Tutorial: Design a relational database in Azure SQL Database C# and ADO.NET

Applies to: Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Database is a relational database-as-a-service (DBaaS) in the Microsoft Cloud (Azure). In this tutorial, you learn how to use the Azure portal and ADO.NET with Visual Studio to:

  • Create a database using the Azure portal
  • Set up a server-level IP firewall rule using the Azure portal
  • Connect to the database with ADO.NET and Visual Studio
  • Create tables with ADO.NET
  • Insert, update, and delete data with ADO.NET
  • Query data ADO.NET

Tip

This free Learn module shows you how to Develop and configure an ASP.NET application that queries an Azure SQL Database, including the creation of a simple database.

Prerequisites

Sign in to the Azure portal

Sign in to the Azure portal.

Create a server-level IP firewall rule

SQL Database creates an IP firewall at the server-level. This firewall prevents external applications and tools from connecting to the server and any databases on the server unless a firewall rule allows their IP through the firewall. To enable external connectivity to your database, you must first add an IP firewall rule for your IP address (or IP address range). Follow these steps to create a server-level IP firewall rule.

Important

SQL Database communicates over port 1433. If you are trying to connect to this service from within a corporate network, outbound traffic over port 1433 might not be allowed by your network's firewall. If so, you cannot connect to your database unless your administrator opens port 1433.

  1. After the deployment is complete, select SQL databases from the left-hand menu and then select yourDatabase on the SQL databases page. The overview page for your database opens, showing you the fully qualified Server name (such as yourserver.database.windows.net) and provides options for further configuration.

  2. Copy this fully qualified server name for use to connect to your server and databases from SQL Server Management Studio.

    Screenshot of the Azure portal, database overview page, with the server name highlighted.

  3. Select Networking under Settings. Choose the Public Access tab, and then select Selected networks under Public network access to display the Firewall rules section.

    Screenshot of the Azure portal, networking page, showing where to set the server-level IP firewall rule.

  4. Select Add client IP on the toolbar to add your current IP address to a new IP firewall rule. An IP firewall rule can open port 1433 for a single IP address or a range of IP addresses.

  5. Select Save. A server-level IP firewall rule is created for your current IP address opening port 1433 on the server.

  6. Select OK and then close the Firewall settings page.

Your IP address can now pass through the IP firewall. You can now connect to your database using SQL Server Management Studio or another tool of your choice. Be sure to use the server admin account you created previously.

Important

By default, access through the SQL Database IP firewall is enabled for all Azure services. Select OFF on this page to disable access for all Azure services.

C# program example

The next sections of this article present a C# program that uses ADO.NET to send Transact-SQL (T-SQL) statements to SQL Database. The C# program demonstrates the following actions:

Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

The CREATE TABLE statements involve the REFERENCES keyword to create a foreign key (FK) relationship between two tables. If you're using tempdb, comment out the --REFERENCES keyword using a pair of leading dashes.

The ERD displays the relationship between the two tables. The values in the tabEmployee.DepartmentCode child column are limited to values from the tabDepartment.DepartmentCode parent column.

ERD showing foreign key

Note

You have the option of editing the T-SQL to add a leading # to the table names, which creates them as temporary tables in tempdb. This is useful for demonstration purposes, when no test database is available. Any reference to foreign keys are not enforced during their use and temporary tables are deleted automatically when the connection closes after the program finishes running.

To compile and run

The C# program is logically one .cs file, and is physically divided into several code blocks, to make each block easier to understand. To compile and run the program, do the following steps:

  1. Create a C# project in Visual Studio. The project type should be a Console, found under Templates > Visual C# > Windows Desktop > Console App (.NET Framework).

  2. In the file Program.cs, replace the starter lines of code with the following steps:

    1. Copy and paste the following code blocks, in the same sequence they're presented, see Connect to database, Generate T-SQL, and Submit to database.

    2. Change the following values in the Main method:

      • cb.DataSource
      • cb.UserID
      • cb.Password
      • cb.InitialCatalog
  3. Verify the assembly System.Data.dll is referenced. To verify, expand the References node in the Solution Explorer pane.

  4. To build and run the program from Visual Studio, select the Start button. The report output is displayed in a program window, though GUID values will vary between test runs.

    =================================
    T-SQL to 2 - Create-Tables...
    -1 = rows affected.
    
    =================================
    T-SQL to 3 - Inserts...
    8 = rows affected.
    
    =================================
    T-SQL to 4 - Update-Join...
    2 = rows affected.
    
    =================================
    T-SQL to 5 - Delete-Join...
    2 = rows affected.
    
    =================================
    Now, SelectEmployees (6)...
    8ddeb8f5-9584-4afe-b7ef-d6bdca02bd35 , Alison , 20 , acct , Accounting
    9ce11981-e674-42f7-928b-6cc004079b03 , Barbara , 17 , hres , Human Resources
    315f5230-ec94-4edd-9b1c-dd45fbb61ee7 , Carol , 22 , acct , Accounting
    fcf4840a-8be3-43f7-a319-52304bf0f48d , Elle , 15 , NULL , NULL
    View the report output here, then press any key to end the program...
    

Connect to SQL Database using ADO.NET

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;   // System.Data.dll
//using System.Data;           // For:  SqlDbType , ParameterDirection

namespace csharp_db_test
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try
            {
                var cb = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
                cb.DataSource = "your_server.database.windows.net";
                cb.UserID = "your_user";
                cb.Password = "your_password";
                cb.InitialCatalog = "your_database";

                using (var connection = new SqlConnection(cb.ConnectionString))
                {
                    connection.Open();

                    Submit_Tsql_NonQuery(connection, "2 - Create-Tables", Build_2_Tsql_CreateTables());

                    Submit_Tsql_NonQuery(connection, "3 - Inserts", Build_3_Tsql_Inserts());

                    Submit_Tsql_NonQuery(connection, "4 - Update-Join", Build_4_Tsql_UpdateJoin(),
                        "@csharpParmDepartmentName", "Accounting");

                    Submit_Tsql_NonQuery(connection, "5 - Delete-Join", Build_5_Tsql_DeleteJoin(),
                        "@csharpParmDepartmentName", "Legal");

                    Submit_6_Tsql_SelectEmployees(connection);
                }
            }
            catch (SqlException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
            }

            Console.WriteLine("View the report output here, then press any key to end the program...");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }

Methods that return T-SQL statements

static string Build_2_Tsql_CreateTables()
{
    return @"
        DROP TABLE IF EXISTS tabEmployee;
        DROP TABLE IF EXISTS tabDepartment;  -- Drop parent table last.

        CREATE TABLE tabDepartment
        (
            DepartmentCode  nchar(4)          not null    PRIMARY KEY,
            DepartmentName  nvarchar(128)     not null
        );

        CREATE TABLE tabEmployee
        (
            EmployeeGuid    uniqueIdentifier  not null  default NewId()    PRIMARY KEY,
            EmployeeName    nvarchar(128)     not null,
            EmployeeLevel   int               not null,
            DepartmentCode  nchar(4)              null
            REFERENCES tabDepartment (DepartmentCode)  -- (REFERENCES would be disallowed on temporary tables.)
        );
    ";
}

static string Build_3_Tsql_Inserts()
{
    return @"
        -- The company has these departments.
        INSERT INTO tabDepartment (DepartmentCode, DepartmentName)
        VALUES
            ('acct', 'Accounting'),
            ('hres', 'Human Resources'),
            ('legl', 'Legal');

        -- The company has these employees, each in one department.
        INSERT INTO tabEmployee (EmployeeName, EmployeeLevel, DepartmentCode)
        VALUES
            ('Alison'  , 19, 'acct'),
            ('Barbara' , 17, 'hres'),
            ('Carol'   , 21, 'acct'),
            ('Deborah' , 24, 'legl'),
            ('Elle'    , 15, null);
    ";
}

static string Build_4_Tsql_UpdateJoin()
{
    return @"
        DECLARE @DName1  nvarchar(128) = @csharpParmDepartmentName;  --'Accounting';

        -- Promote everyone in one department (see @parm...).
        UPDATE empl
        SET
            empl.EmployeeLevel += 1
        FROM
            tabEmployee   as empl
        INNER JOIN
            tabDepartment as dept ON dept.DepartmentCode = empl.DepartmentCode
        WHERE
            dept.DepartmentName = @DName1;
    ";
}

static string Build_5_Tsql_DeleteJoin()
{
    return @"
        DECLARE @DName2  nvarchar(128);
        SET @DName2 = @csharpParmDepartmentName;  --'Legal';

        -- Right size the Legal department.
        DELETE empl
        FROM
            tabEmployee   as empl
        INNER JOIN
            tabDepartment as dept ON dept.DepartmentCode = empl.DepartmentCode
        WHERE
            dept.DepartmentName = @DName2

        -- Disband the Legal department.
        DELETE tabDepartment
            WHERE DepartmentName = @DName2;
    ";
}

static string Build_6_Tsql_SelectEmployees()
{
    return @"
        -- Look at all the final Employees.
        SELECT
            empl.EmployeeGuid,
            empl.EmployeeName,
            empl.EmployeeLevel,
            empl.DepartmentCode,
            dept.DepartmentName
        FROM
            tabEmployee   as empl
        LEFT OUTER JOIN
            tabDepartment as dept ON dept.DepartmentCode = empl.DepartmentCode
        ORDER BY
            EmployeeName;
    ";
}

Submit T-SQL to the database

static void Submit_6_Tsql_SelectEmployees(SqlConnection connection)
{
    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("=================================");
    Console.WriteLine("Now, SelectEmployees (6)...");

    string tsql = Build_6_Tsql_SelectEmployees();

    using (var command = new SqlCommand(tsql, connection))
    {
        using (SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader())
        {
            while (reader.Read())
            {
                Console.WriteLine("{0} , {1} , {2} , {3} , {4}",
                    reader.GetGuid(0),
                    reader.GetString(1),
                    reader.GetInt32(2),
                    (reader.IsDBNull(3)) ? "NULL" : reader.GetString(3),
                    (reader.IsDBNull(4)) ? "NULL" : reader.GetString(4));
            }
        }
    }
}

static void Submit_Tsql_NonQuery(
    SqlConnection connection,
    string tsqlPurpose,
    string tsqlSourceCode,
    string parameterName = null,
    string parameterValue = null
    )
{
    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("=================================");
    Console.WriteLine("T-SQL to {0}...", tsqlPurpose);

    using (var command = new SqlCommand(tsqlSourceCode, connection))
    {
        if (parameterName != null)
        {
            command.Parameters.AddWithValue(  // Or, use SqlParameter class.
                parameterName,
                parameterValue);
        }
        int rowsAffected = command.ExecuteNonQuery();
        Console.WriteLine(rowsAffected + " = rows affected.");
    }
}
} // EndOfClass
}

Tip

To learn more about writing SQL queries, visit Tutorial: Write Transact-SQL statements.

Next step

Advance to the next tutorial to learn about data migration.