Connecting to MySQL using Microsoft .NET

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Adding MySQL support to Visual Studio

• MySQL for Visual Studio: This component adds MySQL support to Visual Studio’s visual database tools, such as Server Explorer. To download MySQL for Visual Studio, please visit http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/windows/visualstudio.
• Connector/Net: This component adds.NET drivers for MySQL to Visual Studio. If you want to write.NET code that accesses MySQL databases, you must install this component. To download Connector/Net, please visit https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net.

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Using Server Explorer

1. Start Visual Studio.
2. On the View menu, click Server Explorer.
3. Click the Connect to Database icon. The Choose Data Source dialog box appears.
4. In the Data source list box, select MySQL Database, and then click Continue.

   📘 Note If you do not see the MySQL Database option, the MySQL for Visual Studio component is probably not installed or registered correctly with Visual Studio. Try re-installing the MySQL for Visual Studio component.

5. In the Server name text box, type the name of the hosting.com server for your account.

   📘 Note For information about how to determine your account’s server name, please see this article.

6. In the User name text box, type the name of the database user.
7. In the Password text box, type the password for the database user you specified in step 6.

   👍 Tip If you do not want to re-type the password every time Visual Studio connects to the database, select the Save my password check box.

8. In the Database name text box, type the name of the database you want to access.
9. Click Test Connection. You should receive a Test connection succeeded message. If you do not, check the values you provided in steps 5 to 8, and then try again.
10. Click OK. Server Explorer adds the server and database to the list of available connections.
11. Double-click the server and database name to view the following items:
    • Tables
    • Views
    • Stored Procedures
    • Stored Functions
    • UDFs (User-defined functions)

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Connecting to MySQL using.NET

1. Start Visual Studio.
2. On the File menu, click New, and then click Project. The New Project dialog box appears.
3. Under Templates, select your preferred coding language:
   • To use C#, select Visual C#.
   • To use VB.NET, select Visual Basic.
4. In the list of templates, click Console Application.
5. In the Name text box, type MySQL_test.
6. Click OK. Visual Studio creates the project.
7. In the code window, delete all of the existing code.
8. Copy the following code for the language you selected in step 3, and then paste it into the code window. Modify the connstring definition to use the login information for your own database. Additionally, replace the three instances of table_name with the name of the table you want to query. Visual C#:

using System;
using System.Data;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;

namespace MySQL_test
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string connstring = @"server=example.com;userid=example_user;password=example_password;database=example_database";

            MySqlConnection conn = null;
            
            try
            {
                conn = new MySqlConnection(connstring);
                conn.Open();

                string query = "SELECT * FROM table_name;";
                MySqlDataAdapter da = new MySqlDataAdapter(query, conn);
                DataSet ds = new DataSet();
                da.Fill(ds, "table_name");
                DataTable dt = ds.Tables["table_name"];

                foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
                {
                    foreach (DataColumn col in dt.Columns)
                    {
                        Console.Write(row[col] + "\t");
                    }

                    Console.Write(" ");                  
                }           
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e.ToString());
            }
            finally
            {
                if (conn!= null)
                {
                    conn.Close();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.Data
Imports MySql.Data.MySqlClient

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim connstring As String = "server=example.com;userid=example_user;password=example_password;database=example_database"

        Dim conn As MySqlConnection = Nothing

        Try
            conn = New MySqlConnection(connstring)
            conn.Open()

            Dim query As String = "SELECT * FROM table_name;"
            Dim da As New MySqlDataAdapter(query, conn)
            Dim ds As New DataSet()
            da.Fill(ds, "table_name")
            Dim dt As DataTable = ds.Tables("table_name")

            For Each row As DataRow In dt.Rows
                For Each col As DataColumn In dt.Columns
                    Console.Write(row(col).ToString() + vbTab)
                Next

                Console.Write(vbNewLine)
            Next

        Catch e As Exception
            Console.WriteLine("Error: {0}", e.ToString())
        Finally
            If conn IsNot Nothing Then
                conn.Close()
            End If
        End Try
    End Sub

End Module

9. On the Project menu, click Add Reference. The Reference Manager dialog box appears.
10. Under Assemblies, click Extensions.
11. Scroll down the list of assemblies, and then double-click MySql.Data. A check box appears next to the assembly name.

    📘 Note If you do not see the MySql.Data assembly listed, the Connector/Net component is probably not installed or registered correctly with Visual Studio. Try re-installing the Connector/Net component.

12. Click OK.
13. On the Build menu, click Build Solution. Visual Studio compiles the application.
14. On the Debug menu, click Start Without Debugging. The application runs and prints all of the data from the selected table.

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More information

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