[RESOLVED] Ok Some Very Newbie Questions

Hi there...

I used to build VB apps like 4 years ago with VB 6.0 and using VBA with Access. I've since moved on to bigger and better things and I'm now a SQL Server Developer.

I've done a lot of cool things programming in SQL Server itself IE functions and stored procedures and using the Report Server to deploy our reports on our intranet.

However, I need to do some cooler things now. I need to be able to have my users update tables ... put in custom information in a form and send it back to the server to actually change values in tables and things.

I thought an easy way to do it would be to create a VB application. So, I had IT install the real version of Visual Studio 2005.

Here are my questions:

#1 Am I actually using VB.NET in Visual Studio 2005?
#2 I added a dataset to the windows application I started, and it put the connection information in as XML. Is that good? What can I do with this dataset?
#3 If I want to accomplish what I need to do ...should I be writing ADO to connect to the database? If so, do I use an ODBC type of connection or just standard ADO? I'm not entirely sure how to write a SQL Server 2005 connection string and then how I interact with it.

Sorry for the long post, but I've been out of the game for a long time and unfortunately, for me, programming is not like riding a bike... I do forget! I used to be able to just start writing VB but now I find myself at a loss.

The most I've gotten my application to do so far is display the contents of the table that I connected to. I have looked at the help files and tried to figure this stuff out...but I'm not sure if its tailored to the program that I'm using and what I specifically need to do.

Any help is appreciated.

Welcome to the forums. :wave:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amythyst

#1 Am I actually using VB.NET in Visual Studio 2005?

---

Yes

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amythyst

#3 If I want to accomplish what I need to do ...should I be writing ADO to connect to the database? If so, do I use an ODBC type of connection or just standard ADO?

---

You should be using ADO.NET - there is a tutorial on using this in our Tutorial section.

Thanks... I actually read the tutorial and I'm still confused. I downloaded the word document he sent but its connecting to an access database and I'm still confused on the syntax for connecting to a sql server.

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=469872


I think John did a pretty good job explaining in this post.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amythyst

Thanks... I actually read the tutorial and I'm still confused. I downloaded the word document he sent but its connecting to an access database and I'm still confused on the syntax for connecting to a sql server.

---

Are you looking for what you would use as a connection string?

You'll find this series of articles very handy indeed:

http://aspnet.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/040502-1.aspx

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hack

Are you looking for what you would use as a connection string?

---

Yes, I can't find the syntax for the connection string...every tutorial I look at just says "insert your connection string here"... but what if I dunno what it is ... lol.

Here is how I do it

vb.net Code:

Imports System.Data.SqlClient
 
Public myConnection As SqlConnection
 
Public Sub OpenDB()
        myConnection = New SqlConnection("Integrated Security=SSPI;" _
     & "Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=xxxxxx; " _
     & "Data Source=xxxxxxxxxx")
        myConnection.Open()
End Sub

For connection string info, bookmark this site:

http://www.connectionstrings.com/

Thanks! That's helpful.

What does this mean:
Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Also, when I use your syntax... it doesn't recognize anything...
It keeps saying that the syntax is wrong for Imports, SqlConnection, SqlCommand...

What am I doing wrong?

It is a reference to a class that contains all of the stuff that is required to connect to an SQL Server database.

What you "Import" will differ from database to database. For instance, that Import would not work if I were trying to connect to an Oracle database.

I actually didn't have to use that. I could have done this

vb.net Code:

Public Sub OpenDB()        
        myConnection = New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection("Integrated Security=SSPI;" _
     & "Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=pcds; " _
     & "Data Source=buddevdb")
        myConnection.Open()
End Sub

The results would have been the same.

Hmm... I must be missing something... I made an edit to my previous post... I'm getting a lot of syntax errors as it doesn't recognize these sql statements.

Post everything on your form.

I haven't even put any of my info in it yet but even pasting it in, it doesn't recognize these statements (I copied this from the tutorial page and I pasted in your connection string stuff):

Imports System.Data.SqlClient

Dim connection As New SqlConnection("Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=BAPROD;Data Source=Portales")
Dim command As New SqlCommand("INSERT INTO StockItem (Name, Quantity, Unit) VALUES (@Name, @Quantity, @Unit)", connection)

command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Name", someName)
command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Quantity", someQuantity)
command.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Unit", someUnit)
connection.Open(command.ExecuteNonQuery())
connection.Close()

The imports is underlined...the sqlconnection is underlined the command is underlined....sqlcommand is underlined...

Where is the Imports Statement? It need to be above any thing else in the Code section of the form (above the class declare).

First of all, make sure you use Option Strick On

Second, the Imports statement MUST go ABOVE Public Class YourFormName

If it is BELOW that, it will cause an error.

Also, is your code pasted into an event? Did you check out the link in post #4?

You need to add a reference in the project for System.Data.SQLClient.

Ok, I think I fixed it... duh. :)

One more question... I have the following code that works! Cause I checked the table in SQL Server.

Dim txtTest As Double

txtTest = Me.TextBox1.Text

Dim connection As New SqlConnection("Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=BAPROD;Data Source=Portales")
Dim command As New SqlCommand("UPDATE ThirteenWeek SET TradeReceivables = " & txtTest & " ", connection)

connection.Open()
command.ExecuteNonQuery()
connection.Close()

Me.DataGridView1.Refresh()

My question is with the DataGridView that I put on the form... it shows all the records from the table on the form... I tried to refresh it but it didn't work. Am I doing it wrong?

Well, it is getting the data from your database right?

What are you doing right before you are trying to refresh it?

(You are closing the connection to the database)

Yes, the datagrid is not using the database connection in this sub though. I had to add a datasource to the project to get the datagrid to work. Its using a connection string in the app.config

So, if I refresh it...shouldn't it refresh?

It will refresh by grabing a new copy of what is in your table, so if it can get to your table, it should refresh. If it can't, then it won't refresh.

Hmm well that doesn't help... it doesn't appear to do anything... the code doesn't error but it doesnt do anything. If you close it and reopen it, the updated values are there.

Ah ha! I fixed it myself...(go me) I had to add this line before the refresh:

Me.ThirteenWeekTableAdapter.Fill(Me.BAPRODDataSet.ThirteenWeek)

One more question... and I did do a search first before I'm asking and I didn't find it...

I want to create a combo box that contains a listing of fields from a table... how would I go about doing that?

Look into Information_Shema views in SQL Server.