[Curtis Rutland]

falcon00, on 11 July 2011 - 12:13 AM, said:

Yeah a few weeks ago I figured out the whole data reader data adapter thing. So now I'm looking at

http://msdn.microsof...ta.dataset.aspx

And not seeing anything that gets me to where I want to go...but perhaps I'm looking at the wrong thing. Instead perhaps I should be looking at the methods for DataTable?!

Yes, a DataSet is a collection of DataTables. When you fill a dataset, you're filling a DataTable inside it. So yes, DataTable is probably what you want to be looking at.

I won't beat a dead horse any harder. If you don't see the benefit of online resources, then you just don't see it.

[tlhIn`toq]

falcon00, on 11 July 2011 - 12:47 AM, said:

I don't know how I can make this any clearer; searches though online information DO NOT help when you don't know what you're looking for.

Yes. They do. That's when a search is the MOST helpful: When you don't know exactly what you need.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. I am trying to help you learn how to search so you can find the solutions you need. Sometimes all it takes is a couple examples of proven search techniques and search terms.

Let's say you wanted to write a method that let you draw in a set a crosshairs over a picturebox that was being fed from a webcam. But you've never done custom drawing before, so you don't have any idea what namespace to look in. Where in the printed bookS of .NET do you start your search? System.Line... nope... System.Drawing... System.PictureBox... System.Forms.Controls.PictureBox... Nope, there is such a namespace and control, but it doesn't have anything about how to draw on top of itself.....

But if you Google for "MSDN {what you want to do}" or "C# {what you want to do}"

you will get very targeted responses.

Large image: Please click to see. I didn't want to scroll up everyone's screens every time.

Spoiler

As you can see the first two responses are bulls eyes for what you needed. With several more good examples down the page. And it only took a few seconds, as opposed to several false starts associated with looking through a set of printed encyclopedias.

OH, don't bother with the actual search on the MSDN site. It sucks. When I say "Google for xxx" that's exactly what I mean.

When I first started coding C++ I raged against the way things were done. I spent more time screaming "Why the *f* is it done this way? That's crazy? What were they thinking?" and so on. One day it just hit me that there was no point yelling at the wind. Raging against something I cannot change. It didn't matter *why* because I was not going to change it. This was simply the way millions of others do it. Accepting it let me spend more time working and less time trying to lower my blood pressure.

Its the same way here. You can spend hundreds of dollars on books. We all have. Coding cookbooks are my favorite. But in the end they require a lot of space to look pretty on the shelf and because I am already on the computer I can do a search in 1/1000th of the time it would take to look up out-of-date information in a book printed last year.

If you already have an iPad / Galaxy tablet / netbook / Nook or laptop that you can set next to your development PC, consider *that* your textbook. You can look something up on the laptop/tablet and refer to it as you type. Use that screen as your book.

This post has been edited by tlhIn`toq: 11 July 2011 - 08:49 AM

[Shane Hudson]

To add to the previous, very detailed answers, the tutorials found on DIC and around the web are not just for beginners. You can use them to find methods and objects that you did not previously know about.

[raziel_]

Quote

I swear I keep looking for like a reference that tells me what namespaces what classes what methods and what parameters those methods take. I CAN'T FIND IT!! F1 doesn't get me anywhere and you'd think it would be somewhere in MSDN but to no avail!! Where is it? I know it exist!

Even though this is pretty old topic and the answers ware flawless i want to mention this. You can check the methods classes etc of a namespaces offline in the object browser that comes with visual studio. you can access it from menu view->object browser

This post has been edited by NoBrain: 11 July 2011 - 04:45 PM