Introduction

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ADO.NET is more than just the next version of ADO; to date, it's the most powerful set of data retrieval and data manipulation tools available. Using ADO.NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework, you can create powerful data-driven ASP.NET and Windows Forms applications. ADO.NET is much more robust and scalable "out of the box" than any of its predecessors.

Sams Teach Yourself ADO.NET in 24 Hours breaks ADO.NET into 24 bite- sized hours, each designed to present a single task-oriented ADO.NET topic. At the end of each hour you'll find a question-and-answer section, and a workshop consisting of a brief quiz and an exercise. The workshop is designed to test your comprehension of the current hour , as well as reinforce the concepts presented in previous hours.

As with most computer books, the topics are presented with progressively more difficulty. The book begins by presenting fundamental concepts such as the ADO.NET base objects, including the DataSet and DataTable . Then you'll see how to connect to your data source, retrieve data, and save that data back to the data source. Later hours build on the knowledge presented in earlier chapters to tackle topics such as stored procedures, data binding, error handling, and using Web services to send a DataSet to a remote application. In addition, extensive examples are presented in each hour so that the readers can sink their teeth into real-life code and reap the benefits of the concepts quickly. Practice makes perfect!

ADO.NET concepts apply to many different types of applications including Web forms and Windows forms. This book utilizes examples of both types. Though not required, to get the most out of this book you should be familiar with the rudiments of ASP.NET or Windows Forms. Some knowledge of T-SQL would also be helpful, but don't worry if you're a little rusty: Hour 3 provides a brief tutorial on building SQL statements, to get you up to speed even if you've never built a SQL query before.

Additionally, though no previous knowledge of ADO is assumed, several references are made throughout the book comparing ADO to ADO.NET. If you've developed applications in Visual Basic 6.0 or ASP using ADO, you should feel right at home learning ADO.NET.

Because ADO.NET is, at the most basic level, just a set of classes in the Microsoft .NET Framework, it is purely agnostic with regard to programming languages and development environments. Most of the examples in this book are presented in Visual Basic .NET only. However, whenever you see a set of code for the first time, the example will normally be followed by the same example written in C#. Likewise, many examples are presented as ASP.NET Web forms created using Notepad. However, the ADO.NET code can easily be stripped out of the Web form and placed into a Windows Forms application, and the reverse. In hours that cover Windows Forms applications, the examples are created in Visual Studio .NET.

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