MS Data Access App. Block

[Jeremy Cowles]

Has anyone used the Data Access Application Block from Microsoft? I have
read good things about it, and my current solution is a bit rickety. I am
either going to fix the holes in my data access layer, or I am going to
implement the DAAB.

What I want to avoid is implementing a new solution that I will be
constantly patching... or something that I can't fix because I don't know
how it was written. So here are my questions:

1. Is the DAAB worth while (in terms of time saved, and overall usefulness)
?
2. Is it written in such a way that I (of average ADO skill) will be able to
extend, or fix it if needed?
3. Are there any issues with deployment?

I know I can answer these questions myself, but I want to know how other
people feel about it too.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[Gavin Joyce]

Hi,

I use the DAAB extensively and have found it to be well designed and very
useful. I have build a sample N-Tier ASP.NET application in which the Data
Access Layer uses the DAAB. Source code and live sample is available from
http://www.ntiergen.net/samples/contacts

HTH,
Gavin Joyce
www.gavinjoyce.com

--
___________________________________________________________
nTierGen.NET Code Generator - http://www.nTierGen.NET/

Stored Procedures (Get, GetPaged, Insert, Update, Delete)
Data Access Layer - C#
Business Rules Layer - C# & VB.NET
Strongly-Typed DataSets - C#
Web Services - C#
___________________________________________________________

 

[David Browne]

Has anyone used the Data Access Application Block from Microsoft? I have
read good things about it, and my current solution is a bit rickety. I am
either going to fix the holes in my data access layer, or I am going to
implement the DAAB.

What I want to avoid is implementing a new solution that I will be
constantly patching... or something that I can't fix because I don't know
how it was written. So here are my questions:

1. Is the DAAB worth while (in terms of time saved, and overall usefulness)
?

Yes. Be sure to get the latest one. It supports strongly-typed datasets.

2. Is it written in such a way that I (of average ADO skill) will be able to
extend, or fix it if needed?

Yes. Right off the bat I would kill all the overloads that don't pass in an
open connection. That will simplify things a bit. You can extend it from
there. I would consider putting your Data Access Layer in front of the
SQLHelper. I think of the SQLHelper as a "Data Operations Layer".

eg
class DAL
private shared function GetConnection() as SQLConnection

end function


public shared sub UpdateProduct(ProductID as Integer, Name as string ...)
dim con as SQLConnection = GetConnection()
try
SQLHelper.ExecuteNonQuery(CommandType.Text, con, _
"update product set Name = @Name ... where ProductID = ProductID", _
new SQLParameter("@Name",Name), _
..., _
new SQLParameter("@ProductID",ProductID))
finally
con.Close()
end try
end sub

public shared function GetProducts() as ds_Products
' where ds_Products is a strongly-typed dataset (or just use a DataSet)
dim con as SQLConnection = GetConnection()
try

...
finally
con.Close()
end try
end class

end class

3. Are there any issues with deployment?

No. Just add the SQLHelper class to your solution. Then it's yours.

David

 

[Jeremy Cowles]

Yes. Be sure to get the latest one. It supports strongly-typed datasets.

I noticed that it supports updating DataSets. Does it have any issues with
updating JOIN'ed tables?

able
Yes. Right off the bat I would kill all the overloads that don't pass in an
open connection. That will simplify things a bit. You can extend it from
there. I would consider putting your Data Access Layer in front of the
SQLHelper. I think of the SQLHelper as a "Data Operations Layer".

eg

[SNIP]

This is exactly what I was planning. My current solution has several
functions that execute stored procs, and I was just going to replace those
functions. My actual procs are wrapped with VB functions that map exactly
to SQL so I want to leave those in place (as your sample code demo'd).

No. Just add the SQLHelper class to your solution. Then it's yours.

Thanks!

 

[David Browne]

I


I noticed that it supports updating DataSets. Does it have any issues with
updating JOIN'ed tables?

You'll either need to un-join your tables and load the data into multi-table
datasets,
or code your own DataAdapter logic.

David