ADO.NET 3.5 Cookbook, 2nd Edition

11.2. Retrieving Database Metadata

Problem

You need to get schema information for the data source of a data connection.

Solution

Use the GetSchema() method of the Connection class.

The solution creates a connection to the AdventureWorks database. The following metadata information is retrieved and output to the console to demonstrate the three overloads of the GetSchema() method:

• Metadata collections for the connection

• Restriction collections for the connection

• Views in the Production schema

The C# code in Program.cs in the project RetrieveDatabaseMetadata is shown in Example 11-2.

Example 11-2. File: Program.cs for RetrieveDatabaseMetadata solution

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Common;

namespace RetrieveDatabaseMetadata
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string sqlConnectString = "Data Source=(local);" +
                "Integrated security=SSPI;Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks;";

            using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(sqlConnectString))
            {
                // Retrieve and output metadata collections
                connection.Open(  );
                DataTable dt = connection.GetSchema(
                    DbMetaDataCollectionNames.MetaDataCollections); connection.Close( ); Console.WriteLine("---Metadata collections---"); foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows) Console.WriteLine("{0}; {1}; {2}", row[0], row[1], row[2]); // Retrieve and output restrictions connection.Open( ); DataTable dtRestrictions = connection.GetSchema(DbMetaDataCollectionNames.Restrictions); connection.Close( ...