by Redge Shepherd
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Mastering C# and SQL by Building Applications

If you’re a developer wanting to work with SQL and SQL Server, then “Master C# and SQL by Building Applications” video course by Avetis Ghukasyan (Packt Publishing – October 2020) is the perfect way to get started.

The series begins by showing you how to install Visual Studio 2019, SQL Server 2019, and SQL Server Management Studio on your computer. As you work through the course, you will also learn to appreciate the many features of the Visual Studio 2019 IDE and SQL Server Management Studio.

After a simple “Hello World” test to prove that everything is working with Visual Studio, SQL Server Management Studio is used to create the database and tables required by the first application.

SQL is fairly easy to understand and is not a pre-requisite for the content presented throughout the course. Although knowing SQL is recommended, the explanation accompanying the code presentation is more than sufficient to understand what is happening and why.

A short list of the key areas covered include:

  • CREATE DATABASE
  • CREATE TABLE
  • INSERT INTO VALUES
  • CREATE VIEW
  • ALTER TABLE
  • ALTER COLUMN
  • UDDT – User-Defined Data Type
  • CREATE TYPE
  • SPROC – Stored Procedure
  • MERGE (UPSERT – Stored Procedure)
  • JSON
  • XML (Open XML SDK)
  • WPF / XAML
  • C# Packages (DAPPER,
  • MVVM (Model View View/Model)

The author provides thorough explanations for creating the various tables, user-defined data types, and stored procedures in SQL Server. A lot of material is presented quite quickly. Fortunately, the video segments are relatively short and may be viewed as many times as required.

The author also presents a unique “Upsert” stored procedure that is used to either update or add to a given database table.

DAPPER

Dapper is a simple object mapper for .NET applications and is written by a team at StackOverflow. Dapper streamlines the interface between the data and your code.

The second version of the application uses DAPPER and requires significantly less code. Dapper hides many of the details explored in the first version of the application as they are managed by Dapper itself.

The course also introduces several other packages and how they are used in the development of a working application in C#.

Just the Basics and Then Some

Like the first application, the Course Report Emailer and the Course Manager applications focus on the “engine” or Back End of the application while having a Front-End interface simply sufficient to ensure the code executes successfully as expected and to demonstrate the desired functionality.

The Front-End development, though functional, will not necessarily impress your friends, but with a little extra work, the structure is there to modify as you wish.

If there is a downside, the final application seems to fall just one step short of presenting a complete “ListView” of enrollments to show the name and course. This is clearly left as an exercise for the student.

The upside to this course is having a tried and true method or recipe to develop a complete application. From creating a database, tables, adding and manipulating data to a working C# Front-End with CRUD capabilities.

Complete this course to develop the skills you need to create your own real world applications. A truly professional look and feel will require a little more learning, but you will have solid foundation of skills to build on.

Related Articles and Resources

Article: Working with Excel Using C# by Nanda Kumar Chintam – codeproject.com

Learn C# By Building Applications (Packt Publishing)

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