[RESOLVED] [2005] Selecting a specific Row from a DataTable.

[MechEng]

Hi all. I could use a little help with selecting a specific DataRow from a DataTable.

I am using the following code to select specific DataRows from a DataTable and this works fine, but many times I am looking for only a single row of data (there is not a possibility of multiple rows) and I was wondering if there is a better method to select a single row rather than the For-Next loop which seams set up specifically for multiple rows.

Or… am I just making too much of this? In this example, the DataTable does not have any controls bound to it.

For Each row As ScoreboardDataSet.tbl_StudentPhysicalDataRow In Me.ScoreboardDataSet.tbl_StudentPhysicalData.Select(String.Format("StudentID LIKE '{0}'", GWrestlerID))

    If Not row.LastWeighInWeight = Nothing Then MyVariable = row.LastWeighInWeight

Next Mrow

Thanks for your help.

[jmcilhinney]

If you want to find a single row by its primary key the you would use the DataRowCollection.Find method, e.g.

Dim row As DataRow = table.Rows.Find(id)

Find also accepts an array of values for composite keys.

If you want to find one or more rows based on one or more non-key columns you would use the DataTable.Select method, as you are. If you know for a fact that there's only going to be one row then there's no need to use a loop. You'd just get the row at index 0 straight off, e.g.

Dim row As DataRow = table.Select(String.Format("Name = '{0}'", name))(0)

Note also that if you are looking for a row where a field value is equal to a specific value then you should use '=', not 'LIKE'. If you are not using wildcards then using 'LIKE' is pointless.

[MechEng]

Perfect... Thanks JM.

I have been in the MSDN Lib reading about the DataTable Methods, but this really puts a bow on the information provided there.