With the Data Engine library, you can import data from an SQL database to the DataEngine table into a queryable collection of objects in your code.

To connect Data Engine to Database, you need to follow the steps given below:

1. Initialize a new workspace folder relative to the project root directory using the Init method of the Workspace class.

   • C#

   • C#

   //Initialize a new workspace folder relative to the project root directory
   Workspace workspace = new Workspace();
   workspace.Init("workspace");

2. Initialize the connection string to the database file whose data you wish to import to the DataEngine base tables.

   • C#

   • C#

   public string GetConnectionString()
   {
       string filename = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal) + @"\ComponentOne Samples\Common\NORTHWND.MDF;";
       return String.Format(@"Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename={0}; Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30;User Instance=True", filename);
   }

3. Create SqlConnection and SqlCommand objects to get hold of the desired data that needs to be imported.

   • C#

   • C#

   SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(GetConnectionString());
   conn.Open();
   var command = new SqlCommand("Select * from Invoices", conn);

   Create an instance of the DbConnector class and pass the Workspace, SqlConnection and SqlCommand objects initialized above, as parameters to its constructor. Use the DbConnector’s GetData method to create a DataEngine table containing the imported data.

   • C#

   • C#

   //Import data from database to a DataEngine table
   var connector = new DbConnector(workspace, conn, command);
   connector.GetData("Invoices");

4. After the connection has been established, the queries can be defined and executed to fetch the desired data. Refer to the Transform Data topic for more information.