Beginning Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Programming

Appendix B. Very Simple Connectivity Examples

Entire books are written around the subject of connectivity. For the first several books I put out, I deliberately avoided the topic entirely in the basic belief that it is a simply huge topic—one that is difficult to do justice to in less than a full book. That said, having a SQL Server but not allowing programs to connect to it is the same as not having a SQL Server at all. Sure, we may log into Management Studio and write queries directly, but the reality is that the vast majority of our users out there never actually see the database directly.

For this "Beginning" title, I'm still going to touch on the subject only in a very limited fashion that is purely meant for quick reference once you've looked at other sources, or perhaps to give you an inkling of what is involved. If you're serious about displaying excellence in working with SQL Server or any other connectivity-based data solution, I highly recommend you purchase a book specifically on data access and connectivity.

This appendix is a collection of extremely simple connectivity examples utilizing a couple of client languages and a few features in two different connectivity models. We're going to stick a few basic examples of connecting within each language/model mix and leave the discussion of the whys and hows to books that are focused solely on connectivity.

I can't stress enough how these examples are truly the basics. You can make many, many choices and optimizations for connectivity. ...