Mastering Visual Basic .NET Database Programming - Softcover

Petroutsos, Evangelos; Bilgin, Asli

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0782128785 ISBN 13: 9780782128789

Publisher: Sybex, 2002

Synopsis

Enter a New World of Database Programming

Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET facilitate the development of a new generation of database applications, including disconnected applications that run on the Web. Mastering Visual Basic .NET Database Programming is the resource you need to thrive in this new world. Assuming no prior experience with database programming, this book teaches you every aspect of the craft, from GUI design to server development to middle-tier implementation. If you're familiar with earlier versions of ADO, you'll master the many new features of ADO.NET all the more quickly. You'll also learn the importance of XML within the new .NET paradigm.

Coverage includes:

• Getting familiar with the ADO.NET object model
• Using the data access wizards
• Taking advantage of new SQL Server 2000 features
• Carrying out XSL Transformations and XPath queries
• Generating XML using the T-SQL FOR XML statement
• Binding controls to ADO.NET result sets
• Arriving at a sound database design
• Tuning your SQL Server 2000 database
• Using the XML Designer in Visual Studio .NET
• Leveraging the data access tools available in the Visual Studio .NET IDE
• Working with .NET data providers
• Choosing between streaming data and caching data
• Working with the Data Form Wizard in Visual Studio .NET
• Using advanced ADO.NET techniques
• Building a threaded application
• Using .NET's advanced exception handling capabilities
• Using the .NET Deployment Project Template

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

About this title

About the Author

Evangelos Petroutsos is a computer engineer who gained much of his experience at the California Institute of Technology and MCI. Currently, he writes computer books and works as a computer communications consultant. He has authored and co-authored dozens of programming titles, including the best-selling Mastering Visual Basic 6, Visual Basic 6 Developer’s Handbook, and Mastering Database Programming with Visual Basic 6, all from Sybex.

Asli Bilgin, MCSD, is a .NET Technical Evangelist for Plural (www.plural.com), where she consults for Fortune 500 companies implementing enterprise solutions using Microsoft technologies. She speaks at conferences for emerging technologies and is a contributing editor to the ElementK Journals Inside Visual Basic and SQL Server Solutions.

Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET facilitate the development of a new generation of database applications, including disconnected applications that run on the Web. Mastering Visual Basic .NET Database Programming is the resource you need to thrive in this new world. Assuming no prior experience with database programming, this book teaches you every aspect of the craft, from GUI design to server development to middle-tier implementation. If you’re familiar with earlier versions of ADO, you’ll master the many new features of ADO.NET all the more quickly. You'll also learn the importance of XML within the new .NET paradigm.

Coverage includes:

• Getting familiar with the ADO.NET object model
• Using the data access wizards
• Taking advantage of new SQL Server 2000 features
• Carrying out XSL Transformations and XPath queries
• Generating XML using the T-SQL FOR XML statement
• Binding controls to ADO.NET result sets
• Arriving at a sound database design
• Tuning your SQL Server 2000 database
• Using the XML Designer in Visual Studio .NET
• Leveraging the data access tools available in the Visual Studio .NET IDE
• Working with .NET data providers
• Choosing between streaming data and caching data
• Working with the Data Form Wizard in Visual Studio .NET
• Using advanced ADO.NET techniques
• Building a threaded application
• Using .NET’s advanced exception handling capabilities
• Using the .NET Deployment Project Template

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Part 1: Database Concepts

This book is organized in four parts. The first part discusses the basics of databases: how to design them, how to manipulate them with SQL, and how to use Transact-SQL (a programming language built into SQL Server).

In the first few chapters of the book, you ll read about the structure of relational databases and how to design them. Chapter 1, Database Access: Architectures and Technologies, is a great chapter because it provides a strategic overview of what the .NET Framework is and how it affects the world of data access. In the following chapters, you ll find detailed discussions of SQL and the sample databases you re going to use in later chapters. We don t limit our topics to SQL Server 2000. You ll also find an extensive, yet high-level, overview of the many visual database tools within Visual Studio .NET. This will pave the way for working with the examples later in the book.

A good deal of the first part of the book is devoted to SQL and T-SQL. As a database programmer, you can t afford to skip these topics. SQL enables you to access any database; T-SQL will help you make the most of SQL Server.

Part 2: Database Programming

The second part of the book continues your exploration of SQL, specifically honing in on the T-SQL language. At this point, now that you ve learned the fundamental principles of designing relational databases, it s time to move on to writing code to manipulate the data and database objects. In Part 2, you will first explore the T-SQL language that is used by SQL Server to generate DML statements and stored procedures. You ll see the advantage of using stored procedures over ad-hoc SQL statements by actually creating and testing sample business rules using stored procedures. You ll learn new SQL Server 2000 features, such as user-defined functions and enhanced trigger functionality.

ADO.NET is the fundamental data access engine for relational stores such as SQL Server. You ll learn how to leverage the ADO.NET object model to retrieve results in both relational and hierarchical form. You ll see how XML fits into Microsoft s data access strategy. Additionally, you ll understand the different models for retrieving data: cached and streamed. For those of you who have worked with previous versions of ADO, you ll see the differences between classic ADO and ADO.NET, as well as gain insight whether migration to ADO.NET is right for you. You ll walk through tangible examples of retrieving and updating data by using ADO.NET, as well as working with the new relational model between ADO.NET DataTables. You ll learn about more advanced features of ADO.NET, such as filtering, searching, and working with the DataView object.

In Part 2, you ll work closely with the DataSet object, building schemas on the fly, as well as leveraging the data binding techniques with .NET user interface controls. You ll examine and manipulate the components of the DataSet, such as the DataTable, DataRow, and DataColumn objects. By the end of this part, you ll have a solid understanding of what you can do with ADO.NET and should have no problem designing and building your own ADO.NET applications.

Finally, you ll also begin exploring XML s role in the .NET paradigm. You ll see practical examples of retrieving data and schema by using ADO.NET and manipulating them by using the VS .NET XML Designer. You ll explore the System.Xml namespace and understand how to load data not only from relational databases, but from XML data files as well. Chapter 10, The Role of XML, explores the strategic role of XML within disconnected architecture and examines the new XML-related SQL Server 2000 features.

Part 3: Advanced Data Services

The first two parts of the book provide the material you need to design and create a database system by using the .NET platform. In Part 3, you will build upon this foundation by learning the advanced feature-sets within the .NET Framework.

You will learn how to secure the quality of your systems with efficient exception handling. You ll understand how asynchronous operations work using the System.Threading namespace. For those of you who have worked with classic ADO, you ll realize that the landscape for asynchronous operations has changed quite dramatically. Even if you ve never worked with threaded applications, you ll see the importance of understanding the event model in the .NET Framework, with ADO.NET as a classic example.

Part 3 of the book also expands upon your knowledge of XML, which is introduced in Part 2. You ll learn about the satellite technologies, which surround XML, such as the XPath query language and XSL Transformations. You ll see quite amazing stuff, such as how you can query a SQL Server 2000 database by using simply XML and HTTP via a browser.

Part 3 brings together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle by introducing and outlining the middle tier. For those of you who are new to the .NET Framework, you ll learn important .NET architectural considerations, such as assemblies and manifests.

Additionally, you ll learn about advanced SQL Server 2000 functionality, such as replication, SQL Profiler, Query Optimizer and the Index Tuning Wizard. All these considerations will not only help you design, but also tune your database for maximum performance and efficiency.

Part 4: Data Access From the Web

Each day, more and more companies are making use of the Internet, either building commercial sites or designing web applications that allow employees to access the corporate database through the Web.

In the fourth part of this book, you ll learn how to build web applications that access a database using ADO.NET. You ll learn how to build web-based front-ends as well as Web Services in the middle tier. You ll learn how to work with server-side controls such as the DataGrid and DataList controls. No VB .NET book would be complete without an explanation of how you would deploy your application. You ll learn about the robust deployment projects available in VS .NET, as well as understand the implications of building distributed database systems.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sybex
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0782128785
• ISBN 13: 9780782128789
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 960