Chapter 3: Data Manipulation

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In This Chapter

In the previous chapter, you read about the ADO .NET components that allow .NET applications to interact with data sources. A complete reference was provided for the Connection, Command, DataReader, and DataAdapter components. These components are the primary interface to data sources in .NET programming. This chapter is about the second group of ADO .NET components that enables developers to manipulate data inside client applications:

• DataSet

• DataTable

• DataRow

• DataView

• DataColumn

A complete reference is available for the DataSet component.

Although these components are implemented as independent and stand-alone classes, they are all tightly integrated into the DataSet, which is the most instrumental part of the disconnected data access architecture of ADO .NET. For the sake of clarity and organization, the reference sections of this chapter treat each component independently. While a complete reference is provided on the DataSet component, the other components are briefly covered by the end of the chapter. Chapter 8 provides a more practical view of how all these components are organized to tell one story inside the DataSet component. It is important to keep in mind that the DataSet is an optimized and organized way to make the other components work together. For you to better understand the architectural design, the chapter focuses on the structural design of the DataSet component.