ADO.NET Programming in Visual Basic™ .NET

The DataSet Class

The DataSet is the heart of ADO .NET. The DataSet is essentially a collection of DataTable objects; in turn each object contains a collection of DataColumn and DataRow objects. The DataSet also contains a Relations collection, which can be used to define relations between DataTable objects. There is a Constraints collection, which can be used to define unique keys and data validation rules. There are also DataView objects that work hand-in-hand with the DataSet. These objects can be used to define filters, sort orders, and display attributes in a given DataTable. You can change from one DataView to another and instantly change the way data is presented to the user. The DataView is part of the data binding mechanism in ADO .NET. ...