Introduction

ADO.NET is the latest implementation of Microsoft s Universal Data Access strategy. In the past few years, classic ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) has gone through many changes, bug fixes, and enhancements. These libraries have been the foundation for many Web sites and applications that are in place today. ADO.NET will be no different in this respect because Microsoft is positioning ADO.NET to be the primary data access technology for the .NET Framework. This will ensure that the Data Access Architecture is mature and robust because all the Common Language Runtime (CLR) languages will be using ADO.NET for their primary means of communicating with data providers.

Flexible and efficient data access technologies are at the heart of dynamic Web sites and Web applications. Classic ADO serialized data in a proprietary protocol that limited its reach, and it could have been made more efficient. ADO.NET serializes data using XML. This allows ADO.NET to take advantage of a standards-based approach to moving data back and forth in your applications. With rich support for any data source that can create or consume XML, ADO.NET is truly the data access technology for current and future applications. Through ADO.NET, you are able to connect to myriad data sources with the speed and flexibility that today s businesses require.

The goal for the developers of the ADO.NET architecture was to continue the tradition of ADO by further removing the complexities of interacting with different data providers and shielding you from the intricacies that would interfere with your primary...