Question

I need to fire certain SQL queries (on a SQL Server 2008) and then collect this data and put it into my own data structures (like lists and Dictionaries). Can you show me how to do this?

What will be the code to store the data from SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP into a string?

Similarly, if I have a SQL query returning some record, how can I convert this record into string format or int format data for further processing?

I need to write an algorithm, which will know how many records have been returned, then it will accordingly proceed to store such records in appropriate fashion. Can you please give me a few pointers here?

Answer 1

As a pointer take a look at the following code:

using (var connection = new SqlConnection("....{connection string}..."))
using (var selectCommand = connection.CreateCommand())
{
    selectCommand.CommandText = "SELECT whatever FROM wherever";
    //...command parameters setup here if necessary

    using (var reader = selectCommand.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection))
    {
        while (reader.Read())
        {
            //process data here
            int whateverId = (int)reader["IdColumn"];
            string whateverName = (string)reader["NameColumn"];

            //and so on, you get the idea...
        }
    }
}

I hope this points you in the right direction. Study the code, do some research online (MSDN is a good place to start) and you should get to what you want.