Database Management Code

Question

Hello all,
This is a bit if a broad brush question but i'm hoping there is someone out there who has encountered a need for this as well.
I'm wondering whether some 'database' management code exists out there (for want of a better description!!). What I mean by this is I am looking for some code to allow me to select a server and then select a database. I am developing some code and part of it should allow users to select a database which the application subsequently uses. The idea is that the database can quickly and easily be changed.
I am hoping someone can perhaps offer some advise or links to something that already exists perhaps...I hate re-inventing the wheel when I don't have to!!
Thanks

Mahesh Chand · Answer

Also take a look at ADO.NET Data Entity Model . This is complete API for doing anything or everything with a database. Little complex but good for large applications. Search this site for ADO.NET Data Entity Model.

Sam Hobbs · Answer

My article got through the system finally; see: Using Dynamic Database Connections .

Sam Hobbs · Answer

I wrote an article and uploaded it to this web site last Thursday. The article is about the DataLinksClass that is somewhat described in the article I posted a link to, but my article is in limbo, waiting to come out the other end in this web site. If you can wait until the article gets through, then it might make things easier. The DataLinksClass provides a properties box that makes it easy for you to provide a way for the user to supply all the information needed for a connectionh string. The connection string is for use with OLE DB but it is probably useful with ADO too.

theLizard · Answer

Hi Cos, This may help you, I use this in my controls. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Text; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.Windows.Forms.ComponentModel.Com2Interop; namespace LizardControls { class NetServerNames { public const uint ERROR_SUCCESS = 0; public const uint ERROR_MORE_DATA = 234; [DllImport("netapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "NetServerEnum", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling=true, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.StdCall)] public static extern int NetServerEnum( [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string servername, int level, out IntPtr bufptr, int prefmaxlen, ref int entriesread, ref int totalentries, SV_101_TYPES servertype, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string domain, int resume_handle); [DllImport("netapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "NetApiBufferFree", SetLastError=true, CharSet=CharSet.Unicode, ExactSpelling=true, CallingConvention=CallingConvention.StdCall)] public static extern int NetApiBufferFree(IntPtr buffer); [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public struct SERVER_INFO_101 { [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)] public PLATFORM_ID sv101_platform_id; [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public string sv101_name; [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)] public uint sv101_version_major; [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)] public uint sv101_version_minor; [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)] public SV_101_TYPES sv101_type; [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] public string sv101_comment; } public enum SV_101_TYPES : uint { SV_TYPE_WORKSTATION = 0x00000001, SV_TYPE_SERVER = 0x00000002, SV_TYPE_SQLSERVER = 0x00000004, SV_TYPE_DOMAIN_CTRL = 0x00000008, SV_TYPE_DOMAIN_BAKCTRL = 0x00000010, SV_TYPE_TIME_SOURCE = 0x00000020, SV_TYPE_AFP = 0x00000040, SV_TYPE_NOVELL = 0x00000080, SV_TYPE_DOMAIN_MEMBER = 0x00000100, SV_TYPE_PRINTQ_SERVER = 0x00000200, SV_TYPE_DIALIN_SERVER = 0x00000400, SV_TYPE_XENIX_SERVER = 0x00000800, SV_TYPE_SERVER_UNIX = 0x00000800, SV_TYPE_NT = 0x00001000, SV_TYPE_WFW = 0x00002000, SV_TYPE_SERVER_MFPN = 0x00004000, SV_TYPE_SERVER_NT = 0x00008000, SV_TYPE_POTENTIAL_BROWSER = 0x00010000, SV_TYPE_BACKUP_BROWSER = 0x00020000, SV_TYPE_MASTER_BROWSER = 0x00040000, SV_TYPE_DOMAIN_MASTER = 0x00080000, SV_TYPE_SERVER_OSF = 0x00100000, SV_TYPE_SERVER_VMS = 0x00200000, SV_TYPE_WINDOWS = 0x00400000, SV_TYPE_DFS = 0x00800000, SV_TYPE_CLUSTER_NT = 0x01000000, SV_TYPE_TERMINALSERVER = 0x02000000, SV_TYPE_CLUSTER_VS_NT = 0x04000000, SV_TYPE_DCE = 0x10000000, SV_TYPE_ALTERNATE_XPORT = 0x20000000, SV_TYPE_LOCAL_LIST_ONLY = 0x40000000, SV_TYPE_DOMAIN_ENUM = 0x80000000, SV_TYPE_ALL = 0xFFFFFFFF } public enum PLATFORM_ID : uint { PLATFORM_ID_DOS = 300, PLATFORM_ID_OS2 = 400, PLATFORM_ID_NT = 500, PLATFORM_ID_OSF = 600, PLATFORM_ID_VMS = 700 } //----------------------------------------------------------------- public List GetServerList() { List servers = new List (); int read = 0; int numServers = 0; try{ do{ NetServerNames.SERVER_INFO_101 server; IntPtr buffer; int retVal = NetServerNames.NetServerEnum( null, 101, out buffer, -1, ref read, ref numServers, NetServerNames.SV_101_TYPES.SV_TYPE_SQLSERVER, null, 0); if (retVal == NetServerNames.ERROR_SUCCESS ||retVal == NetServerNames.ERROR_MORE_DATA || read > 0){ int handle = buffer.ToInt32(); for (int i = 0; i server = (NetServerNames.SERVER_INFO_101)Marshal.PtrToStructure(new IntPtr(handle),typeof(NetServerNames.SERVER_INFO_101)); handle += Marshal.SizeOf(server); servers.Add(server.sv101_name); } } NetServerNames.NetApiBufferFree(buffer); } while (read } catch(Exception e) { String s = e.Message; } return servers; } } } good luck..

Cos Marchy · Answer

Thanks for your help guys :) I'll have a look at your suggestions and work from there.

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Look at Using the Data Link API ; it might help.

Felipe Ramos · Answer

You can use the .net classes to get all the servers and instances in the network. using System.Data; using System.Data.Sql; SqlDataSourceEnumerator servers = SqlDataSourceEnumerator.Instance; DataTable serversTable = servers.GetDataSources(); foreach (DataRow row in serversTable.Rows) { string serverName = row[0].ToString() + "-" + row[1]; }