How to document strongly typed datasets (in source)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tolga Erdogus
  • Start date Start date
T

Tolga Erdogus

Hi,

for a project that I am wrapping up I am writing documentation. I'd like to
be able to put in xmldoc style comments in to the source of my strongly
typed dataset, its tables, relationshipts and fields.

Since the source files are auto-generated, which would imply that my
documentation would be deleted, where and how would I write in source
documentation?

Thanks
 
Hi Tolga,

First of all, I would like to confirm my understanding of your issue. From
your description, I understand that you need to preserve xml comments in
the typed DataSet class. If there is any misunderstanding, please feel free
to let me know.

As far as I know, it is not recommended to add xml comments in the typed
DataSet class. Because the code for that class is auto-genearated by
xsd.exe. If you made any changes to the schema, the class will be
re-generated and the comments will be lost. This behavior is by design.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
Yes, your understanding is correct.
Somewhere in the source files I need to document the tables, relationships
and attributes of the dataset using xmldoc comments.

As you state, the DataSet class source code is auto-generated without
preserving changes. I understand this behaviour is by design, but where
does Microsoft recommend I put my entity-relationship documentation, without
having to put together a completely seperate document. One could argue that
ER documentation should be happening seperately because it's really the
database layer, however DataSets can have many client-side calculated fields
or extra fields to store query result sets with server side calculated or
aggregated columns...

Somewhere I need to document the mapping between a DataTable's fields and
the database tables. It seems that I can't do this without creating a
seperate document.
 
Hi Tolga,

Yes, I think you have to create another seperate document to achieve this.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

Kevin Yu
=======
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights."
 
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