The .NET Framework includes an extensive set of data access tools that makes it easier to allow users to interact with databases in Web Forms pages.

There are essentially three groups of tools you will work with most often when building data-driven applications in ASP.NET:

• ADO.NET Data Providers, for implementing connectivity with a data source
• ASP.NET Web Forms Controls, for implementing the user interface
• ASP.NET Data Source Controls, an alternative to implementing connectivity with a data source

In addition, the Web Forms framework implements a simple yet flexible data-binding model that enables different sources of data to be bound to Web Forms controls.

NOTE: The discussions in this section focus mainly on the .NET Data Providers. Web Forms controls and the ASP.NET data binding model are covered in ASP.NET Web Forms. ASP.NET Data Source controls are covered in a later section.

A .NET data provider describes a collection of classes used to manage connections with a specific data source. The .NET data provider is designed to be lightweight, creating a minimal layer between the page and the data store, increasing performance without sacrificing functionality.

ADO.NET includes two data providers for implementing connectivity with databases:

• the SQL Server™ .NET Data Provider ( for use with Microsoft^® SQL Server™ 7.0 or later );
• the OLEDB .NET Data Provider ( for use with OLEDB-compliant database management systems ).

The SQL Server™ .NET Data Provider is designed to work with Microsoft SQL Server™ ( version 7.0 and later ) databases.

It uses the private protocol called Tabular Data Stream ( TDS ) to mediate communications directly between the server database and the representation of that data in the client application, without adding an OLE DB or Open Database Connectivity ( ODBC ) layer.

The OLE DB .NET Data Provider is designed to work with the following OLE DB providers: