Query datasets
Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
To search for specific records in a dataset, use the FindBy
method on the DataTable, write your own foreach statement to loop over the table's Rows collection, or use LINQ to DataSet.
Dataset case sensitivity
Within a dataset, table and column names are case-insensitive by default — that is, a table in a dataset called "Customers" can also be referred to as "customers." This matches the naming conventions in many databases, including SQL Server. In SQL Server, the default behavior is that the names of data elements cannot be distinguished only by case.
Note
Unlike datasets, XML documents are case-sensitive, so the names of data elements defined in schemas are case-sensitive. For example, schema protocol allows the schema to define a table called "Customers" and a different table called "customers." This can result in name collisions when a schema that contains elements that differ only by case is used to generate a dataset class.
Case sensitivity, however, can be a factor in how data is interpreted within the dataset. For example, if you filter data in a dataset table, the search criteria might return different results depending on whether the comparison is case-sensitive. You can control the case sensitivity of filtering, searching, and sorting by setting the dataset's CaseSensitive property. All the tables in the dataset inherit the value of this property by default. (You can override this property for each individual table by setting the table's CaseSensitive property.)
Locate a specific row in a data table
To find a row in a typed dataset with a primary key value
To locate a row, call the strongly typed
FindBy
method that uses the table's primary key.In the following example, the
CustomerID
column is the primary key of theCustomers
table. This means that the generatedFindBy
method isFindByCustomerID
. The example shows how to assign a specific DataRow to a variable by using the generatedFindBy
method.NorthwindDataSet.CustomersRow customersRow = northwindDataSet1.Customers.FindByCustomerID("ALFKI");
Dim customersRow As NorthwindDataSet.CustomersRow customersRow = NorthwindDataSet1.Customers.FindByCustomerID("ALFKI")
To find a row in an untyped dataset with a primary key value
Call the Find method of a DataRowCollection collection, passing the primary key as a parameter.
The following example shows how to declare a new row called
foundRow
and assign it the return value of the Find method. If the primary key is found, the contents of column index 1 are displayed in a message box.string s = "primaryKeyValue"; DataRow foundRow = dataSet1.Tables["AnyTable"].Rows.Find(s); if (foundRow != null) { MessageBox.Show(foundRow[0].ToString()); } else { MessageBox.Show("A row with the primary key of " + s + " could not be found"); }
Dim s As String = "primaryKeyValue" Dim foundRow As DataRow = DataSet1.Tables("AnyTable").Rows.Find(s) If foundRow IsNot Nothing Then MsgBox(foundRow(1).ToString()) Else MsgBox("A row with the primary key of " & s & " could not be found") End If
Find rows by column values
To find rows based on the values in any column
Data tables are created with the Select method, which returns an array of DataRows based on the expression passed to the Select method. For more information about creating valid expressions, see the "Expression Syntax" section of the page about the Expression property.
The following example shows how to use the Select method of the DataTable to locate specific rows.
DataRow[] foundRows; foundRows = dataSet1.Tables["Customers"].Select("CompanyName Like 'A%'");
Dim foundRows() As Data.DataRow foundRows = DataSet1.Tables("Customers").Select("CompanyName Like 'A%'")
Access related records
When tables in a dataset are related, a DataRelation object can make the related records available in another table. For example, a dataset containing Customers
and Orders
tables can be made available.
You can use a DataRelation object to locate related records by calling the GetChildRows method of a DataRow in the parent table. This method returns an array of related child records. Or, you can call the GetParentRow method of a DataRow in the child table. This method returns a single DataRow from the parent table.
This page provides examples using typed datasets. For information about navigating relationships in untyped datasets, see Navigating DataRelations.
Note
If you are working in a Windows Forms application and using the data-binding features to display data, the designer-generated form might provide enough functionality for your application. For more information, see Bind controls to data in Visual Studio. Specifically, see Relationships in Datasets.
The following code examples demonstrate how to navigate up and down relationships in typed datasets. The code examples use typed DataRows (NorthwindDataSet.OrdersRow
) and the generated FindByPrimaryKey (FindByCustomerID
) methods to locate a desired row and return the related records. The examples compile and run correctly only if you have:
An instance of a dataset named
NorthwindDataSet
with aCustomers
table.An
Orders
table.A relationship named
FK_Orders_Customers
relating the two tables.
Additionally, both tables need to be filled with data for any records to be returned.
To return the child records of a selected parent record
Call the GetChildRows method of a specific
Customers
data row, and return an array of rows from theOrders
table:string custID = "ALFKI"; NorthwindDataSet.OrdersRow[] orders; orders = (NorthwindDataSet.OrdersRow[])northwindDataSet.Customers. FindByCustomerID(custID).GetChildRows("FK_Orders_Customers"); MessageBox.Show(orders.Length.ToString());
Dim customerID As String = "ALFKI" Dim orders() As NorthwindDataSet.OrdersRow orders = CType(NorthwindDataSet.Customers.FindByCustomerID(customerID). GetChildRows("FK_Orders_Customers"), NorthwindDataSet.OrdersRow()) MessageBox.Show(orders.Length.ToString())
To return the parent record of a selected child record
Call the GetParentRow method of a specific
Orders
data row, and return a single row from theCustomers
table:int orderID = 10707; NorthwindDataSet.CustomersRow customer; customer = (NorthwindDataSet.CustomersRow)northwindDataSet.Orders. FindByOrderID(orderID).GetParentRow("FK_Orders_Customers"); MessageBox.Show(customer.CompanyName);
Dim orderID As Integer = 10707 Dim customer As NorthwindDataSet.CustomersRow customer = CType(NorthwindDataSet.Orders.FindByOrderID(orderID). GetParentRow("FK_Orders_Customers"), NorthwindDataSet.CustomersRow) MessageBox.Show(customer.CompanyName)