Book excerpt: What is this book about? Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases teaches Visual Basic .Net developers the concepts and skills necessary to write VB.Net database applications. This book touches on database design concepts but focuses on using ADO.Net to access and manipulate data in relational databases. While the book covers all data providers in ADO.Net briefly, the primary objective is to focus on using the OleDb provider for accessing Access databases and the SQL provider for accessing SQL Server databases. What does this book cover? Readers learn how to how to use queries, views, and stored procedures to efficiently access and manipulate data from their applications. We provide examples and instruction on accessing data from Windows applications, ASP.Net applications, as well as Web Services. Specific coverage includes the following: ODBC OleDB SQL, Stored Procedures, and Views Creating Queries Building a Data Access Class Selecting and Updating Data Accessing Data in ASP.NET Working with XML Web Services