Connecting to Ingres from .NET

Required Software

The following software is required to connect to Ingres from .NET:

• Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework
• Ingres .NET Data Provider 2.0
• (Optional) An interactive development environment such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

Note: The procedure in this guide shows how to connect using Visual Studio.

Install the Data Provider into the Toolbox

The Ingres .NET Data Provider is integrated with Visual Studio 2005. Such integration allows a programmer to drag-and-drop the data provider design component onto a control, and to easily develop applications using wizards and editors.

The Ingres .NET Data Provider must be installed into the Visual Studio 2005 Toolbox before using it for the first time.

To install the data provider components into the Toolbox

1. Create an empty Windows Form (Winform) application.
2. Right-click the Data tab of the toolbox, and select Customize Toolbox.

   The Customize Toolbox dialog is displayed.

3. Select the IngresCommand, IngresConnection, and IngresDataAdapter components on the .NET Framework Components tab, and then click OK.

   The Ingres .NET Data Provider components are installed in the Toolbox, as shown in this example:

   

If the IngresCommand, IngresConnection, and IngresDataAdaper components do not appear in the Customize Toolbox dialog, you can add them.

To add the Ingres .NET Data Provider components to the Customize Toolbox dialog

1. Click Browse on the Customize Toolbox dialog and browse to the directory C:\Program Files\Ingres\dotnet\assembly\v2.0.
2. Open the Ingres.Client dll.

   The components are added.

Start the Ingres Data Adapter Configuration Wizard

The Toolbox's Data tab lists the .NET data provider components that are available during the application's design.

To start the Ingres Data Adapter Configuration Wizard

1. Drag the IngresDataAdapter component from the list on the Toolbox's Data tab onto the Windows Form design surface ("Form1").

   

   An "ingresDataAdapter1" component and its icon are added to the Visual Studio 2005 designer component tray.

   The welcome page of the Data Adapter Configuration Wizard is displayed.

   

Configure a Connection

You must configure a connection string before connecting to a database using a .NET application.

Ingres Data Adapter Configuration Wizard assists you in specifying the design properties of the ingresDataAdapter1 component, including its connection string definition.

To define a connection string

1. Click Next in the Data Adapter Configuration Wizard welcome screen.

   The Connection String Editor dialog is displayed.

   

2. Enter the connection information on the Connection tab:
   • Data Access Server

     Specifies the name of the Data Access Server (DAS) that services .NET application requests for the target DBMS Server.

     In this example, we use the local node, which uses the reserved name "(local)".

   • Port

     Identifies the port number on the host server machine that the Data Access Server is listening to.

     The port is typically specified as abn where ab is the instance ID (set during installation and found in the Ingres system variable II_INSTALLATION) and n is 7 for the DAS.

     (To display the instance ID, use the command ingprenv II_INSTALLATION.)

     Default: II7

   • Database

     Specifies the name of the target database that the application will connect to by default.

   • User ID

     Specifies the name of the authorized user that is connecting to the DBMS Server.

     Note: User ID and password are optional when connecting to a local Data Access Server and the current operating system logged-in user is also a valid Ingres user.

   • Password

     Specifies the password associated with the specified User ID for connecting to the DBMS Server.

     Click Ok.

     The wizard generates a connection string using the information you supplied. For example:

     Host=(local);Port=II7;Database=demodb

Design a Query

In the Data Adapter Configuration Wizard, you can enter your SQL command or use the Query Builder tool to generate the SELECT statement.

To design a query using the Query Builder

1. Click Query Builder to develop your SELECT statement.

   The Add Table dialog opens.

2. Click User Tables or All Tables.

   A list of available tables is displayed.

3. Choose your table from the list, and then click Add, Close.

   Ingres Query Designer opens.

   

   The Ingres Query Designer has three horizontal panels:

   • The top panel

     Consists of tab pages, one for each table reference in the FROM clause of the query. Each tab page contains a list of check boxes for each column defined in the table. The columns are listed as they are written in the table's catalog definition.

     Check or uncheck each column to add or remove the column reference from the SELECT statement.

   • The middle panel

     Is a grid that lists the column names and or expressions in the SELECT statement's column reference list. It provides a convenient tabular format for entering the column references.

   • The bottom panel

     Displays the query text as it is being built. The query text can be directly edited and is automatically formatted for readability.

4. Enter column references you want to add to your query into any one of the three panels.

   The other two panels are automatically updated.

5. Click OK.

   The query builder returns to the Ingres Data Adapter Wizard and displays the generated SELECT statement.

6. Click Finish.

   The Ingres Data Adapter Wizard is closed.