For your Connector/NET application to connect to a MySQL database it needs to establish a connection. This is achieved through the use of a MySqlConnection object.

The MySqlConnection constructor takes a connection string as one of its parameters. The connection string provides necessary information to make the connection to the MySQL database. The connection string is discussed more fully in Section 17.2.5.1, “Connecting to MySQL Using Connector/NET”. A reference containing a list of supported connection string options can also be found in Section 17.2.6, “Connector/NET Connection String Options Reference”.

The following code shows how to create a connection object.

using System;
using System.Data;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

public class Tutorial1
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
        MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to MySQL...");
            conn.Open();
            // Perform databse operations
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }
        conn.Close();
        Console.WriteLine("Done.");
    }
}

When the MySqlConnection constructor is invoked it returns a connection object, which is used for subsequent database operations. The first operation in this example is to open the connection. This needs to be done before further operations take place. Before the application exits the connection to the database needs to be closed by calling Close on the connection object.

Sometimes an attempt to perform an Open on a connection object can fail, this will generate an exception that can be handled via standard exception handling code.

In this section you have learned how to create a connection to a MySQL database, and open and close the corresponding connection object.

Once a connection has been established with the MySQL database, the next step is do carry out the desired database operations. This can be achieved through the use of the MySqlCommand object.

You will see how to create a MySqlCommand object. Once it has been created there are three main methods of interest that you can call:

Once a MySqlCommand object has been created, you will call one of the above methods on it to carry out a database operation, such as perform a query. The results are usually returned into a MySqlDataReader object, and then processed, for example the results might be displayed. The following code demonstrates how this could be done.

using System;
using System.Data;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

public class Tutorial2
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
        MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to MySQL...");
            conn.Open();

            string sql = "SELECT Name, HeadOfState FROM Country WHERE Continent='Oceania'";
            MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand(sql, conn);
            MySqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();

            while (rdr.Read())
            {
                Console.WriteLine(rdr[0]+" -- "+rdr[1]);
            }
            rdr.Close();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }

        conn.Close();
        Console.WriteLine("Done.");
    }
}

When a connection has been created and opened, the code then creates a MySqlCommand object. Note that the SQL query to be executed is passed to the MySqlCommand constructor. The ExecuteReader method is then used to generate a MySqlReader object. The MySqlReader object contains the results generated by the SQL executed on the command object. Once the results have been obtained in a MySqlReader object, the results can be processed. In this case the information is simply printed out as part of a while loop. Finally, the MySqlReader object is displosed of by running its Close method on it.

In the next example you will see how to use the ExecuteNonQuery method.

The procedure for performing an ExecuteNonQuery method call is simpler, as there is no need to create an object to store results. This is because ExecuteNonQuery is only used for inserting, updating and deleting data. The following example illustrates a simple update to the Country table:

using System;
using System.Data;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

public class Tutorial3
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
        MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to MySQL...");
            conn.Open();

            string sql = "INSERT INTO Country (Name, HeadOfState, Continent) VALUES ('Disneyland','Mickey Mouse', 'North America')";
            MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand(sql, conn);
            cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }

        conn.Close();
        Console.WriteLine("Done.");
    }
}

The query is constructed, the command object created and the ExecuteNonQuery method called on the command object. You can access your MySQL database with the MySQL Client program and verify that the update was carried out correctly.

Finally, you will see how the ExecuteScalar method can be used to return a single value. Again, this is straightforward, as a MySqlDataReader object is not required to store results, a simple variable will do. The following code illustrates how to use ExecuteScalar:

using System;
using System.Data;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

public class Tutorial4
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
        MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to MySQL...");
            conn.Open();

            string sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Country";
            MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand(sql, conn);
            object result = cmd.ExecuteScalar();
            if (result != null)
            {
                int r = Convert.ToInt32(result);
                Console.WriteLine("Number of countries in the World database is: " + r);
            }

        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }

        conn.Close();
        Console.WriteLine("Done.");
    }
}

This example uses a simple query to count the rows in the Country table. The result is obtained by calling ExecuteScaler on the command object.

Previously, when using MySqlDataReader, the connection to the database was continually maintained, unless explicitly closed. It is also possible to work in a manner where a connection is only established when needed. For example, in this mode, a connection could be established in order to read a chunk of data, the data could then be modified by the application as required. A connection could then be reestablished only if and when the application needs to write data back to the database. This decouples the working data set from the database.

This decouple mode of working with data is supported by Connector/NET. There are several parts involved in allowing this method to work:

Each of these classes will now be discussed in more detail.

Instantiating a DataSet object

A DataSet object can be created simply, as shown in the following example code snippet:

DataSet dsCountry;
...
dsCountry = new DataSet();

Although this creates the DataSet object it has not yet filled it with data. For that a Data Adapter is required.

Instantiating a MySqlDataAdapter object

The MySqlDataAdapter can be created as illustrated by the following example:

MySqlDataAdapter daCountry;
...
string sql = "SELECT Code, Name, HeadOfState FROM Country WHERE Continent='North America'";
daCountry = new MySqlDataAdapter (sql, conn);

Note, the MySqlDataAdapter is given the SQL specifying the data you wish to work with.

Instantiating a MySqlCommandBuilder object

Once the MySqlDataAdapter has been created, it is necessary to generate the additional statements required for inserting, updating and deleting data. There are several ways to do this, but in this tutorial you will see how this can most easily be done with MySqlCommandBuilder. The following code snippet ilustrates how this is done:

MySqlCommandBuilder cb = new MySqlCommandBuilder(daCountry);

Note that the MySqlDataAdapter object is passed as a parameter to the command builder.

Filling the Data Set

In order to do anything useful with the data from your datbase, you need to load it into a Data Set. This is one of the jobs of the MySqlDataAdapter object, and is carried out with its Fill method. The following example code illustrates this:

DataSet dsCountry;
...
dsCountry = new DataSet();
...
daCountry.Fill(dsCountry, "Country");

Note the Fill method is a MySqlDataAdapter method, the Data Adapter knows how to establish a connec tion with the database and retrieve the required data, and then populates the Data Set when the Fill method is called. The second parameter “Country” is the table in the Data Set to update.

Updating the Data Set

The data in the Data Set can now be manipulated by the application as required. At some point, changes to data will need to be written back to the database. This is achieved through a MySqlDataAdapter method, the Update method.

daCountry.Update(dsCountry, "Country");

Again, the Data Set and the table within the Data Set to update are specified.

Working Example

The interactions between the DataSet, MySqlDataAdapter and MySqlCommandBuilder classes can be a little confusing, so their operation can perhaps be best illustrated by working code.

In this example, data from the World database is read into a Data Grid View control. Here, the data can be viewed and changed before clicking an update button. The update button then activates code to write changes back to the database. The code uses the principles explained above. The application was built using the Microsoft Visual Studio in order to place and create the user interface controls, but the main code that uses the key classes descibed above is shown below, and is portable.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication5
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        MySqlDataAdapter daCountry;
        DataSet dsCountry;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {

            string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
            MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
            try
            {
                label2.Text = "Connecting to MySQL...";

                string sql = "SELECT Code, Name, HeadOfState FROM Country WHERE Continent='North America'";
                daCountry = new MySqlDataAdapter (sql, conn);
                MySqlCommandBuilder cb = new MySqlCommandBuilder(daCountry);

                dsCountry = new DataSet();
                daCountry.Fill(dsCountry, "Country");
                dataGridView1.DataSource = dsCountry;
                dataGridView1.DataMember = "Country";
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                label2.Text = ex.ToString();
            }
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            daCountry.Update(dsCountry, "Country");
            label2.Text = "MySQL Database Updated!";
        }

    }
}

The application running is shown below:

Figure 17.26. World Database Application

This part of the tutorial shows you how to use parameters in your Connector/NET application.

Although it is possible to build SQL query strings directly from user input, this is not advisable as it does not prevent erroneous or malicious information being entered. It is safer to use parameters as they will be processed as field data only. For example, imagine the following query was contructed from user input:

string sql = "SELECT Name, HeadOfState FROM Country WHERE Continent = "+user_continent;

If the string user_continent came from a Text Box control, there would potentially be no control over the string entered by the user. The user could enter a string that generates a run time error, or in the worst case actually harms the system. When using parameters it is not possible to do this because a parameter is only ever treated as a field parameter, rather than an arbitrary piece of SQL code.

The same query written user a parameter for user input would be:

string sql = "SELECT Name, HeadOfState FROM Country WHERE Continent = @Continent";

Note that the parameter is preceded by an '@' symbol to indicate it is to be treated as a parameter.

As well as marking the position of the parameter in the query string, it is necessary to add a parameter to the Command object. This is illustrated by the following code snippet:

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Continent", "North America");

In this example the string "North America" is supplied as the parameter value statically, but in a more practical example it would come from a user input control.

A further example illustrates the complete process:

using System;
using System.Data;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

public class Tutorial5
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
        MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to MySQL...");
            conn.Open();

            string sql = "SELECT Name, HeadOfState FROM Country WHERE Continent=@Continent";
            MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand(sql, conn);

            Console.WriteLine("Enter a continent e.g. 'North America', 'Europe': ");
            string user_input = Console.ReadLine();

            cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Continent", user_input);

            MySqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();

            while (rdr.Read())
            {
                Console.WriteLine(rdr["Name"]+" --- "+rdr["HeadOfState"]);
            }
            rdr.Close();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }

        conn.Close();
        Console.WriteLine("Done.");
    }
}

In this part of the tutorial you have see how to use parameters to make your code more secure.

In this section you will see how to work with Stored Procedures. This section assumes you have a basic understanding of what a Stored Procedure is, and how to create one.

For the purposes of this tutorial, you will create a simple Stored Procedure to see how it can be called from Connector/NET. In the MySQL Client program, connect to the World database and enter the following Stored Procedure:

DELIMITER //
CREATE PROCEDURE country_hos
(IN con CHAR(20))
BEGIN
  SELECT Name, HeadOfState FROM Country
  WHERE Continent = con;
END //
DELIMITER ;

Test the Stored Procedure works as expected by typing the following into the MySQL Client program:

CALL country_hos('Europe');

Note that The Stored Routine takes a single parameter, which is the continent you wish to restrict your search to.

Having confirmed that the Stored Procedure is present and correct you can now move on to seeing how it can be accessed from Connector/NET.

Calling a Stored Procedure from your Connector/NET application is similar to techniques you have seen earlier in this tutorial. A MySqlCommand object is created, but rather than taking a SQL query as a parameter it takes the name of the Stored Procedure to call. The MySqlCommand object also needs to be set to the type of Stored Procedure. This is illustrated by the following code snippet:

string rtn = "country_hos";
MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand(rtn, conn);
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;

In this case you also need to pass a parameter to the Stored Procedure. This can be achieved using the techniques seen in the previous section on parameters, Section 17.2.4.1.4, “Working with Parameters”. This is shown in the following code snippet:

cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@con", "Europe");

The value of the parameter @con could more realistically have come from a user input control, but for simplicity it is set as a static string in this example.

At this point everything is set up and all that now needs to be done is to call the routine. This can be achieved using techniques also learned in earlier sections, but in this case the ExecuteReader method of the MySqlCommand object is used.

Complete working code for the Stored Procedure example is shown below:

using System;
using System.Data;

using MySql.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

public class Tutorial6
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string connStr = "server=localhost;user=root;database=world;port=3306;password=******;";
        MySqlConnection conn = new MySqlConnection(connStr);
        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Connecting to MySQL...");
            conn.Open();

            string rtn = "country_hos";
            MySqlCommand cmd = new MySqlCommand(rtn, conn);
            cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;

            cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@con", "Europe");

            MySqlDataReader rdr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
            while (rdr.Read())
            {
                Console.WriteLine(rdr[0] + " --- " + rdr[1]);
            }
            rdr.Close();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
        }

        conn.Close();
        Console.WriteLine("Done.");
    }
}

In this section you have seen how to call a Stored Procedure from Connector/NET. For the moment, this concludes our introductory tutorial on programming with Connector/NET.