Count number of records...

I am at a loss here... (Visual Studio 2012 VB, MSSQL 2008)

Is there a way to count the number of records in a sqldatasource without displaying a grid on my page?

Code:

---

<asp:SqlDataSource ID="sqlMessages" runat="server" ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:DBConnectionString %>" SelectCommand="SELECT * FROM [Messages] WHERE ([SentTo] = @SentTo) ORDER BY [MessageDate] DESC">
      <SelectParameters>
            <asp:SessionParameter Name="SentTo" SessionField="MemberID" Type="Int32" />
      </SelectParameters>
</asp:SqlDataSource>

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How can I get the number of records that are returned? another question I have a field "MessageStatus" how can I get the number or records that are listed as "new" as well... Here is what I would like to display...

lblMessages.text = "Total Message: " WHAT DO I PUT HERE "Total New Messages: " WHAT DO I PUT HERE????

Why don't u use MSSQL with a good ol stored procedure?You have it installed anyway.It may be done i sqldatasource but i would urge you not to use this control.Also don't use "*" for selecting data, use the columns names.
The "as new" question, is blurry.What do you define as new?If you define a column named as messagestatus in sql then you can "select blah, form tableblah WHERE [SentTo] = @SentTo and messagestatus=1 order by etc etc.
Assuming that when messagestatus gets the number 1 then it's a new message,or unread message or something.