[dba-VB] ASP.Net development

Hi Doug

I have built one major business app using these, though not using ASP.NET but WinForms. It has run for nearly two years now solid as a rock. 

I'm not quite sure what you have in mind with "multi table update" queries ... without browsing the entire code I can't recall a situation where more than one table is updated at any one time - maybe because the table schema is heavily normalized - beyond the level where most are satisfied. Further, the app has no one-to-one table joins.
You are right about the strong typing. It is a pleasure to work with, and I know for sure that it prevents many bugs and traps at the earliest stage: while you are coding. This has convinced me that life is too short for the "easy" alternative - falling back to SqlConnection and SqlCommand.

As for the generated SQL, I have heard too that it should be quite "elaborate" but - to be honest - I don't care as long as it works, and it does for me. That said, for new development we tend to use the Entity Framework. I love the abstraction layer it offers, but I'm aware that it may be a bit slower and may have other drawbacks. But, as it often is the case, it may depend on your actual data.

/gustav


>>> dbdoug at gmail.com 07-03-2011 04:04 >>>
Hello All:

A lot of the Microsoft sample code for asp.net data access is built
using strongly typed tableadapters with the .xsd design surface.  I've
built two apps using these in the last year, but they seem to be kind
of fiddly - they don't work well with multi table update queries, for
instance, and they generate a HUGE amount of background source code.
It is nice to have the strong typing, however.

I have never found any non-Microsoft sample code which uses this
technique.  Admittedly, most of the sample code in the wild consists
of short snippets built to illustrate a single technique, not a
complete application.

Two questions:
1. Are there developers out there using this approach for real life apps?
2. If not, what do you recommend?


Thanks,

Doug Steele