Databases, SQL, and

ADO.NET (part 1)
 Objectives

“The majority of today's applications revolve around relational

databases and the SQL programming language (Structured Query
Language). In .NET, ADO.NET (Active Data Objects) is the
primary means of database programming. ADO.NET is a vendor-
neutral, object-oriented, SQL-based approach.”

• Overview of relational databases, DBMSs, and SQL

• ADO.NET
• Reading a database
• Modifying a database

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 Part 1

• Overview of relational databases and SQL…

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 Relational databases
DB
• Most of today's databases are relational:
– database contains 1 or more tables
– table contains 1 or more records
– record contains 1 or more fields
– field contains data, or NULL

• So why is it called "relational"?

– tables are related (joined) based on common fields

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 Example

• Here's a simple database for tracking sales:

– 3 tables, related by primary keys (CID, OID, PID)
– primary keys (in boldface) are unique record identifiers

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 Database management systems

• A DBMS consists of 2 main pieces:

– the data
– the DB engine

DB Data
request
Engine

– the data is typically stored in one or more files

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 Common types of DBMS

• Two most common types of DBMS are:

– Local
– Server

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 Local DBMS

• A local DBMS is where DB engine lives within client

DB Data
Engine

client process

• Example?
– MS Access
– underlying DB engine is JET ("Joint Engine Technology")

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 Server DBMS

• A server DBMS is where DB engine runs as a separate process

– typically on a different machine (i.e. server)

network? DB Data
Engine

server
client

– Examples?
• MS SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, MySQL

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 Structured Query Language

• SQL is the standard language of relational databases

– SQL is written in the form of queries
– action queries insert, update & delete data
– select queries retrieve data from DB

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 Select queries

• Select queries retrieve data w/o changing DB

– you specify what data
– you specify which table(s) to pull from
– you specify under what conditions to retrieve data (if any)
– you specify how to present data (if any)

• Key concept:
– what you get back is another (temporary) table!

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 Example

• Select all customers, in no particular order:

Select * From Customers;

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 Example #2

• Select all customers with a balance, in sorted order:

Select * From Customers

Where Balance > 0.0
Order By LastName Asc, FirstName Asc;

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 Computed fields

• SQL is a programming language, so it can do computation

• Example:
– compute # of customers, average balance, and max balance

Select count(*) as COUNT,

avg(Balance) as AVG,
max(Balance) as MAX
From Customers;

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 Joins

• You have to "join" tables when you want to combine data

• Example:
– what's the name of the customer that placed order #12351?
– we need to join Customers table with Orders table…

Select FirstName, LastName From Customers

Inner Join Orders On Customers.CID = Orders.CID
Where Orders.OID = 12351;

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 Nested queries

• Often you need to nest queries

• Example:
– what products have been ordered by "Jim Bag"?
– requires 2 steps:
1. TEMP = join Orders with Customers to get his orders
2. then join Products with TEMP to get product names

Select Distinct Name From Products

Inner Join
(Select PID From Orders
Inner Join Customers On Orders.CID = Customers.CID
Where FirstName = 'Jim' and LastName = 'Bag') as TEMP
On Products.PID = TEMP.PID
Order By Name Asc;

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 Part 2

• ADO.NET and read-only database access…

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 Architecture

• ADO.NET architecture based on data providers

– data providers encapsulate DB-specific implementation details

.NET
Programmer

ADO.NET

Data Provider

DB

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 Existing data providers

• .NET currently ships with 3 data providers:

– one for Microsoft SQL Server
– one for Oracle (written by Microsoft)
– one for everyone else

• More are available from vendors themselves…

– Oracle
– DB2
– etc.

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 ADO.NET object model

• ADO.NET is based on OOP

• Classes are spread across a number of FCL namespaces
– some are provider-neutral, others are provider-specific

provider-
System.Data neutral

System.Data.Common
SQL Server
System.Data.SqlClient
other
DBs
System.Data.OleDb

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 Overview of database access

• Three steps:
1. open connection to database
2. execute SQL to update DB / retrieve records
3. close connection

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 Step 1: open connection

• Connections are opened based on connection string info

– here we open a connection to a MS Access 2000 database
– "Sales.mdb" must exist in same dir as .EXE (e.g. bin\Debug)

using System.Data;
using System.Data.OleDb;

string sConnection;
sConnection = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" +
"Data Source=Sales.mdb";
connection
OleDbConnection dbConn;
dbConn = new OleDbConnection(sConnection);
dbConn.Open();

MessageBox.Show( dbConn.State.ToString() );

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 Building connection strings

• Connection strings are vendor-specific, not well-documented

• Where to turn for help?
– www.connectionstrings.com
– www.able-consulting.com/ADO_conn.htm

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 Step 2: retrieve records

• Retrieve records via SQL Select query

– read-only access via data reader & field names

string sql; Customer c;

sql = "Select * From Customers Order By LastName Asc, FirstName Asc;";

OleDbCommand dbCmd; command connection

dbCmd = new OleDbCommand();
dbCmd.CommandText = sql; record
record
dbCmd.Connection = dbConn; data reader
record

OleDbDataReader dbReader;
dbReader = dbCmd.ExecuteReader();

while (dbReader.Read()) { // retrieve records 1-by-1...

c = new Customer(dbReader["LastName"].ToString(), ...);
this.listBox1.Items.Add(c);
} field name of data value in current
record

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 Step 3: close connection

• Be sure to close reader and connection…

– to flush pending updates (in general)
– so others can access DB (connections are limited resources)

dbReader.Close();
dbConn.Close();

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 Guaranteed close?

• Ensure reader & DB are closed via Try-Catch-Finally:

OleDbConnection dbConn = null;

OleDbDataReader dbReader = null;

try {
dbConn = new OleDbConnection(sConnection);
dbConn.Open();
.
.
.
}
catch(Exception ex) {
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Call stack: " + ex.StackTrace);
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("DB Error: " + ex.Message);
throw ex;
}
finally {
if (dbReader != null) dbReader.Close();
if ((dbConn != null) && (dbConn.State != ConnectionState.Closed))
dbConn.Close();
}

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 Part 3

• Modifying a database…

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 Action queries

• Action queries update a database

• Main actions are insert, update, and delete
– note date and string values require special delimiters in SQL
– bad things happen if you forget them…

Insert Into Orders(OID, CID, PID, Quantity, DateOfPurchase)

Values(33411, 14, 1, 1, #06-01-2003#);

Update Customers
Set CreditLimit = 40000000000.0, Balance = 0.0
Where LastName = 'Gates' and FirstName = 'Bill';

Delete From Customers Where CID = 666;

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 Example #1

• Example:
– delete selected customer…

string sql; int result; Customer c;

c = (Customer) this.listBox1.SelectedItem;
sql = String.Format("Delete From Customers Where CID={0};", c.ID);

OleDbCommand dbCmd;
dbCmd = new OleDbCommand();
dbCmd.CommandText = sql;
dbCmd.Connection = dbConn;

dbConn.Open();
result = dbCmd.ExecuteNonQuery(); // perform deletion
dbConn.Close();

if (result != 1)
throw new Exception("Query ran, but failed to delete customer?");

this.listBox1.Items.Remove(c); // update GUI as well

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 Example #2

• Delete customer based on full name…

string sql, sFormat;

c = (Customer) this.listBox1.SelectedItem;

sFormat = "Delete From Customers Where FirstName='{0}' and LastName='{1}';" ;

sql = String.Format(sFormat, c.FirstName, c.LastName);

.
. // execute as before…
.

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 Summary

• Just the tip of the iceberg…

– really just scratched the surface of ADO.NET

• There's lots more to discuss:

– design considerations?
– reducing the load on the database server?
– stored procedures?
– transactions?
– ...

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