How to Access a VB Query

Knowing how to execute queries and access the information returned by a query using Microsoft Visual Basic.NET can save you time if you're working with databases. Microsoft Office Access is a relational database management system offered in the Office suite, while a query is used to retrieve information from a database table. VB.NET is a computer programming language that is relatively easy to learn and use. Fortunately, you can write VB code and access a VB query in just a few minutes.

• 1

  Open Microsoft Visual Basic Express. Click "New Project...," and then select "Windows Forms Application." Click "OK."

• 2

  Double-click "Button" on the "Toolbox" pane to add a new button control. Double-click "DataGridView" to add a new grid control. Double-click "Button1" to open the "Form1.vb"module. Press "Ctrl" and "A" simultaneously followed by "Delete" to remove all existing code.

• 3

  Copy and paste the code below to connect to the Northwind database, query the "Products" table and display the contents through the "Data Grid View" control:

  Imports System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnection

  Public Class Form1

  Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

  Dim nwindConn As Odbc.OdbcConnection

  Dim qryStr As String

  nwindConn = New Odbc.OdbcConnection("DSN=NORTHWIND")

  nwindConn.Open()

  qryStr = "SELECT Products.[Product Code], Products.[Product Name], "

  qryStr = qryStr & "Products.Description, Products.[Standard Cost], "

  qryStr = qryStr & "Products.[List Price], Products.[Reorder Level] "

  qryStr = qryStr & "FROM Products;"

  Dim da As New Odbc.OdbcDataAdapter(qryStr, nwindConn)

  Dim ds As New Data.DataSet

  da.Fill(ds, "myTable")

  With DataGridView1

  .DataSource = ds.Tables("myTable")

  End With

  nwindConn.Close()

  nwindConn.Dispose()

  nwindConn = Nothing

  End Sub

  End Class

• 4

  Edit the following line of code by removing "NORTHWIND" and typing the name of your DSN (DSN= <your DSN Name>):

  nwindConn = New Odbc.OdbcConnection("DSN=NORTHWIND")

  Press "F5" to run the program and click "Button1."