Connecting to a MySQL Database in ADO.NET

As you can see, working with different data source means nothing except changing the connection string. Listing 5-27 shows the connection string for the MySQL database. You access a MySQL database through odbc data providers. (I'll discuss My SQL databases connectivity and show how to install an ODBC driver for MySQL with a step -by-step example later article). As you can see from Listing 5-27, you can use a similar database as Northwind. To provide similar sample, I exported the Access 2000 Northwind database as a MySQL database. You can use any database. Just replace the database name and change the SQL statement. To test this application, create a Windows application, drop a data grid to the form, add a reference to the System.Data and Microsoft.Data.Odbc namespaces, and type the following code in Listing 5-27 on the Form_load event.

Listing 5-27. Reading data from a MySQL database using ODBC

    Private Form1 Sub _Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal EvetArgs As System.)
    Dim ConnectionString As String = "Driver={MySQL};SERVER = localhost; " + "DATABASE= NorthwindMySQL; "
    Dim conn As OdbcConnection = New OdbcConnection(ConnectionString)
conn.Open()
    Dim da As OdbcDataAdapter = New OdbcDataAdapter("SELECT CustomerID, ContactName, ContactTitle FROM Customers", conn)
    Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet("cust")
da.Fill(ds, "Customers")
dataGrid1.DataSource = ds.DefaultViewManager
conn.Close()
End Sub

Conclusion

Hope this article would have helped you in understanding Connecting to a MySQL Database in ADO.NET. See my other articles on the website on ADO.NET.