The advent of ASP back in late 1996 when ADO 1.0 was released represented a new way of dynamically retrieving data from a database. Though ADO was at its very infancy then, and was something of an offshoot of DAO and RDO, nevertheless it represented a new bold direction. Each subsequent version of the technology leads us one step closer to ADO 2.6, when development came to an end. At this point, emerging from the shadows came the most revolutionary framework to date - .NET, with it the very powerful and mature ADO.NET.

This new data component, introduced with .NET, presented an exciting new approach to data access. Though the techniques, and logic used to connect to databases with ADO.NET weren’t startlingly different from those used with its predecessor, ADO.NET had a lot to offer. What was unique about this technology was the architecture beneath it all, its powerful approach to data management, and the flexibility in the next level of data-presenting devices.

ADO, for its time, was certainly successful. Although the re-releases of the technology hadn’t heralded dramatic change for ADO, it achieved what it had to within its own architecture. However, it was continually plagued by problems that surrounded its handling of disconnected data stores, and functioning properly and concisely with XML. This is where ADO.NET stepped in - these are the two things the new technology easily manages, as XML is the core component of the entire .NET Framework! ADO.NET was simply created to remedy all the deficiencies found in ADO, and provide developers with the power to achieve more with less.

In this article we’ll dive right into accessing data in .NET, and demonstrate the variety of options available to the ADO.NET developer for data access and presentation. This article is intended as a concise introduction to data access in .NET that’ll have you up to speed on the technology in no time.