Visual Basic® 2012 How to Program, Sixth Edition

12. Databases and LINQ

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.

—Isaiah 30:8

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.

—Arthur Conan Doyle

Objectives

In this chapter you’ll:

• Learn about the relational database model.

• Use an ADO.NET Entity Data Model to create classes for interacting with a database via LINQ to Entities.

• Use LINQ to retrieve and manipulate data from a database.

• Add data sources to projects.

• Use the IDE’s drag-and-drop capabilities to display database tables in apps.

• Use data binding to move data seamlessly between GUI controls and databases.

• Create Master/Detail views that enable you to select a record and display its details. ...