SIL LSDev Linux Development

Since we’re porting from SQL Server to Firebird, code that works on both RDBMSs is highly valuable. We want to connect to either using C#.

Microsoft’s ADO.NET Entity Framework does just that. One of the components is LINQ. Here is a beginner’s application to show how to do it with Firebird.

Download and run the latest Firebird Data Provider for .NET and Mono.

Open Visual Studio 2008 (VS). You can try using 2005, but I couldn’t get it to work. Create a new project. (File/New/Project…) Under “Project types” select Windows. Under Templates select Console Application. Give it a name. (I used LinqToFirebird.) Give the project a location. I prefer to leave the checkbox “Create directory for solution” unchecked, to avoid a deeper directory tree than I want.

In VS, go to the Solution Explorer. We’re going to add a reference to the Firebird .NET Data Provider. Right-click on References. A dialog will appear. Select the Browse tab. Go to the directory where you installed the provider and select FirebirdSqlData.FirebirdClient.dll

Now we get to code. In Program.cs, add the following above namespace at the top:

using System.Data;
using FirebirdSql.Data.FirebirdClient;

In the Main method, use the following code. You will have to change the connection string to your own, of course. (The best site for database connection strings is ConnectionStrings.com.) Microsoft has a number of examples for LINQ.

FbConnection con = new FbConnection(
“ServerType=0;User=SYSDBA;Password=masterkey;Dialect=3;” +
“Database=C:\\Firebird\\Data\\FieldWorks\\FW01.FDB;”);

FbDataAdapter fbadapt = new FbDataAdapter(
“SELECT * FROM RDB$CHARACTER_SETS;”, con);

// Table mappings
fbadapt.TableMappings.Add(”Table0″, “CharSets”);
DataSet dataset = new DataSet();

// Fill the dataset with a call to the database
fbadapt.Fill(dataset);

// Query
DataTable CharSets = dataset.Tables[0];
var queryCharSets =
from rCharSets in CharSets.AsEnumerable()
select rCharSets;

Console.WriteLine(”RDB$CHARACTER_SETS:”);
foreach (DataRow rCharSets in queryCharSets)
{
Console.WriteLine(rCharSets.Field(”RDB$CHARACTER_SET_NAME”));
}

// pause
Console.ReadLine();

CloseConnection(con);

I’m a Michigander working in Texas. I’ve been working on databases for FieldWorks since 2001. Currently FieldWorks uses SQL Server. My role in the Linux team is to help port from SQL Server to Firebird.