BindingSource controls in WinForms - compared to LINQ , ADO.Net, etc?

Question

I'm fairly new to database programming in WinForms, and have been using BindingSource, DataSet, and TableAdapter controls to display data from an Access database in grid and Component One Chart controls.

The app is fairly simple right now - the user selects a row in the grid, and a related set of data points is plotted in the Chart control.

TThe BindingSource approach provided much instant gratification at first, but I'm now trying to make it work with Component One Report controls as well, and have started getting some run time errors that don't make sense at my current level of knowledge.

I'm starting to wonder if it's worth continuing on this path, or whether I should put my effort into a more powerful approach right from the beginning (LINQ looks very promising, for example).

My question - what are the limitations of the BindingSource approach compared to LINQ?

And how does ADO.Net compare?

-Tom Bushell

PS If you read this question, please vote it up so I can at least get enough rep points to start commenting. Thanks!

Answer 1

Unfortunately Linq to SQL is not supported with MS Access. As for ADO.NET, well you are already using it (DataSet is part of ADO.NET). If you meant ADO.NET Entity Framework, you are again out of luck as it also does not support MS Access.

If you switch to SQL Compact Edition you will be able to use other technologies (like Linq to SQL) but you will still find that a BindingSource or BindingList is the best way to get data bound to your winforms without implementing your own version.