Chapter 35. The System.Data.Common Namespace

This namespace includes some of the base classes that define common ADO.NET functionality for provider-specific objects. For example, you'll find DataAdapter , which is the root for classes such as System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter and System.Data.OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter . However, many connection-specific classes don't derive from a base class. Instead, they implement a common interface, such as System.Data.IDbConnection (implemented by System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection and System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection ).

The System.Data.Common namespace does include a few classes that are generic to all data providers. Namely, these are the DataColumnMapping and DataTableMapping classes, which allow you to map table names and column names in the DataSet . These classes are used by the provider-specific objects but are completely generic. Figure 35-1 shows the types in this namespace.