Introducing Datasets and Data Adapters

Summary

In this chapter, you learned the basics of datasets and data adapters. A dataset is a relational representation of data that has a collection of data tables, with each data table having collections of data rows and data columns. A data adapter is an object that controls how data is loaded into a dataset and how changes to the dataset data are propagated back to the data source.

You studied techniques to fill and access datasets, how to filter and sort data tables, and noted that though datasets are database-independent objects, disconnected operation isn’t the default mode. You learned how to propagate data modifications back to databases with parameterized SQL, how the issues of simultaneous user access may affect the way you write code, and the data adapter’s UpdateCommand, InsertCommand, and DeleteCommand properties. Finally, you saw how command builders can simplify single-table updates and how using typed datasets combine data with the XML schema, which defines it to make multiple-table access easier as long as those tables don’t change themselves in the meantime.

In the next chapter, you’ll start working with form-based applications, as we’ve now covered the basics of database interaction in .NET and it’s time to leave console applications behind. You’ll learn how to use the data you’ve queried for by binding it to controls and that these techniques apply equally to Windows Forms and Web Forms.