>You know, I guess I was spoiled with Visual FoxPro; it seems that Microsoft (and earlier with Fox Software) took such a simple approach to handling data that I cannot now understand how it is that this can be made so complex in .NET.
>
>Yes, I am complaining.
>
>I am pouring through C# books, and all kinds of other books, and I am telling you, there is no simple way to do data in .NET. Of course, admittedly, I am speaking from inexperience with .NET. I am still trying to learn C#, much less how to handle data. Still, data handling, in my opinion, is a much more complex matter in .NET. Why does it have to be this way? It seems that there is a multitude of ways to handle data, using LINQ, ADO.NET, and so on. I just don't know where to begin. I just ordered Murach's ADO.NET 3.5 with C# book to see if this might help me a bit.
>
>Also, a few years ago when I got into C# in some local colleges, C# also seemed cryptic to me, but it now seems much easier. I guess it is a matter of time and experience. I don't think it is this way entirely with .NET data handling. There seem to be many more steps to handling data, unlike VFP and other xBased languages.
>
>Okay, I am finished with my complaining for now. :)
>
>Does anyone want to help me complain, or perhaps direct me to a simple tutorial on .NET data-handling?
>
>Has anyone else on UT here felt just as frustrated as I am feeling, or did y'all get over it 3 or 4 years ago while I was still making money with VFP?

Yes, I got some frustration at first when starting to learn it. But, this is the same pattern for everything new. But, as is the case for everything I do, I always built classes to handle that. So, since a few years, for all applications I have done, it comes down to be as simple as this:

        Dim loDataProvider As Framework.Framework.Data = New Framework.Framework.Data(oProcess)
        Dim loRow As DataRow

        ' Do a SQL exec to retrieve one record
        loDataProvider.ParameterAdd("Numero", lnPrimaryKey)
        If Not loDataProvider.SQLExec("SELECT List.SomeField FROM List " + _
         "WHERE List.Numero=" + loDataProvider.ParameterAddSQL("Numero")) Then
            Return False
        End If

        ' Get it into a row
        loRow = loDataProvider.oDataView(0).Row

        ' Get the value
        lcValue = loRow("SomeField")

So, basically, you would only have to do it once, by building your own class for data handling such as the data provider class I have built. Or, you can go with commercial frameworks available which also uses the same approach.