Question

Let’s say my SQL database contains a table called ‘Customer’. This Customer has an ID, a first name, a last name and an image (byte[]).

What I would like is a type (class) on the client that has an int, two strings and a byte[]. Each record would then be read into each one of these.

I know a little of C#, but I’m a bit of a newbie when it comes to accessing with C#, although I have been able to pull down records from a remote server. I’d just like to sort them once they arrive on the client side.

Edit: Okay, it seems I was a bit vague for people’s liking, so let me clarify. I know how to make a class, and I have looked up the details about bringing data across from an SQL database into a C# project using ADO.NET commands.

What I want to know is how to mirror the information in the SQL table as an object in my C# project. So, for example, I download one record from my table, it goes into an object.

Previously I’ve used Silverlight and that has an EDMX model and a domain service class. If anyone is familiar with this behaviour, it’s basically what I’m trying to emulate. I’d use that, but one of the limitations I face is that I’m restricted to using the application side alone, not the web site.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You’re talking about creating an ORM (Object-Relational Mapper), which is a bit too broad to be answered fully in a single answer here.

There’s a detailed tutorial on how to write one here.

However, it should be noted that there are a large number of ORM tools for .NET already out there, and many of them are already listed in other questions on this site, such as this one.