Almost all applications have to deal with data access in some way or another. This book will teach you how to build Visual Basic .NET applications that make effective use of databases. Visual Basic .NET is the latest version of the most widely used programming language in the world, popular with professional developers and beginners alike.

Starting with a guide to the basic principles of database design, we then examine how to query databases and how to access their data - both in Windows applications and remotely using the Internet and Web Services. Every new concept is explained thoroughly with Try It Out examples, plenty of code samples, and end-of-chapter questions to test you.

This book covers:

- The basic principles of relational database design

- Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine

- Querying the database with the T-SQL language

- Visual Studio .NET and the Server Explorer

- ADO.NET and the DataSet

- Data binding, updating the database, and conflict resolution

- XML's role in ADO.NET