protected void ExecuteScalarDemo ( ) {
   // specify the data source
   OleDbConnection myConn = new OleDbConnection (
      "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; Data Source=" + 
      Server.MapPath ( "~/app_data/pubs.mdb" ) );

   // define the command query
   string query = "SELECT COUNT ( * ) FROM Authors WHERE State='CA'";

   // initialize command object with the specified query and connection
   OleDbCommand myCommand = new OleDbCommand ( query, myConn );

   // open the data connection
   myConn.Open ( );

   // execute the command
   int count = ( int ) myCommand.ExecuteScalar ( );

   // close the data connection
   myConn.Close ( );
}

protected sub ExecuteScalarDemo ( )
   ' specify the data source
   dim myConn as new OleDbConnection ( _
      "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; Data Source=" & _ 
      Server.MapPath ( "~/app_data/pubs.mdb" ) )

   ' define the command query
   dim query as string = "SELECT COUNT ( * ) FROM Authors WHERE State='CA'"

   ' initialize command object with the specified query and connection
   dim myCommand as new OleDbCommand ( query, myConn )

   ' open the data connection
   myConn.Open ( )

   ' execute the command
   dim count as int = Ctype ( myCommand.ExecuteScalar ( ), int )

   ' close the data connection
   myConn.Close ( )
end sub