Chapter 1. Getting Started with ADO.NET

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to:

✓Identify the primary objects that make up Microsoft ADO.NET are and how they interact

✓Create Connection and DataAdapter objects by using the DataAdapter Configuration Wizard

✓Automatically generate a DataSet

✓Bind control properties to a DataSet

✓Load data into a DataSet at run time

Like other components of the .NET Framework, ADO.NET consists of a set of objects that interact to provide the required functionality. Unfortunately, this can make learning to use the object model frustrating—you feel like you need to learn all of it before you can understand any of it.

The solution to this problem is to start by building a conceptual framework. In other words, before you try to learn the details of how any particular object functions, you need to have a general understanding of what each object does and how the objects interact.

That’s what we’ll do in this chapter. We’ll start by looking at the main ADO.NET objects and how they work together to get data from a physical data store, to the user, and back again. Then, just to whet your appetite, we’ll work through building a set of objects and binding them to a simple data form.