What Is a DataView Object?

The DataTable class’s Select method is powerful and flexible, but it’s not always the best solution. It has two major limitations. First, because it accepts such dynamic search criteria, it’s not terribly efficient. Also, neither Windows nor Web forms support binding to the Select method’s return value—an array of DataRow objects. The ADO.NET solution to both limitations is the DataView class.

The ADO.NET DataTable class is roughly equivalent to a table in a database, so you might assume that the DataView class is similar to a view in a database. Although there are some similarities between DataView objects and views in a database, they are not as closely related as DataTable objects and tables in a database are.

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