Data Binding using LINQ to SQL in C#


Introduction of LINQ to SQL

 

LINQ to SQL, previously know as DLINQ, is an API to access databases in .NET 3.5. This article shows how you can connect to a database, get data from a database table, and display it in a DataGridView control. The attached project also shows how to add, update, and delete data through a DataGridView using LINQ to SQL.

 

Create a Windows Forms application in Visual Studio 2005 and drag a DataGridView control on it, name it authorDataGridView and follow these steps.

 

Note: To run this sample, you must have .NET 3.0 and LINQ installed on your machine. If you are using Visual Studio 2008, LINQ is already installed on your machine.

 

Data Fetching and Data Binding

 

In LINQ to SQL, the DataContext object is responsible for establishing a connection with a data source. The simplest way to create a connection is by passing a database path in the DataContext constructor.

 

In the following code, you need to change the path of the database to your local path.

 

// DataContext takes a path of a database for data connection

DataContext db = new DataContext(@"C:\Mahesh\Code\DB2Linq\DB2Linq\Authors.mdf");

 

The next step is to create a Table object. This is the object that will be used to return the data. The following code creates an Author table. Our database has a table called Author.

 

// Get a typed table

Table<Author> authors = db.GetTable<Author>();

 

Now we need to select the data from the Author table using LINQ's from..in..select query. In the following code, we select all records from the Author table in allAuthors type of var.

 

// Get all authors

var allAuthors  = from auth in authors select auth;

 

Next, I drag and drop a BindingSource on the Form and name it authorBindingSource. After that, I set its DataSource property to allAuthors.

 

// Bind to a DataGrid

authorBindingSource.DataSource = allAuthors;

 

Finally, we set DataGridView's DataSource property to BindingSource.

 

// Bind to a DataGridView control

authorDataGridView.DataSource = authorBindingSource;

 

The complete source code is listed in Listing 1. You can write it on a button click or on Form's load event handler.

 

// DataContext takes a path of a database for data connection

DataContext db = new DataContext(@"C:\Mahesh\Code\DB2Linq\DB2Linq\Authors.mdf");

// Get a typed table

Table<Author> authors = db.GetTable<Author>();

 

// Get all authors

var allAuthors  = from auth in authors select auth;

          

// Bind to a DataGrid

authorBindingSource.DataSource = allAuthors;

           

// Bind to a DataGridView control

authorDataGridView.DataSource = authorBindingSource;

 

Listing 1.

 

Add, Update and Delete Data 

 

Adding, updating, and deleting data is just a matter of adding, updating, and deleting data in the collection and saving changes back to the database.

 

The following code snippet in Listing 2, creates an Author object and adds it to the authors collection using the Add method and saves changes to the database by calling SubmitChanges method of DataContext.

// Get a typed table
authors = db.GetTable<Author>();
Author auth = new Author();
auth.Name = "Mahesh Chand";
auth.Age = 40;
auth.Male = false;
authors.Add(auth);
db.SubmitChanges();

Listing 2.

The following code snippet in Listing 3, deletes an Author from the authors collection using the Remove method and saves changes to the database by calling SubmitChanges method of DataContext.

authors = db.GetTable<Author>();
int age = 32;
var auth = authors.Single(a => a.Age == age);
authors.Remove(auth);
db.SubmitChanges();

Listing 3.

The Application

Now let's create a full-fledged application. In this application, I will load data from the database, display data in a DataGridView control, and will add and delete data.

 

The main application looks like Figure 1. This application shows authors data including authors' photo. name, age, male or female, joined date, and bio. So this grid shows how to display and manipulate images, text, boolean, and date types using DLINQ.

 

Figure 1.

 

Add a new Author button is used to add a new author to the authors list. Clicking on this button opens a new sub form called AuthorInfo that is used to enter the author data. Listing 4 shows the code looks like on AddNew button click event handler.

 

private void AddNewButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

    AuthorInfo ainfo = new AuthorInfo();

    ainfo.Show();

}

Listing 4.

 

As you can see in Figure 2. The Form also provides options to browse and display author photo.

 

Figure 2.

 

Clicking Done button adds the author data to the database and displays on the main form. The Done button click event handler looks like Listing 5.

 

private void DoneButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

    byte[] imgBytes;

    Int32 age;

 

    // Create an Author object

    Author newAuth = new Author();

 

    // Generate and set a GUID

    newAuth.ID = Guid.NewGuid();

 

    // Make sure age is valid

    if (AgeTextBox.Text.Length <= 0 )

    {

        MessageBox.Show("Enter a valid age!");

        AgeTextBox.Select();

        return;

    }

    try

    {

        age = Int32.Parse(AgeTextBox.Text);

    }

    catch (Exception exp)

    {

        MessageBox.Show("Enter a valid age!");

        AgeTextBox.Select();

        return;

    }

    // Set Age property

    newAuth.Age = age;

 

    // Make sure name is enered

    if (NameTextBox.Text.Length <= 0)

    {

        MessageBox.Show("Enter a valid name!");

        NameTextBox.Select();

        return;

    }

    // Set Name property

    newAuth.Name = NameTextBox.Text;

    // Set Male property

    newAuth.Male = MaleCheckBox.Checked;

    // Set Bio property

    newAuth.Bio = BioTextBox.Text;

 

    // Make sure joined date is valid

    if (JoinedTextBox.Text.Length > 0)

    {

        try

        {

            // Set JoinDate property

            newAuth.JoinDate = DateTime.Parse(JoinedTextBox.Text);

        }

        catch(Exception exp)

        {

            MessageBox.Show("Enter a valid joined date!");

            JoinedTextBox.Select();

            return;

        }

    }

 

    if (PhotoTextBox.Text.Length <= 0)

    {

        MessageBox.Show("Select a valid photo!" );

        PhotoTextBox.Select();

        return;

    }

 

 

    try

    {

        // Create an Image object from a file.

        // PhotoTextBox.Text is the full path of your image

        using (Image photoImg = Image.FromFile(PhotoTextBox.Text))

        {

            // Create a Thumbnail from image with size 50x40.

            // Change 50 and 40 with whatever size you want

            using (Image thumbPhoto = photoImg.GetThumbnailImage(50, 40, null, new System.IntPtr()))

            {

                // The below code converts an Image object to a byte array

                using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())

                {

                    thumbPhoto.Save(ms, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);

                    imgBytes = ms.ToArray();

                }

            }

        }

    }

    catch (Exception exp)

    {

        MessageBox.Show("Select a valid photo!");

        PhotoTextBox.Select();

        return;

    } 

  

 

    // Set Photo property

    newAuth.Photo = imgBytes;

 

    Form1 mainForm = new Form1();

    mainForm.AddNewRecord(newAuth);

    this.Close();

}

 

Listing 5.

 

As you can see from Listing, it creates an Author object and set its properties with the values entered on the sub form and calls AddNewRecord method of main form. The AddNewRecord method looks like Listing 6.

 

public void AddNewRecord(Author author)

{

    // Create database connection. Change this path to your database path

    db = new DataContext(Application.StartupPath + @"\Authors.mdf");      

    // Get a typed table

    Table<Author> authors = db.GetTable<Author>();

    authors.Add(author);

    db.SubmitChanges();

}

 

Listing 6.

 

Figure 3 shows the recently added author on the main form.

 

Figure 3.

 

Clicking on the Delete symbol (X in red) on the navigator deletes the currently selected row from the DataGridView as well as from the database. Listing 7 shows the code for the Delete button mouse down event handler. 

private void bindingNavigatorDeleteItem_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)

{

    if (authorDataGridView.SelectedRows.Count > 0)

    {

        Guid guid = new Guid(authorDataGridView.SelectedRows[0].Cells["ID"].Value.ToString());

        db = new DataContext(Application.StartupPath + @"\Authors.mdf");

        // Get a typed table

        Table<Author> authors = db.GetTable<Author>();

        // Get maching record

        var auth = authors.Single(a => a.ID == guid);

        authors.Remove(auth);

        db.SubmitChanges();

    }

}

 

Listing 7.

 

Summary

 

In this article, you saw, how to display data in a DataGridView control from a SQL Server 2005 database using DLINQ. Article also discussed how to add and delete data using Add and Remove methods available in DLINQ.

Known Issues and Enhancements

Here is a list of some known issues, which I will fix in next update.

  • Add new author does not refresh the DataGridView until you restart the application
  • Direct DataGridView adding, and updating feature


 


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