ADO.NET compact DB, export/import table

See the following link for Microsoft's recommendations on compacting/repairing an Access database:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306287

It states that compacting and repairing cannot be achieved through ADO.NET and instead you need to access the Microsoft Jet OLE DB Provider and Replication Objects (JRO).

As far as your other queries are concerned, there are a number of methods for exporting/importing tables. The best one depends on what you intend to do with the data - export to another access database, export to excel, export to a csv file?

What kind of exporting/importing will you be doing?

Tom

Hey tom..

well the clients of my application will not have MS access installed on their PC's... i pretty much want a fast and effective way to export data out of the database to a file, and then back into the database. I'll do it with any file format, i have learnt with ADO.NET that some things work faster than others, so whatever is fastest!

Cheers :-)

hey tom...

the CreateXMLFile() is working like a charm

although i am having trouble with the ReadXMLFile().. here is what i got so far..

    Public Sub loadTable()
        Dim mDataAdapter As New OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter
        Dim mDataSet As New System.Data.DataSet
        Dim mConn As OleDb.OleDbConnection
        Dim mCommandBuilder As OleDb.OleDbCommandBuilder
        Try
            mDataSet = ReadXMLFile("c:\Test.xml")
            mDataAdapter.SelectCommand = New OleDb.OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM testTable;", mConn)
            mCommandBuilder = New OleDb.OleDbCommandBuilder(mDataAdapter)
            mDataAdapter.Fill(mDataSet)
            mDataAdapter.Update(mDataSet)
            mDataSet.AcceptChanges()
        Catch
            MsgBox(Err.Description)
        End Try
    End Sub

it comes up with the error "syntax error in INSERT INTO statement" on the line "mDataAdapter.Update(mDataSet)"

maybe this isn't the best/easiest way of saving to a table, i only converted to ADO.NET from DAO about 3 days ago..

Cheers :-)

Use the following code instead:

Public Sub loadTable()

     Dim mDataAdapter As New OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter
     Dim mDataSet As New System.Data.DataSet
     Dim mConn As OleDb.OleDbConnection
     Dim mCommandBuilder As OleDb.OleDbCommandBuilder
     Try
         mDataAdapter.SelectCommand = New OleDb.OleDbCommand("SELECT * FROM testTable;", mConn)
         mCommandBuilder = New OleDb.OleDbCommandBuilder(mDataAdapter)
         mDataAdapter.FillSchema(mDataSet, SchemaType.Mapped)

         mDataSet = ReadXMLFile("c:\Test.xml")
         
         mDataAdapter.Update(mDataSet.Tables(0))
         mDataSet.AcceptChanges()

     Catch ex as exception
         MsgBox(ex.message)
     End Try
End Sub

To be able to store the changes in the data set, you will need to modify the ReadXML and WriteXML functions:

Update the ReadXML line to:

oDs.ReadXml(myXmlReader, XmlReadMode.DiffGram)

Update the WriteXML line to:

oDs.WriteXml(myXmlReader, XmlWriteMode.DiffGram)

This will store the row state in the XML file, otherwise each row state following the fill operation will be set to Added, and all the rows will be added, rather than the appropriate command e.g. delete or update.

Hope this helps (and works...)

Tom.

Thanks for the help! it's working like a charm :-)