Microsoft enterprise data application blocks

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Microsoft enterprise data application blocks is an excellent data access layer component which can be used to reduce the coding effort for database applications significantly. Its a free download from MSDN

The goals of Enterprise Library are the following:

1. Consistency. All Enterprise Library application blocks feature consistent design patterns and implementation approaches.
2. Extensibility. All application blocks include defined extensibility points that allow developers to customize the behavior of the application blocks by adding their own code.
3. Ease of use. Enterprise Library offers numerous usability improvements, including a graphical configuration tool, a simpler installation procedure, and clearer and more complete documentation and samples.
4. Integration. Enterprise Library application blocks are designed to work well together or individually.

Links to download various versions of Microsoft enterprise library

1. For .Net framework 3.5 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203099.aspx
2. For .Net framework 2.0 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480453.aspx
3. For .Net framework 1.1 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=A7D2A109-660E-444E-945A-6B32AF1581B3&displaylang=en

More details are available in http://www.codeplex.com/entlib

1. How to set up and use Enterprise library data application block data access layer
2. Download and Install the MSI file
3. Reference the following DLLs from the bin folder of your installed path (for me it was in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Enterprise Library 3.1 - May 2007\Bin) to your .Net application
   
   • Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.dll
   • Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.dll
   • Microsoft.Practices.ObjectBuilder.dll
4. Thats it you are now ready to use the classes and functions available in the Enterprise library data application block DAL

Below are some code samples on how to use data application blocks to perform data access operations

1. General structure

//Add the following Using statements at the top of the Class file
using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common;
using Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data;
----
//initalize the Database object using the ConnectionString name
Database db = DatabaseFactory.CreateDatabase(Connection string name from web.config);
//Execute an SQL Query using the Execute methods available
db.ExecuteFunctionName(Stored Procedure Name, comma seperated parameters);
//This is the common structure I use in my projects.
//You can find lot of other ways to execute db queries like
//passing the row Command instead of SPROC name.

2. Insert, Update and Delete

//For insert, update and delete use ExecuteNonQuery
Database db = DatabaseFactory.CreateDatabase("ConString");
db.ExecuteNonQuery("usp_user_insert", username, emailID, password);

3. Returning Single values

//If your SPROC return single value, use ExecuteScalar
object pollID = db.ExecuteScalar("usp_poll_insert", question);

4. Selecting data

//use ExecuteDataSet to select data
DataSet ds = db.ExecuteDataSet("usp_users_select");

Just imagine how many lines of code it can easily reduce to execute a query which have a number of parameters.

From now on I will use this Enterprise library data application block data access layer for all the code samples in this blog.

NOTE: The Microsoft Enterprise Library coryntains lot of other really useful Application blocks such as Caching Application block and Cryptography Application Block.
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