Azure SQL Database APIs for .NET

Overview

Azure SQL Database is a database service using the Microsoft SQL Server engine that supports relational, JSON, spatial, and XML data.

To learn more about the using SQL Database with .NET, see Use .NET with Visual Studio to connect and query an Azure SQL database.

Client library

Use the .NET SQL client library to connect and authenticate with your database and execute ad-hoc T-SQL statements and stored procedures.

Install the NuGet package directly from the Visual Studio Package Manager console or with the .NET Core CLI.

Visual Studio Package Manager

Install-Package System.Data.SqlClient

.NET Core CLI

dotnet add package System.Data.SqlClient

Code Example

This example connects to a database and reads rows from a table.

/* Include this 'using' directive...
using System.Data.SqlClient;
*/

// Always store connection strings securely. 
string connectionString = "Server=tcp:[serverName].database.windows.net;" 
    + "Database=myDataBase;User ID=[loginname]@[serverName];Password=myPassword;"
    + "Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;";

// Best practice is to scope the SqlConnection to a "using" block
using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
    // Connect to the database
    conn.Open();

    // Read rows
    SqlCommand selectCommand = new SqlCommand("SELECT * FROM MyTable", conn);
    SqlDataReader results = selectCommand.ExecuteReader();
    
    // Enumerate over the rows
    while(results.Read())
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Column 0: {0} Column 1: {1}", results[0], results[1]);
    }
}

Explore the client APIs

Management library

Use the Azure SQL Database management library to create, manage, and scale Azure SQL Database server instances.

Install the NuGet package directly from the Visual Studio Package Manager console or with the .NET Core CLI.

Visual Studio Package Manager

Install-Package Microsoft.Azure.Management.Sql.Fluent

.NET Core command line

dotnet add package Microsoft.Azure.Management.Sql.Fluent

Code Example

This example creates a new SQL Database server instance and then creates a new database on that instance.

/* Include these 'using' directives...
using Microsoft.Azure.Management.Sql.Fluent;
using Microsoft.Azure.Management.ResourceManager.Fluent.Core;
*/

string startAddress = "0.0.0.0";
string endAddress = "255.255.255.255";

// Create the SQL server instance
ISqlServer sqlServer = azure.SqlServers.Define("UniqueServerName")
    .WithRegion(Region.USEast)
    .WithNewResourceGroup("ResourceGroupName")
    .WithAdministratorLogin("UserName")
    .WithAdministratorPassword("Password")
    .WithNewFirewallRule(startAddress, endAddress)
    .Create();

// Create the database
ISqlDatabase sqlDb = sqlServer.Databases.Define("DatabaseName").Create();

Explore the management APIs

Samples

View the complete list of Azure SQL Database samples.