Is Data Binding a Bad Choice ??????????

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fares Eidi
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Fares Eidi

I am a VB6 intermediate programmer just starting out using VB.net and would
like to ask what I'd be missing out on if I just use time saving techniques
like data binding, data adapter wizards etc to create my front end
application. Building the data access forms using manual coding just seems
like a lot of work.... Any guidance would be appreciated

Fares
 
Hi Fares,

Have for databinding first a look to "Datasource", that does the most work
for you.

And for the more general part of your question:

Probably you will start with using the wizards, they are nice but after a
while, you will see that they somethings do things, that you do not want and
start more and more doing things by hand.

And strange is that it becomes less work, especialy because you probably
will build your own classes which do the job for you.

I hope this helps?

Cor
 
* "Fares Eidi said:
I am a VB6 intermediate programmer just starting out using VB.net and would
like to ask what I'd be missing out on if I just use time saving techniques
like data binding, data adapter wizards etc to create my front end
application. Building the data access forms using manual coding just seems
like a lot of work.... Any guidance would be appreciated
Click to expand...

Why not use this technique (data binding)? It was introduced to make
work easier, so why not use it when it's useful?
 
Hi Herfried,

Databinding leads people mostly in the wrong direction for a simple start.
I would use the datasource instead.

Databinding looks at first sight very complex and is only needed for
controls which have no datasource as textbox, labels, listview etc.

By instance with the combobox, datagrid, listbox is the datasource the way
to go first.

Just my thought

Cor
 
Thanks for your thoughts ...

I guess I never did fully appreciate the true reason why (advanced) VB6
programmers avoided binding for a C/S application running for a small
workgroup.
I mean the whole debate was that binding is not as scalable or resource
efficient wasn't it?

Fares
 
Cor,
How are you considering the "Datasource" to be different then data binding?

I consider the Datasource property to be one form of Data binding.

Can you explain where you are heading with this?

Thanks
Jay
 
Fares,
In addition to the other comments.

Databinding in .NET is very powerful, easy to use, and efficient. I would
recommend using it if you can. Remember that data binding in .NET supports
binding to both ADO.NET and your own domain objects.

David Sceppa's book "Microsoft ADO.NET - Core Reference" from MS press is
both a good tutorial on ADO.NET & a good desk reference for later. It has a
couple of chapters on data binding to ADO.NET.

Rockford Lhotka's book "Expert One-On-One Visual Basic .NET Business
Objects" from A! Press, provides a framework for data binding to your own
domain (business) objects.
http://www.lhotka.net

Hope this helps
Jay
 
Hi Jay,
How are you considering the "Datasource" to be different then data binding?
I consider the Datasource property to be one form of Data binding.
Click to expand...

Of course

But I recognized that people are looking for databinding and not for
datasource, that is the only reason that I write that in this kind of
questions.

Databinding looks often so difficult in the beginning and adding a
datasource is so simple.

Cor
 
Hi Fares,

When you have used it and get it full it is very easy to use, but some
things like "format" (remember that word as a keyword) can be very difficult
to understand in the beginning.

To try it,
Just make a combobox and an extra textbox.
Connect a datatable to the datasource from the combobox and bind the textbox
to the same datatable.

If it is difficult tell it (not now direct) because that sample is easy to
give.

Cor
 
My Two cents,

Yeah, databinding in VB6 was kinda ugly/cumbersome, I never used it because
of things like Cor mentioned (formatting). However, databinding with
ADO.NET (which is SO much more powerful than ADO 2.5+.) is acceptable. I
think the reason I enjoy using it so much is I can add formatting of course,
data doesn't have to go back and forth to the datasource all the time (I can
have an ADO Recordset (vb6 terms)) without actually having a datatable to go
to. You could do this in VB6, but again, cumbersome.

So, if you can understand ADO.NET, you will see how much easier development
is. Really helps separate out your datalogic from your presentation logic.
You'll become a better coder because of it (maybe this is reaching, but it
sure helped me, especially understanding the differences from vb6/.net).
Jay's books that were recommended are excellent, even though I havent read
the second one (but think I will... New Borders Books is in town... I'm
such a nerd.)

good luck...
 
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