View Products Sample - Populate Dataset through ODP.NET using Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET)

Table of Contents

• Objective of the Sample Application
• Overview of the Sample Application
• User Notes with Screen Shots
• Required Software
• Extracting the Sample
• Database Setup
• Preparing and Running the sample
• Description of Sample Files

The purpose of this sample application is to demonstrate how to populate a DataSet through Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) using VB.NET .

ODP.NET offers faster and reliable access to Oracle Database by using Oracle Native APIs. ODP.NET provides features to access any .NET application. The data access through ODP.NET can be done using a collection of classes contained in Oracle.DataAccess assembly. Figure 1.1 describes how data is accessed using ODP.NET. 

Figure 1.1 Data Access Using ODP.NET 

DataSet is a major component of ADO.NET. It is an in-memory cache of the data retrieved from the database. OracleDataAdapter  represents a set of data commands and a database connection that is used to fill the DataSet based on the query given.  OracleCommand represents SQL statements to execute against datasource. OracleConnection is used to build the database connection. 

This Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) sample application displays a product catalog for a product store. When this sample is run, a list of products from database appears in a DataGrid (in tabular format). The DataGrid gets populated from a DataSet which is filled by a DataSource using OracleDataAdapter. Hence demonstrating how to populate DataSet through Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET). 

User Notes with Screen Shots

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When this sample application is run, a list of Products from database is displayed as shown in figure 1.2, on clicking the 'Close' button, the application gets closed. 

Figure 1.2: Screen Shot for DataSet Populate VB Sample 

• Visual Basic.NET (VB.NET) installed with MS Development Environment 7.0 version (MS Visual Studio .NET)  including MS .NET Framework 1.0 version  

• Oracle8i Database or later running SQL*Net TCP/IP listener (can be downloaded here )

• Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) (can be downloaded here )

Unzip DSPopulateVB.zip using Winzip or command utility to your convenient directory referred to as <Extract_Dir>. Extraction of the zip file results in the creation of 'DSPopulateVB' directory.  Refer Description of Sample Files section for more details.     

Connect to your database as any user and run the script <Extract_Dir>\DSPopulateVB\Setup\DatabaseSetup.sql at the SQL prompt
SQL> @<Extract_Dir>\DSPopulateVB\Setup\DatabaseSetup.sql

This script will prompt for the username, password and connectstring. You may choose any existing username. Products table will get created in specified users schema.

 

Preparing and Running the Sample

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1. Ensure that the Database setup has been completed. 

2. Open DSPopulateVB.sln using Visual Studio .NET from <Extract_Dir>\DSPopulateVB folder. 

3. Edit ConnectionParams.vb file to change the database connection parameters like username, password and TNSNames for the database.You need to input the same values of connection parameters as given while doing the Database Setup. Save this file. 

4. Ensure that the following .NET Component References have been added to DSPopulateVB project: 
          System, 
          System.Data, 
          System.Drawing, 
          System.Windows.Forms, 
          System.XML,
          Oracle.DataAccess. 

To add the above .NET Components 
a)Go to Menu ->View-> Solution Explorer. 
b)Right click on DSPopulateVB project, choose 'Add Reference'. 
c)Choose the above .NET Components from the list displayed. 
d)Click 'Select', then OK. 
e) The chosen .NET component gets added to the project. 

5. Build and run the sample.

Following is the directory structure of the DSPopulateVB.zip :

Please enter your comments about this sample in the OTN Sample Code Discussion Forum.