If you work with a lot of data sources, you may have found it less than convenient to maintain each of your data sources in code or in individual components on each form. In Visual Studio 2005, the project-wide Data Sources window now provides a holistic view of your application's data. The Data Sources window allows you to set up project-wide data sources that you can drag and drop onto any design surface to create a user interface consisting of data-bound controls. When you need to work with a specific data item, just drag a table or group of fields onto a form, and Visual Studio 2005 will create bound controls for you. You can also connect existing controls to data by dragging items from the Data Sources window onto existing controls. Each item in the Data Sources window has a drop-down control list where you can select the type of control to create prior to dragging it onto a form. You can customize the list with additional controls, including controls that you have created. To populate the Data Sources window by adding data sources to your project, the Data Source Configuration Wizard makes it easy.
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Use the new Data Sources window to manage and access all the data sources in your project |