Dynamicweb 8 Dynamicweb.Database refactoring

All communication with databases in Dynamicweb solutions goes through Dynamicweb.Database which contains a bunch of static members that are used for creating connections, datareaders, datasets and other database related helper methods, like SqlBool etc.

Background

The current Dynamicweb.Database type has some usability issues that we need to address with Dynamicweb 8 API refactoring.

• Inconsistent naming, “GetConn” vs “getDatareader” (Casing), abbreviations instead of using the whole word (GetConn – should have been GetConnection).
• Messy overloads. Overload members are done using Optional parameters on the members, giving API usability issues especially in C# (Not that big an issue after C# also supports optional paramteres). Also some overloads are missing – like GetConn with no parameters.
• Too many public members that 3rd party developers have no use for, i.e. CreateStatisticCounters, ToggleStatistic and IsolateFromHttpContext. All members that we use internally for various purposes.

All of this can be optimized to the Database API is faster and easier to use.

The change

As part of Dynamicweb 8 API refactoring, this type has been refactored to address the issues mentioned above.

Consistent naming when getting data from the database (Old names in parenthesis)

• CreateConnection (GetConn)
• CreateAdapter (GetAdapter)
• CreateCommandBuilder (GetCommandBuilder)
• CreateDataReader (getDatareader)
• CreateDataSet (getDataset)
• CreateDataTable (New)
• ExecuteScalar (Not renamed)
• ExecuteNonQuery (Not renamed)

New and changed overloads

• CreateConnection (2 overloads, 1 new)
• CreateDataReader (3 overloads, 2 new)
• CreateDataSet (3 overloads, 1 new)
• CreateDataTable (3 overloads, new method)
• ExecuteNonQuery (8 overloads, 4 new)
• ExecuteScalar (2 overloads, 1 new)

Members that is now internal:

• IsolateFromHttpContext
• ToggleStatistic
• CreateStatisticCounters
• RemoveStatisticCounters
• ClearStatistics
• PrintStatistics
• getStack
• IncrementCounter
• GetParam
• SQLEscapeInjectionForbiddenWords
• SQLEscapeInjectionRegexChecks
• SQLInjectionPrevent
• SQLInjectionEndRequest
• SortListByDataSet
• ColumnExists
• SimplifyUpdateCommandText
• BuildUpdateCmd
• GetDbType
• GetDBValue
• GetXMLString
• CopyRow

So what does that mean?

Well, not much for upgrading solutions. Except if you use any of the members that are now internal – they are no longer available.

All your use of i.e. GetConn and getDatareader does not need to change. They are still in the API, but hidden for intellisense and obsoleted so you will get compile warnings – but no errors.
Bottom line: Your code using Dynamicweb.Database does not need any upgrade when upgrading solutions to from Dynamicweb 7 to Dynamicweb 8.

Hope you like the change and will find the database API easier to use. Please leave your comments.