Showing database rows in a grid

The shortest path from a database to a screen is a query, a data table and a grid. This lesson walks that path once.

The three steps

1. Open a connection using a connection string.
2. Run a command and fill a data table with the rows.
3. Bind the table to a grid so the rows appear.

using (var conn = new SqlConnection(connString))
using (var cmd = new SqlCommand("SELECT Id, Name FROM Product", conn))
{
    var table = new DataTable();
    conn.Open();
    new SqlDataAdapter(cmd).Fill(table);
    productsGrid.DataSource = table;
    productsGrid.DataBind();
}

Why bind rather than loop

A grid turns rows into markup for you. Binding once is clearer and less error prone than building a table by hand.