Summary

In this chapter you learned about the ADO.NET model class hierarchy. ADO.NET consists of three general namespaces and many data provider namespaces. There are two general namespaces—System.Data and System.Data.Common—and a SQL Server-specific namespace called System.Data.SqlTypes. The System.Data namespace defines classes that are the basic building clocks of the ADO.NET model. The System.Data.Common namespace defines classes shared by all data providers. The System.SqlTypes namespace defines classes that convert from SQL native data types to .NET data types.

You can divide ADO.NET classes into two categories: disconnected and connected. You can use disconnected classes with or without data providers, but connected classes work with the data providers. Some of the disconnected classes are DataSet, DataTable, DataRow, DataColumn, DataView, and DataViewManager.

In this chapter, you saw how to work with these disconnected classes. You learned how to create in-memory tables with the help of the DataTable, DataRow, and DataColumn classes. After that you worked with the DataView, DataSet, and DataViewManager classes.

Chapter 4 covers the ADO.NET data providers and working with ADO.NET in a connected environment.