Going from VisualStudio generated Database stuff to Programmer Generated

Question

I'd like to be able to better access the database so I can execute queries (primarily because I don't understand/know the API for it, but I do know SQL). I don't want to remove everything Visual Studio has done because a lot is already built upon it, but how can I get an object that I can use to execute SQL queries.

This is Visual Studio 2008, C#, and MSSQL

Answer 1

Try something like this:

using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection("Connection String Goes Here"))
{
    conn.Open();
    using (SqlCommand comm = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM TABLE", conn))
    {
        return command.ExecuteScalar() as string;
    }
}

Don't forget to add:

using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;