RelationMapping - Enabling quick lookup of an ADO.NET DataSet's DataRelations based upon participating DataColumns

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License

Apache License 2.0

Summary

A small class meant to be used with any ADO.NET DataSet in order to create a quick lookup of a DataRelation based upon its ParentColumns and ChildColumns.

Background

ADO.NET Typed DataSets have Properties and Methods for getting their related DataRows (accessible through their DataRelations) which are auto-generated by the MSDataSetGenerator custom tool. When there is only one DataRelation linking two DataTables, this comes out clearly as either a Property named "<parent <code>DataTable name>Row" (e.g. PersonRow) or a Method named "Get<child <code>DataTable name>Rows()" (e.g. GetAddressRows()). This is easy to read and the developer needs no knowledge of the DataRelation's name (e.g. Person_FK04) However, if there are two or more DataRelations linking the same two DataTables, the auto-generated Properties get named "<parent DataTable name>RowBy<DataRelation name>" (e.g. AddressRowByPerson_FK04). This becomes extremely difficult to use, as getting the correct AddressRow requires knowing the name of the DataRelation that it is linked by. In this case, it is in the developer's best interest to make alias Properties whose names contain the way they are used (e.g. a HomeAddressRow Property simply passing through to the auto-generated Property AddressRowByPerson_FK04) This makes the code much more readable and manageable. However, this is tedious and requires looking up what the Database creation tool decided to name the relationship of interest. Furthermore, since the DataRow is being looked up by its DataRelation name, if the name of that DataRelation ever gets changed, the alias Property would then be out of sync, and bugs would be introduced. As a solution, RelationMapping is a class meant to be used with any DataSet in order to create a quick lookup of the DataSet's DataRelations based simply upon its ParentColumns and ChildColumns. This removes the need for developer to ever hard-code the RelationName into any of the code, hence increasing the readability and robustness of the code.

Key Features

• Get a DataRelation via its ParentColumns and ChildColumns

Usage

1. Get a DataRelation via its ParentColumns and ChildColumns

   Dim ds = New TypedDataSet1()
   Dim rm = New RelationMapping(ds)
   Dim foundRelation = rm.GetRelation(ds.DataTable1.Column1, ds.DataTable2.Column3)
   

How to Build

This library and associated unit tests were developed in VS 2008 as standard Desktop projects.

Releases

• 1.0
• 2010-10-11
• Initial release

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Author:  Chris Tossing <ctossing@kdsecure.com>
Copyright: (c) 2010 by KD Secure, LLC
NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  USE AT-YOUR-OWN-RISK.