How do I connect to a database and loop over a recordset in C#?

Question

What\'s the simplest way to connect and query a database for a set of records in C#?

Answer 1

If you are intending on reading a large number of columns or records it's also worth caching the ordinals and accessing the strongly-typed methods, e.g.

using (DbDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader()) {
  if (dr.Read()) {
    int idxColumnName = dr.GetOrdinal("columnName");
    int idxSomethingElse = dr.GetOrdinal("somethingElse");

    do {
      Console.WriteLine(dr.GetString(idxColumnName));
      Console.WriteLine(dr.GetInt32(idxSomethingElse));
    } while (dr.Read());
  }
}

Answer 2

I guess, you can try entity framework.

using (SchoolDBEntities ctx = new SchoolDBEntities())
{
     IList<Course> courseList = ctx.GetCoursesByStudentId(1).ToList<Course>();
     //do something with courselist here
}