ADO.NET Cookbook

10.6. Creating a New Access Database

Problem

You need to create a new Microsoft Access database.

Solution

Use ActiveX Database Objects Extensions (ADOX) from .NET through COM interop.

You’ll need a reference to Microsoft ADO Ext. 2.7 for DDL and Security from the COM tab in Visual Studio .NET’s Add Reference Dialog.

The sample code contains an event handler and a single method:

Button.Click

Allows the user to specify the filename for the new Access database and then calls the CreateAccessDatabase( ) method in the sample to create the database.

CreateAccessDatabase( )

This method uses ADOX through COM interop to create the new Access database having the specified filename.

The C# code is shown in Example 10-6.

Example 10-6. File: CreateAccessDatabaseForm.cs

// Namespaces, variables, and constants using System; using System.Windows.Forms; // . . . private void createButton_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { // Create the save file dialog object. SaveFileDialog sfd = new SaveFileDialog( ); sfd.InitialDirectory = System.IO.Path.GetTempPath( ); // Set the filter for Access databases. sfd.Filter = "Microsoft Access (*.mdb)|*.mdb"; // Open the dialog. if (sfd.ShowDialog( ) == DialogResult.OK) { // Of OK selected, create the Access database. String fileName = sfd.FileName; try { CreateAccessDatabase(fileName); MessageBox.Show("Microsoft Access database " + fileName + " created.", "Create Access Database", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information); } catch (System.Exception ex) { MessageBox.Show("Could ...