What is a strongly typed dataset?

Question

What is a strongly typed dataset? (.net)

Roose

Answer 1

A strongly typed dataset is one that has specific types for the tables and their columns.

You can say

EmployeeDataset ds = ...
EmployeeRow row = ds.Employees.Rows[0];
row.Name = "Joe";

instead of:

DataSet ds = ...
DataRow row = ds.Tables["Employees"].Rows[0];
row["Name"] = "Joe";

This helps because you catch mistakes in naming at compile time, rather than run time and also enforces types on columns.

Illaffected

This is not entirely correct. The dataset has types for the tables and the types have properties to the tables columns. Nitpicking... :-) – Migration

Answer 2

Short answer: A dataset which is guaranteed (by the compiler) to hold a specific type.

Counterword

Answer 3

It looks like DataSet has already been covered, but for completeness, note that in .NET 3.5 there are good alternatives for simple data access; in particular, things like LINQ to SQL. This has a similar objective, but retains a much purer simple OO model to your data classes.

Eddie

@Seiti - that was one example. DbLinq and EF both target multiple databases, as will LINQ-to-NHibernate when it arrives. – Eddie

Answer 4

A dataset which is tightly to a specific table at compile time so you can access the columns of a table using actual column name instead of index.

Durrell