In building client-server or three-tier applications, desktop-rich clients, or Web applications, at some point the application will likely need to be able to access a database. ADO.NET is the technology within Microsoft's new .NET architecture for database access. This practical guide to ADO.NET begins with the basics and covers all of the pieces of ADO.NET. In addition to providing information on how to accomplish different tasks, it also explains the appropriate approaches for different types of applications. Some of these topics include basic database access using SQL Server or OLE DB data providers, using the DataSet, accessing data using XML, remoting, and database schema information.