Connecting to MySQL databases using

VB.NET

Hassantga, 14 May 2013

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How to connect to a MySQL database using VB.NET.

Introduction
Connecting to a MySQL database from Visual Studio 2012 using a wizard might be a bit tricky,
because MySQL is not supported by default (like SQL Server). With this tip, I will show you
how to connect to a MySQL database and run commands (select, update, delete) using
VB.NET and I will also show you how to import MySQL connectors to Visual Studio 2012.

Using the Code

1. You need to download the mysqlconnect (mysql-connector-net) from the MySQL
website and add the DLL files to Visual Studio, the website
is http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/. Extract the download file, for example, in
C:\ and go to --> Visual Studio -->
2. Create a new project in VS2012 and name it whatever you like:
3. Go to project --> Add reference.
4. Select the DLL files from your folder and add them to your project.
5. Create a new VB class, name it mysqldb as follows:

6. Now you are ready to use the code of the class that I have created to connect to the
MySQL database. The code for this class is attached with this tip here, or from
mySqlDB.zip.
7. Now you can copy the methods from my class or add this class to your project directly,
and then use the code in the project, it's up to you. In both cases, you will have a class
that connects to a MySQL database and does select, update, delete operations.
8. I will add a simple GridView to my project and try to get data from the database using
very few lines of code.

Hide Copy Code

Dim mydb As New mySqlDB

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, _

ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
Try
Dim dataset As New DataSet
Dim queryresult As String = ""
dataset = mydb.executeSQL_dset("SELECT COMMAND", queryresult)
GridView1.DataSource = dataset
GridView1.DataBind()
Catch ex As Exception

End Try
End Sub

When you run the above code, you populate the data from the database in a dataset using
the executeSQL_dset function. This function will return a dataset that you can then use
anywhere in your project.

To run an update or delete command, there is another method called:

Hide Copy Code

Dim dataset As New DataSet

Dim queryresult As String = ""
mydb.executeDMLSQL("update or delete SQL command", queryresult)
If queryresult = "SUCCESS" Then
'your command is ok
Else
'your command is not ok
End If