Visual Basic

Programming

1
Chapter
Database Management
9

2
Introduction

▪ Basic database terminology

▪ Fundamental database concepts
▪ Use ADO .NET to access databases
▪ Display, sort, and update database data
▪ Use the DataGridView control

3
 Database
Management Systems

Visual Basic applications use database

management systems to make large
amounts of data available to programs
4
Visual Basic and Database
Management Systems
• Businesses must maintain huge amounts of data
• A database management system (DBMS) is the typical
solution to the data needs of business
• Designed to store, retrieve, & manipulate data
• Visual Basic can communicate with a DBMS
• Tells DBMS what data to retrieve or manipulate

5
Layered Approach to Using a
DBMS
• Applications that work with a DBMS
use a layered approach
• VB application is topmost layer
• VB sends instructions to next layer, the
DBMS
• DBMS works directly with data
• Programmer need not understand
the physical structure of the data
• Just need to know how to interact with
the database

6
Visual Basic Supports Many
DBMS’s
• Visual Basic can interact with many DBMS’s
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Oracle
• DB2
• MySQL

7
 Database Concepts

A database is a collection of one or

more tables, each containing data
related to a particular topic
8
Terminology
• Database: a collection of interrelated tables
• Table: a logical grouping of related data
• A category of people, places, or things
• For example, employees or departments
• Organized into rows and columns
• Field: an individual piece of data pertaining to an
item, an employee name for instance
• Record: the complete data about a single item such
as all information about an employee
• A record is a row of a table

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Database Table
• Each table has a primary key
• Uniquely identifies that row of the table
• Emp_Id is the primary key in this example
• Columns are also called fields or attributes
• Each column has a particular data type

Emp_Id First_Name Last_Name Department

001234 Ignacio Fleta Accounting
002000 Christian Martin Computer Support
Row 002122 Orville Gibson Human Resources
(Record) 003400 Ben Smith Accounting
003780 Allison Chong Computer Support

Column Field
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VB and SQL Server Data Types
• VB data types must match table data types
• SQL Server and VB have similar data types

SQL Type Usage Visual Basic Type

Bit True/false values Boolean
DateTime Dates and times Date, DateTime
Decimal, Money Financial values Decimal
Float Real-number values Double
Int Integer values Integer
Smallint Integers -32,768 to 32,767 Short
Varchar(n) Variable length strings String
Text Strings more than 8000 char String
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Choosing Column Names
• Define a column for each piece of data
• Allow plenty of space for text fields
• Avoid using spaces in column names
• For the members of an organization:
Column Name Type Remarks
Member_ID int Primary key
First_Name varchar(40)
Last_Name varchar(40)
Phone varchar(30)
Email varchar(50)
Date_Joined smalldatetime Date only, no time values
Meeings_Attended smallint
Officer Yes/No True/False values
12
Issues with Redundant Data
• Database design minimizes redundant data
• In the following employee table:
ID First_Name Last_Name Department
001234 Ignacio Fleta Accounting
002000 Christian Martin Computer Support
002122 Orville Gibson Human Resources
00300 Jose Ramirez Research & Devel
003400 Ben Smith Accounting
003780 Allison Chong Computer Support

• Same dept name appears multiple times

• Requires additional storage space
• Causes problems if misspelled
• What if a department needs to be renamed? 13
Eliminating Redundant Data
• Create a department table
Dept_ID Dept_Name Num_Employees
1 Human Resources 10
2 Accounting 5
3 Computer Support 30
4 Research & Development 15

• Reference department table in employee table

ID First_Name Last_Name Dept_ID
001234 Ignacio Fleta 2
002000 Christian Martin 3
002122 Orville Gibson 1
003000 Jose Ramirez 4
003400 Ben Smith 2
003780 Allison Chong 3
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 DataGridView Control

The DataGridView Control Allows you to

Display a Database Table in a Grid Which
Can be Used at Runtime to Sort and Edit
the Contents of the Table 15
Connecting VB to a Database
• VB provides tools to display database tables
• Data binding links tables to controls on forms
• Controls called components establish the link
• A wizard guides you through the process
• We’ll use these data-related components:
• Data source – usually a database
• Binding source – connects data bound controls to a
dataset
• Table adapter – uses SQL to select data
• Dataset – in-memory copy of data from tables

16
Connecting VB to a Database
• The flow of data from database to application

• Data travels from data source to application

• Application can view/change dataset contents
• Changes to dataset can be written back to the data
source

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 Data-Bound Controls

Some Controls Can Be Bound to a Dataset.

A Data-bound Control Can be Used to
Display and Edit the Contents of a
Particular Row and Column
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Advantages of Data-Binding

◼ Can bind fields in a data source to controls:

◼ Text boxes

◼ Labels

◼ List boxes

◼ Contents of data-bound controls change

automatically when moving from row to row
◼ Data-bound control also allow the contents of a
database field to be changed

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Sample Table – Cities Table

20
Sample Table – Countries Table

21
 Megacities.accdb
▪ Contains the two tables Cities and
Countries shown earlier.
▪ This database will be used extensively in
the examples for this chapter.
▪ Several steps are required to bind to a
table of the database.

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Binding to the Cities Table

Add a BindingSource control to the form.

(The control is in the Data and All Windows
Forms group of the Toolbox. It appears in
the form’s component tray with the name
BindingSource1.)

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DataSource Property of
BindingSource1

click here

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Choose Data Source Type

select

click on Next button

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Choose Database Model

select

click on Next button

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Choose Data Connection

click on New Connection button

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Add Connection Dialog Box

click on Change button

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Change Data Source Box

select

click on OK button

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Add Connection Dialog Box

click on Browse button

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Select Database File

double-click on Megacities.accdb

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Add Connection Dialog Box

click on OK button
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Choose Data Connection

click on Next button

33
click on Yes button

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 Save to File

check this box

click on Next button

35
 Choose Database Objects

check on
Tables box

click on Finish
button

36
Changes in Properties Window
and Form

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After Clicking on Data Member
Down-Arrow

click on Cities

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VB Generated Items

new
new icon code

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 Binding Complete

• We are now bound to the Cities table via the

MegacitiesDataSet and the CitiesTableAdapter.
• The next four slides show how to bind an
additional table.

40
 Connect an Additional Table
Add another BindingSource control to the form.

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Set Data Source Property

click on MegacitiesDataSet

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Set Data Member Property

click on Countries

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 VB Generated Items

new icon
additional code shows in Load event procedure
Me.CountriesTableAdapter.Fill(Me.MegacitiesDataSet.Countries)
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Examples

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Example 1: Form

txtTotalPop

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 Example 1: Code
Private Sub btnDisplay_Click(...) Handles _
btnDisplay.Click
Dim query1 = From city In
MegacitiesDataSet.Cities
Where city.country = "India"
Order By city.pop2010 Descending
Select city.name
lstOutput.DataSource = query1.ToList
lstOutput.SelectedItem = Nothing

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 Example 1: Code (continued)

Dim query2 = From city In _

MegacitiesDataSet.Cities
Where city.country = "India"
Select city.pop2010
txtTotalPop.Text = CStr(query2.Sum)
End Sub

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Example 1: Output

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Example 2: Form

txtName

dgvOutput

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 Example 2: Code

Dim query = From country In _

MegacitiesDataSet.Countries
Where country.name = txtName.Text
Select country.name, country.pop2010,
country.monetaryUnit
If query.Count = 1 Then
dgvOutput.DataSource = query.ToList
dgvOutput.CurrentCell = Nothing
Else
MessageBox.Show("Country not found")
End If 51
Example 2: Output

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Example 3: Form

dgvOutput

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 Example 3: Code

Dim query = From city In _

MegacitiesDataSet.Cities
Let popIncrease = city.pop2015 - city.pop2010
Let formattedIncr =
FormatNumber(popIncrease, 1)
Where popIncrease > 1
Order By popIncrease Descending
Select city.name, formattedIncr

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 Example 3: Code (continued)

dgvOutput.DataSource = query.ToList
dgvOutput.CurrentCell = Nothing
dgvOutput.Columns("name").HeaderText = "City"
dgvOutput.Columns("formattedIncr").HeaderText
= "Population Increase"

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Example 3: Output

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