>name it

olympics.accdb>browse to C:\cis338 [thanks
to Rafael Robles] folder and Save the file in
that directory>Click Create
 Microsoft Access Data Fields

Click External Data tab>click Import text file

icon>Import the source data into a new
table>browse to olympics.csv file>OK>
Delimited>Next>Comma>Next>

Change Field Names to Country, Gold, Silver,

Bronze, Pop
Make Country be Text, the medals be Integer, and
Pop be Double>Next

Let Access add primary key>Next

Leave Table name as Olympics>Finish>Close

Close Table1>Exit Access

 Restart Visual Basic Project

Double click the Olympics-SQL.sln file in

Olympics-SQL folder on the Desktop to
restart Visual Studio 2008

Click Form1 in Solution Explorer and then the

icon to view it in the designer window

Right-click Form1 in designer window>

Properties
Change (Name) to frmUI
Change Text to Olympics Data

Click and drag right side of Form to make it

wider
 Add Controls

Go to Form Designer window and drag the

following onto the following locations on Form:
Upper left: Label, set Text as Country
Under Label: ComboBox, (Name) cboCountries,
change DropDownStyle to Simple, Sorted to True,
Font to Courier New
To right of 1st Label: Label, set Text as # of Golds
Under 2nd Label: ListBox, (Name) lstGolds
Click Items (Collection) in lstGolds and type 1
through 10 on separate rows>OK
 More Controls

Add a CheckBox to right of 2nd Label with

(Name) = chkPop, Text = Populous?
Put * separate Buttons below each control
Name them btnCountry, btnGolds, btnPop and set
the Text for each as Select
Add two more Buttons: btnClear and btnExit, with
Text of Clear and Exit

* grammar error (superfluous a) spotted by Cameron

Berlino
 Output ListBox

Add another ListBox stretching across the

bottom of the Form, (Name) lstOutputs
Add label over it: Text=Countries G S B Pop
Set ListBox Font to Courier New so that outputs
will line up in columns

Align controls and Labels to look

professional
 Add a Module: Data Tier

Project>Add Module>Name: DataSS.vb>OK

Type: Imports System.Data.SqlClient above the
Module statement

Imports System.Data.OleDb 'Use for MS Access
Below the Module statement, type:
Private pads() As Integer = {19, 3, 3, 3, 7}
Public Function AcquireData(ByVal queryStr As
String, ByVal startSize As Integer) As ArrayList
Then hit Enter to generate End Function
 Add Variable Declarations

Type the following in the new Function

Dim alsData As ArrayList
Dim da As SqlDataAdapter '*
Dim ds As DataSet
Dim con As SqlConnection '**
Dim dr As DataRow
Dim dc As DataColumn
Dim rowData As String

'* OleDbDataAdapter for Access

'** OleDbConnection for Access
 Add Code for Database

Below the declarations, type following lines:

ds = New DataSet
con = New SqlConnection 'OleDbConnection
con.ConnectionString = "server=(local)\SQLEXPRESS;
AttachDbFilename=" & "C:\cis338\Olympics.mdf;" &
"Integrated Security=True;"
'or Olympics.dbo if that's the file type
'or con.ConnectionString =
"Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" &
"C:\cis338\Olympics.accdb;" [thanks to Karla Lopez]
 More Code for Database
con.Open()
da = New SqlDataAdapter(queryStr, con)
'OleDbDataAdapter

da.Fill(ds) 'da.Fill(ds, "Olympics")

 Add Code to Load ArrayList

Next, type:
alsData = New ArrayList(startSize)
Dim i as Integer 'move up into other declations
For Each dr In ds.Tables(0).Rows
rowData = ""
For Each dc In ds.Tables(0).Columns
rowData += Trim(dr(dc).ToString()).PadRight(pads(i)) '*
i += 1
Next
i=0
alsData.Add(rowData)
Next
* will need to use PadLeft for left padding numbers
 Finish Function and Module

Type:
con.Close()
da = Nothing
ds = Nothing
Return alsData
 Code the Form

Double-click the Form in the designer

Add the following declaration above the

frmUI_Load Sub:
Private alsData As ArrayList

Add the following code to the frmUI_Load

Sub
alsData = DataSS.AcquireData("select Country
from Olympics order by Country", 80)
For Each item In alsData
cboCountries.Items.Add(Trim(item.ToString))
Next
 Test the Data Tier and Form

Double click the Exit button on the Form and

then put the word End in the generated Sub

Now run the code and make corrections if

necessary
might be easier to just copy code from this
PowerPoint over again where problems are
found
and/or look at code/copy from Sample Code zip
 Add a Module: Business Tier

Project>Add Module>name BizTier.vb>OK

Type code below the Module statement:

Private Const COUNTRY_FIELD As String = "
Country "
Private Const ALL_FIELDS As String = " * "
Private Const COUNTRY_COUNT As Integer = 80
'default ArrayList size
Private Const SIZE_FACTOR As Integer = 3
'for reducing ArrayList size for selections
 Code a Function

Type the following below the declarations

shown on previous slide:
Public Function GetData(ByVal whatData As
String, Optional ByVal whatCriteria As String = "",
Optional ByVal whatCompare As String = "=") As
ArrayList

With cursor at end of above line, hit Enter to

generate End Function
 Declare and Initialize

Type the following code within the Function:

Dim selectors As String
Dim fromArg As String
Dim orderArg As String
Dim dataSize As Integer
Dim dataSizeSmaller As Integer
Dim sqlStr As String = ""

selectors = " select Country "

fromArg = " from Olympics "
orderArg = " order by Country; "
 Add Selection Code

Type:
dataSizeSmaller = CInt(COUNTRY_COUNT /
SIZE_FACTOR) 'reduces default size

If whatData = "formLoad" Then

sqlStr = selectors & fromArg & orderArg
dataSize = COUNTRY_COUNT
Else
selectors += ", Gold, Silver, Bronze, Pop"
dataSize = dataSizeSmaller
 More Selection Code

Type:
If whatData = "country" Then
sqlStr = selectors & fromArg & " where
Country " & whatCompare & "'" & whatCriteria &
"'" & orderArg
dataSize = dataSizeSmaller
ElseIf whatData = "population" Then
sqlStr = selectors & fromArg & " where
Pop " & whatCompare & whatCriteria & orderArg
 Finish Coding BizTier Module

Type:
ElseIf whatData = "golds" Then
sqlStr = selectors & fromArg & " where Gold "
& whatCompare & whatCriteria & orderArg
End If
End If

Type the following just above End Function:

Console.WriteLine(sqlStr) 'for debugging
Return DataSS.AcquireData(sqlStr, dataSize)

Run the code and fix any compilation errors

Note: you won't get any output yet
Add Code for Form Selections

In the frmUI.vb file, add the following lines

just below the Class statement at top of file:
Private selector As String
Private comparer As String

Replace the line for loading the ArrayList

from the DataSQL Module in the frmUI_Load
Sub (starts with alsData =) with :
alsData = BizTier.GetData("formLoad")

In the design window, double-click all of the

buttons to generate Subs for their code
 Add Code to Clear Selections

Add a Sub to clear selections:

Private Sub ClearSelections()
lstOutputs.SelectedItem = Nothing
lstGolds.SelectedItem = Nothing
cboCountries.SelectedItem = Nothing
chkPop.Checked = False
End Sub

Put following into Sub for btnClear:

ClearSelections()
lstOutputs.DataSource = Nothing 'clears outputs
 Add Country Selection Code

Put following into Sub to select countries:

If cboCountries.SelectedIndex = -1 Then
MessageBox.Show("Please select a country)
Else
selector =
cboCountries.SelectedItem.ToString.Replace("'", "''")
'single quote in 1st string, 2 single quotes in 2nd
lstOutputs.DataSource =
BizTier.GetData("country", selector, "=")
lstOutputs.DataSource =
BizTier.GetData("country", selector, "=")
cboCountries.SelectedItem = selector 'restore this
End If
 Add Gold Medal Selections

Add the following code for btnGolds:

If lstGolds.SelectedIndex = -1 Then
MessageBox.Show("Please select number of
gold medals")
Else
selector = lstGolds.SelectedItem.ToString
comparer = "="
lstOutputs.DataSource = BizTier.GetData("golds",
selector, comparer)
ClearSelections()
lstGolds.SelectedItem = selector
End If
Add Large Population Selection

Add the following code for btnPop:

Dim bigPop As Boolean
comparer = ""
bigPop = chkPop.Checked
If bigPop Then
comparer = ">="
Else
comparer = "<"
End If
lstOutputs.DataSource =
BizTier.GetData("population", "100", comparer)
ClearSelections()
chkPop.Checked = bigPop
 Test and Fine Tune

Run the code and test all the buttons and

selection possibilities
Be sure to verify that current selections stay
visible but all others are cleared on each click
Verify that the outputs data is correct for each
selection
Be sure that every Button gets clicked several
times before you click the Exit button

Fine tune form appearance and usability

Appearance should be pleasing and professional
Form should be easy and natural to use
Form should be as compact as possible for user