sql commands taking to much space - sql

Question

Hello guys i building a web app with asp.net and using sql ( MS SQL server 2000 ) and now after getting closer to finish i noticed that the sql part of my code taking huge amounts of space... and i was wondering what ways are there to make it easier to maintain? maybe even change to some other language?
Here is a simple example of the way my sql code is built ( there are some much longer commands in my code but they built this way) :
Dim connectionString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("ConnectionString").ToString()
Dim query As String = "SELECT workerName FROM [poWorker] WHERE ( companyId = #companyId ) AND (workerId=#workerId) "
Using con As New SqlConnection(connectionString)
con.Open()
Using da As New SqlDataAdapter()
Using command As New SqlCommand(query, con)
command.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("#workerId", Session("userId")))
command.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("#companyId", Session("companyId")))
Dim ds As New DataSet()
da.SelectCommand = command
da.Fill(ds, "test")
If ds.Tables(0).Rows.Count = 1 Then
managerName = ds.Tables(0).Rows(0)(0).ToString()
End If
End Using
End Using
con.Close()
End Using
This is taking a lot of space and i got a lot of sql written this way. I am sure there is some solution in making it easier to maintain, probably using a newer technology? Maybe if i could figure out a way to call all the sql commands from 1-2 functions but so far i failed to do such a thing since there big differences between many of those.

Answer 1

In the example you give, you could simplify the code by using ExecuteScalar - as you are just returning a single value. For example:
Dim query As String = "SELECT workerName FROM [poWorker] WHERE ( companyId = #companyId ) AND (workerId=#workerId) "
Using con As New SqlConnection(connectionString)
con.Open()
Using command As New SqlCommand(query, con)
command.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("#workerId", Session("userId")))
command.Parameters.Add(New SqlParameter("#companyId", Session("companyId")))
managerName = command.ExecuteScalar().ToString();
End Using
con.Close()
End Using

Answer 2

A modern way to access databases from code is to use an ORM. The one that Microsoft provides with the .NET Framework is Entity Framework. This allows you to write your query like this:
Dim worker as Worker =
dbContext.Workers
.Where(Function (w) (w.companyId = Session("companyId") and
w.workerId = Session("userId")))
.SingleOrDefault()
If worker IsNot Nothing Then
managerName = worker.workerName
End If
This approach also provides a far more robust approach to dynamic queries as opposed to piecing SQL strings together. For example, you can dynamically swap out Where clauses, OrderBy clauses, and so on, and still have completely typesafe code.
Entity Framework does not have builtin support for SQL Server 2000, but apparently there is a workaround.

Answer 3

The modern way is to no use SQL directly, but rather an OR-Mapper such as Entity Framework that allows you to query using Linq.
The query you show above would the be reduced to something shorter:
using(new context = MyAppDbContext())
{
var workerId = Session["userId"];
var companyId = Session["companyId"];
managerName = context.PoWorker
.Single(w => w.companyId == companyId && w.workerId == workerId)
.workerName;
}
Sorry for using C# syntax, but I hope you can figure out the intention.