SoDataReader class

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The SO Data Reader class implements the IDataReader interface. Therefore, SO Reader has all the capabilities of a normal ADO.Net reader and it has more functions built into it by the NetServer.

Let’s take the SO Date Reader code snippet of the select example.

    string conName = myReader.GetString(2);
    string perName = myReader.GetString(3) + " " + myReader.GetString(4);
    string perPhone = myReader.GetInt16(5).ToString();
    string conEmail = myReader.GetString(6);
    string conEmlDesc = myReader.GetString(7);
    string conCou = myReader.GetString(8);
  }
  //Closing the Reader and Disposing the session
  myReader.Close();
  mySession.Dispose();
}

After we have executed the reader, the data will be returned and they will be held in the reader. You can see that the fields returned from the database to the reader are retrieved using the specific data type methods just as you would do if you are using ADO.Net reader.

Index

As in a normal ADO.Net data reader, the SO Data Reader also can retrieve data using the field in an index. The ADO.Net data reader has only two overloads for the index, either you can give the column index or you can give the column name, but in the SuperOffice data reader, you have three overloads: the ADO.Net methods and you can pass in a field info object and NetServer will return the data of the first matching column.

The following code snippet is a modification of the above code snippet to show the working of the 3 overload methods.

First, let’s look at how you can retrieve data using the column index.

Get data using the column index

//Loading the Data into the DataReader
SoDataReader myReader = myComm.ExecuteReader();
//Retrieving the Data from the Reader
while(myReader.Read())
{
  //we will convert all the return values to string
  //assuming that we don't know the return data type
  string conID = myReader[0].ToString();
  string conDept = myReader[1].ToString();
  string conName = myReader[2].ToString();
  string perName = myReader[3].ToString() + " " + myReader[4].ToString();
  string perPhone = myReader[5].ToString();
  string conEmail = myReader[6].ToString();
  string conEmlDesc = myReader[7].ToString();
  string conCou = myReader[8].ToString();
}

//Closing the Reader and Disposing the session
myReader.Close();

This is the same way as if you would use the method in an ADO.Net data reader. You may notice that we have converted all the return values to string type assuming that we don’t know the data type that will be returned. If you know the data type, you can always cast the return value to the appropriate data type as in the following line.

intconID = (int)myReader[0];

Get data using the column name

Now let’s look at how we can retrieve data using the column name.

//Loading the Data into the DataReader
SoDataReader myReader = myComm.ExecuteReader();
//Retrieving the Data from the Reader
while(myReader.Read())
{
  //we will convert all the return values to string
  //assuming that we dont know the return data type
  string conID = myReader[newConTable.ContactId.DbName].ToString();
  string conDept = myReader[newConTable.Department.DbName].ToString();
  string conName = myReader[newConTable.Name.DbName].ToString();
  string perName = myReader[newPerTable.Firstname.DbName].ToString() + " " + myReader[newPerTable.Lastname.DbName].ToString();
  string perPhone = myReader[newPerTable.PhonePresent.DbName].ToString();
  string conEmail = myReader[newEMLTable.EmailAddress.DbName].ToString();
  string conEmlDesc = myReader[newEMLTable.Description.DbName].ToString();
  string conCou = myReader[newCouTable.EnglishName.DbName].ToString();
}

Here we have given the column name by using the appropriate table info object to specify the column name. This is a good way of doing it since you don’t have to know the exact name of the table column.

Of course, you can give the column name and retrieve the data like this:

 string conID = myReader["Contact_Id"].ToString();

NetServer-provided overloaded method

Now let’s look at the NetServer provided overloaded method.

//Loading the Data into the DataReader
SoDataReader myReader = myComm.ExecuteReader();

FieldInfo test = new FieldInfo(newConTable, FieldDataType.dbInt,"Contact_Id");

//Retrieving the Data from the Reader
while(myReader.Read())
{
//in this method we have to know the table field data type
  //so we can cast and get the value to a variable of same type
  int conID = (int)myReader[newConTable.ContactId];
  string conDept = (string)myReader[newConTable.Department];
  string conName = (string)myReader[newConTable.Name];
  string perName = (string)myReader[newPerTable.Firstname] + " " + myReader[newPerTable.Lastname];
  string conEmail = (string)myReader[newEMLTable.EmailAddress];
  string conEmlDesc = (string)myReader[newEMLTable.Description];
  string conCou = (string)myReader[newCouTable.EnglishName];
}
//Closing the Reader
myReader.Close();

Here we have used the NetServer provided method of retrieving data through the index. We are passing a FieldInfo object as the parameter to the method. You can see that we have used the TableInfo object to specify a column name.