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]; }