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Manipulating Multiple DataSets

After a DataSet has been populated, you often need to use it in conjunction with other DataSet objects. In this section, you'll learn how to create a new DataSet based on an existing one as well as merge it with other DataSet objects.

Copying and Cloning

As you can see from Table 3.1, the DataSet object supports both Copy and Clone instance methods. Neither method is overloaded or accepts any arguments; however, the former copies both the data and structure of the DataSet and returns a new DataSet, whereas the latter copies only the structure.

As you might imagine, you should use the Copy method when you need to maintain the original DataSet and pass a copy to a process that may modify it. For example, Listing 3.4 ...