Summary

In this chapter we've introduced you to most of the ways that Web Matrix provides us with support for working with databases when we build ASP.NET pages. The Data Explorer window allows you to connect to a database server, create databases and tables and fill them with data, and modify existing tables and data.

We used the Data Explorer window to build the database for our Cornflakes at Midnight website, and to add a table that holds details of our discs. We also populated this table with a couple of rows, and showed you how we can query this data and display it. This included building a stored procedure that extracts the data in a specific format, and we then ran this stored procedure by adapting one of the existing example pages that Web Matrix can create for us.

The topics we covered are:

• Taking a look at the Data Explorer in Web Matrix

• Connecting to an existing database and showing some data

• Creating a new database for our Cornflakes at Midnight website

• Adding a table to the database and putting some data in it

• Creating a stored procedure and using it to extract the data

In the next chapter, we'll continue the data theme, but we'll be looking at more practical tasks. We'll use the database we've created to build some ASP.NET pages from scratch that can display the data, using the controls that are part of the .NET Framework, or which are supplied with Web Matrix