> I may just be hard headed, but can someone shed some light on the benefits of using datasets in an ASP.NET environment?

> I understand *in principle* what datasets are, however coming from the ASP/COM+ background in web development, what benefit do datasets offer over straight command objects calling stored procs and insert/update SQL statements, and data readers for displaying data?

Phillip,

I was in a situation not too long ago where I had those same questions. We did a lot of research and here is the slimmed down version of what we found.

Using Stored Procedures are quicker (not in coding time, but performance time) and a bit more flexible.

DataSets are Fat objects... However, if you need quick developement they offer one feature that makes them worth their weight. DataAdapter.Update

The DataAdapter.Update method will take a DataSet and automatically preform every SQL action that is needed to update the data source with any changes (very little code is needed to make it happen).

Below is a link that details the method a lot better.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemdatacommondataadapterclassupdatetopic.asp

Hope that helps :)

Thanks,
Danny