ADO.NET SQL Server Connection

To connect with SQL Server, we must have it installed in our system. We are using Microsoft SQL Server Management Tool to connect with the SQL Server. We can use this tool to handle database. Now, follow the following steps to connect with SQL Server.

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Tool

It will prompt for database connection. Provide the server name and authentication.



After successful connection, it displays the following window.


2. Creating Database

Now, create database by selecting database option then right click on it. It pops up an option menu and provides couple of options.



Click on the New Database then it will ask for the database name. Here, we have created a Student database.



Click on the Ok button then it will create a database that we can see in the left window of the below screenshot.


3. Establish connection and create a table

After creating database, now, let's create a table by using the following C# code. In this source code, we are using created student database to connect.

In visual studio 2017, we created a .NET console application project that contains the following C# code.

// Program.cs

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace AdoNetConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            new Program().CreateTable();
        }
        public void CreateTable()
        {
            SqlConnection con = null;
            try
            {
                // Creating Connection
                con = new SqlConnection("data source=.; database=student; integrated security=SSPI");
                // writing sql query
                SqlCommand cm = new SqlCommand("create table student(id int not null, 
				name varchar(100), email varchar(50), join_date date)", con);
                // Opening Connection
                con.Open();
                // Executing the SQL query
                cm.ExecuteNonQuery();
                // Displaying a message
                Console.WriteLine("Table created Successfully");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("OOPs, something went wrong."+e);
            }
            // Closing the connection
            finally
            {
                con.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

Execute this code using Ctrl+F5. After executing, it displays a message to the console as below.



We can see the created table in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio also. It shows the created table as shown below.



See, we have a table here. Initially, this table is empty so we need to insert data into it.

4. Insert Data into the Table

// Program.cs

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace AdoNetConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            new Program().CreateTable();
        }
        public void CreateTable()
        {
            SqlConnection con = null;
            try
            {
                // Creating Connection
                con = new SqlConnection("data source=.; database=student; integrated security=SSPI");
                // writing sql query
                SqlCommand cm = new SqlCommand("insert into student
				(id, name, email, join_date)values('101','Ronald Trump','ronald@example.com','1/12/2017')", con);
                // Opening Connection
                con.Open();
                // Executing the SQL query
                cm.ExecuteNonQuery();
                // Displaying a message
                Console.WriteLine("Record Inserted Successfully");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("OOPs, something went wrong."+e);
            }
            // Closing the connection
            finally
            {
                con.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

Execute this code by using Ctrl+F5 and it will display the following output.


5. Retrieve Record

Here, we will retrieve the inserted data. Look at the following C# code.

// Program.cs

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace AdoNetConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            new Program().CreateTable();
        }
        public void CreateTable()
        {
            SqlConnection con = null;
            try
            {
                // Creating Connection
                con = new SqlConnection("data source=.; database=student; integrated security=SSPI");
                // writing sql query
                SqlCommand cm = new SqlCommand("Select * from student", con);
                // Opening Connection
                con.Open();
                // Executing the SQL query
                SqlDataReader sdr = cm.ExecuteReader();
                // Iterating Data
                while (sdr.Read())
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(sdr["id"] + " " + sdr["name"]+" "+sdr["email"]); // Displaying Record
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("OOPs, something went wrong.\n"+e);
            }
            // Closing the connection
            finally
            {
                con.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

Execute this code by Ctrl+F5 and it will produce the following result. This displays two records, one we inserted manually.

Output:


6. Deleting Record

This time student table contains two records. The following C# code delete one row from the table.

// Program.cs

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace AdoNetConsoleApplication
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            new Program().CreateTable();
        }
        public void CreateTable()
        {
            SqlConnection con = null;
            try
            {
                // Creating Connection
                con = new SqlConnection("data source=.; database=student; integrated security=SSPI");
                // writing sql query
                SqlCommand cm = new SqlCommand("delete from student where id = '101'", con);
                // Opening Connection
                con.Open();
                // Executing the SQL query
                cm.ExecuteNonQuery();
                Console.WriteLine("Record Deleted Successfully");
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("OOPs, something went wrong.\n"+e);
            }
            // Closing the connection
            finally
            {
                con.Close();
            }
        }
    }
}

Output:

It displays the following output.

We can verify it by retrieving data back by using SqlDataReader.