INTRODUCTION TO ADO.NET ADO.NET is the part of the .

NET Framework that connects applications to data sources and lets you retrieve and update the contained data. ADO.NET supports a variety of different data sources, including relational databases such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Microsoft Access, as well as other data sources such as Microsoft Excel, Outlook, and text files. A .NET Framework data provider is used to connect to a data source, execute commands, and retrieve results.
Data providers included in the .NET Framework

.NET Framework data provider SQL Server OLE DB ODBC Oracle

Data source access Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 or later Data sources using OLE DB Data sources using ODBC Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or later

ADO.NET has both connected and disconnected classes. The connected classes let you retrieve and update data in underlying data sources. The disconnected classes let you access and manipulate offline the data you retrieved using the connected classes and later synchronize it with the underlying data source using the connected class.

Each data provider is responsible for implementing the connected classes. A brief description of each follows: Connection A unique session with the data source. A Connection specifies necessary authentication information needed to connect to a data source. The Connection object is specific to the type of data sourcefor example, the .NET Framework data provider for SQL Server includes the SqlConnection class. Command Issues database commands against the data source using an established Connection. The CommandText property of the Command class contains the SQL statement, stored procedure name, or table name executed at the data source. The Command object is specific to the type of data sourcefor example, the .NET Framework data provider for SQL Server includes the SqlCommand object. DataReader

Retrieves a forward-only, read-only data stream from a data source. The DataReader object is specific to the type of data sourcefor example, the .NET Framework data provider for SQL Server includes the SqlDataReader object. DataAdapter Bridges the connected classes with the disconnected classes by retrieving data from a data source and filling a (disconnected) DataSet. The DataAdapter also updates the data source with changes made to a disconnected DataSet. The DataAdapter uses the Connection object to connect the data source and up to four Command objects to retrieve data from and resolve changes (i.e., update, insert, and delete rows) to the data source. The DataAdapter object is specific to the type of data sourcefor example, the .NET Framework data provider for SQL Server includes the SqlDataAdapter object. The disconnected classes are part of the ADO.NET classes in the .NET Framework. They provide a consistent programming model regardless of the data source or data provider. The disconnected classes include: DataSet An in-memory cache of data retrieved from the data source. The DataSet exhibits similar properties to an in-memory relational databasefor example, data is organized into multiple tables using DataTable objects, tables can be related using DataRelation objects, and data integrity can be enforced using the constraint objects UniqueConstraint and ForeignKeyConstraint. The DataSet retains no information about the source of the data used to fill it with data. It maintains both current and original versions of data allowing the data source to be updated with changes at some future time. Disconnected data classes (DataSet and DataTable) are serializable. This supports transport-independent marshaling between application tiers and across a distributed application. You can also use these classes to persist data independently of a database. DataTable A single table of in-memory data that can exist independently or as part of a collection of DataTable objects in a DataSet. DataColumn The schema of a column in a DataTable. DataRow A row of data in the DataTable.

DataView A data-bindable view of a DataTable used for custom sorting, filtering, searching, editing, and navigation. DataRelation A parent/child relationship between two DataTable objects in a DataSet.

Constraint A constraint on one or more columns in a DataTable used to maintain data integrity. A constraint is either a UniqueConstraint that ensures that a column or collection of Column objects are unique within a DataTable or a ForeignKeyConstraint that represents an action restriction on one or more columns in a relationship in a DataTable when a value or row is either updated or deleted. ADO.NET and XML converge in .NET. You can save the DataSet as an XML document, or fill it from an XML document. You can access and modify data simultaneously using both the DataSet classes and XML classes.