The IDataReader and IDataRecord interfaces allow an inheriting class to implement a DataReader class, which provides a means of reading one or more forward-only streams of result sets. For more information about DataReader classes, see Retrieving Data Using a DataReader (ADO.NET).

An application does not create an instance of the IDataReader interface directly, but creates an instance of a class that inherits IDataReader.

Classes that inherit IDataReader must implement the inherited members, and typically define additional members to add provider-specific functionality.

Changes made to a result set by another process or thread while data is being read may be visible to the user of a class that implements an IDataReader. However, the precise behavior is both provider and timing dependent.

To promote consistency among .NET Framework data providers, name the inheriting class in the form Prv Command where Prv is the uniform prefix given to all classes in a specific .NET Framework data provider namespace. For example, Sql is the prefix of the SqlDataAdapter class in the System.Data.SqlClient namespace.

Users do not create an instance of a DataReader class directly. Instead, they obtain the DataReader instance through the ExecuteReader method of the Command object. Therefore, you should mark DataReader constructors as internal.

The following example creates instances of the derived classes, SqlConnection, SqlCommand, and SqlDataReader. The example reads through the data, writing it out to the console. Finally, the example closes the SqlDataReader, then the SqlConnection.

Private Sub ReadOrderData(ByVal connectionString As String)
    Dim queryString As String = _
        "SELECT OrderID, CustomerID FROM dbo.Orders;"

    Using connection As New SqlConnection(connectionString)
        Dim command As New SqlCommand(queryString, connection)
        connection.Open()

        Dim reader As SqlDataReader = command.ExecuteReader()

        ' Call Read before accessing data.
        While reader.Read()
            Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}, {1}", _
                reader(0), reader(1)))
        End While

        ' Call Close when done reading.
        reader.Close()
    End Using
End Sub

private static void ReadOrderData(string connectionString)
{
    string queryString =
        "SELECT OrderID, CustomerID FROM dbo.Orders;";

    using (SqlConnection connection =
               new SqlConnection(connectionString))
    {
        SqlCommand command =
            new SqlCommand(queryString, connection);
        connection.Open();

        SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader();

        // Call Read before accessing data.
        while (reader.Read())
        {
            Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}, {1}",
                reader[0], reader[1]));
        }

        // Call Close when done reading.
        reader.Close();
    }
}

Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360

.NET Framework

.NET Compact Framework

XNA Framework

Reference