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Quickstart: Use .NET and C# in Visual Studio to connect to and query a database

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Applies to: Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics

This quickstart shows how to use the .NET and C# code in Visual Studio to query a database in Azure SQL or Synapse SQL with Transact-SQL statements.

Prerequisites

To complete this quickstart, you need:

Create code to query the database in Azure SQL Database

  1. In Visual Studio, create a new project.

  2. In the New Project dialog, select the C# Console App.

  3. Enter sqltest for the project name, and then select Next.

  4. Select a (Long-term support) Framework option, such as .NET 6.0, and then select Create. The new project is created.

  5. Select Project > Manage NuGet Packages.

  6. In NuGet Package Manager, select the Browse tab, then search for and select Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.

  7. On the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient page, select Install.

    • If prompted, select OK to continue with the installation.
    • If a License Acceptance window appears, select I Accept.

  8. When the install completes, you can close NuGet Package Manager.

  9. In the code editor, replace the Program.cs contents with the following code. Replace your values for <your_server>, <your_username>, <your_password>, and <your_database>.

    using System;
using Microsoft.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Text;

namespace sqltest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try 
            { 
                SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
                builder.DataSource = "<your_server>.database.windows.net"; 
                builder.UserID = "<your_username>";            
                builder.Password = "<your_password>";     
                builder.InitialCatalog = "<your_database>";

                using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(builder.ConnectionString))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("\nQuery data example:");
                    Console.WriteLine("=========================================\n");

                    String sql = "SELECT name, collation_name FROM sys.databases";

                    using (SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(sql, connection))
                    {
                        connection.Open();
                        using (SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader())
                        {
                            while (reader.Read())
                            {
                                Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}", reader.GetString(0), reader.GetString(1));
                            }
                        }
                    }                    
                }
            }
            catch (SqlException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Run the code

  1. To run the app, select Debug > Start Debugging, or select Start on the toolbar, or press F5.
  2. Verify that the database names and collations are returned, and then close the app window.

Next steps