Easy SQL Server Tool Using C#

Introduction

• Kindly view my YouTube Video Link to learn about my Easy SQL SERVER Tool Using C#.

 

My previous article explained how to design a form at runtime,

• Easy Form Design at Run Time C# Windows Forms

In this article we will see how to create an Easy SQL Server Tool.

Easy SQL Server Tool will allow users to create SQL Server Database, Delete Database, Load all Database Names from a SQL selected Server, Create a New Table, Insert records to Table, Select Records from Table and bind the result to grid, Export the selected result to CSV file format, Delete Table, Delete ALL Records from a table without writing any SQL Script.

We have used SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) to programmatically create SQL Server Database, Table, etc.

What is SQL Server Management Objects (SMO)?

SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) is a collection of objects to manage SQL Server programmatically. Using SMO objects we can programmatically connect to SQL server, Get collections of all Database names, Create new Database, Backup Database, Restore Database, Create Table, Get collections of Table Name for a given Database, Get all Column details of a given Table, etc.

Reference website: To learn more detail about SQL Server SMO kindly view all these links,

• Overview (SMO)
• Create a Visual C# SMO Project in Visual Studio .NET
• Server Class

Features in Shanu Easy SQL Server Tool (SESST)

1. Connect to SQL Server.
2. Table Details
3. SQL Script Tab (Create Table tab / Insert and Delete records tab / Select Query tab).
4. Output Window

Here we will see details of each part,

Step 1: Connect to SQL Server,

SQL Server Connect

We can connect to any SQL Server within our network. We need to give SQL Server Name or IP Address, SQL Server Login ID and password to connect to SQL Server.

Create New Database

Check whether or not the Database name the user entered exists in the SQL Server. If it exists, then display the message to user. If there is no database with user entered name, then a new Database will be created.

 

 

Load Database

Load all the Database Name to combobox for creating Table.

Delete Database

User can delete the selected Database from SQL Server. Before deleting, a confirmation box will be displayed to user to delete or not. If the user clicks on ok then the selected database will be deleted.

 

 

Database Backup

Backup the selected Database to any folder as you have selected.

 

 

Database Restore

User can restore the database by selecting “.bak” file from the selected folder.

 

Step 2: Table Details

 

Load Table:

User needs to first select the Database to list all the Table Names. After selecting the database and by clicking on the Load Table Names all the Table Names to the Combobox will be loaded.

Delete Table

User can delete the selected Table from SQL Server. Before deleting, a confirmation box will be displayed for user to delete or not. If the user clicks on ok then the selected Table will be deleted.

Step 3: SQL Script Tab

Here we will be having 3 tabs; the first tab is for creating Table, the second tab is for Insert and Delete Records, and the third tab is for selecting query. We will see all three tab's details here.

Create Table Tab

 

 

Here the user can create their own table without writing SQL Query. Firstly, the user needs to select the Database where the table needs to be created. After selecting the Database the user can enter their SQL Table Name in the textbox. After entering the table name the user needs to add columns for that Table. Without adding columns the Table cannot be created.

Adding Columns

 

User can add columns for creating a new Table. All these columns will be added locally to the grid for finally creating a Table. The user can add any number of columns, delete the selected column and also delete all columns by clicking on Clear Columns. Adding and deleting columns does not deal with databases so this will be as temp place to add columns for creating Table. After adding all columns for the Table user can click on Create Table button to create a new Table with given column details.

Datatype:

Here for now only 3 datatypes have been used.

1. Int (Numbers)
2. varchar (for text)
3. nVarchar (for Numbers and text)

User can also add each column data size. For integer the size will not be used, but for Varchar and nVarchar Datatype the user can add the column data size. The user can also set Max size for both Varchar and nVarchar type by selecting the Max Size checkbox.

For example, we can see  in the following image, here we have added four columns to the grid, and adding one more new column we can see each column Datatype and Size from the grid. After adding all column, we click the Create Table Button. We can see the confirmation message as Table was created and also we can see our new Table has been added in the Table List Combobox.

 

 

Insert and Delete Records Tab

We will be using the recently-created test Table for inserting demo.

 

Here we can see in the above image we have selected the Table “test” from Table List. To insert record to selected Table we need to click on the load table Details to insert button. By clicking this we will be displaying all the column names with textbox. Depending on the Datatype of each column we will be adding textbox with maxlength. If the column datatype is Integer then we will be adding Numeric textbox for that column' by this user can enter only numbers to that textbox. For Varchar and nVarchar we will check for each Column Size; if it's max then we set the textbox maxlength as 200; by this the user can enter only 200 characters. If size is set for the column then we will be setting the column size for textbox maxlength.

Insert:

 

 

After loading all the column details with TextBox user can enter the value to be inserted for each column. Once user enters the value, click on the Insert into Selected Table button for inserting a new record. Similarly, the user can enter any number of records for the selected table. If you want to add more functionality from the code you can add your functionality, for example, like checking duplicate value before insert and etc.

Delete All Records: User can delete all records of the selected table. Here in this sample we are not checking any condition for deleting the records. If you need to add more functionality you can change from the code and add your own functions, for example, such as Delete records of a table based on condition and etc.

Select Query Tab

 

 

For selecting the records from a Database and display the result the user needs to first select the Database and then select the Table from the Table List to create a SQL Select query.

User can select the details using three features,

1) All Columns: If the All Columns checkbox is checked then all column details results will be displayed to the output window grid. (This is same like * in select query, for example select * from tablename). We can see from the above image the All Column Check box will be loaded by default. After selecting the table and when user clicks on Run Select Query all column details will be loaded in the following output window grid.

2) User selected Columns: If user want to display only particular columns of the table then they can click on load Table Columns to Select button to display all the column name of the tables to CheckedListbox. Here user can select the columns they need and by default check all the Column Names. User can uncheck the columns which are not needed and also uncheck the All Columns Checkbox to display only selected columns as a result.

User can Write SQL Select Query: User can also write their SQL Select query to display the output.

 

 

 

For example, if the user wants to write their own SQL query to join 3 table and display the result, to write SQL Select query user needs to check the SQL Select Query checkbox, and after writing select query user can click on Run Select Query button to see the result. In the above image we can see, we wrote a sample SQL Join query to join the three tables and by clicking the Run Select Query the result has been bound in the grid.

SQL Injection Checking in user entered select query:

 

We have also checked for the SQL Injection before executing user-entered SQL Select query. We have created an array list to add all SQL injection strings and we will be checking if any of the array word matches with the user entered select query. For example, we can see the above image since after select query we have entered drop query. But when we click on Run Select Query button we display the message, as drop is not accepted in select query.

Here is the list of SQL Injection string I am checking; if you need to, you can add or remove as per your requirement. 

string[] sqlInjectionArray = { "create", "drop", "delete", "insert", "update", "truncate","grant ","print","sp_executesql ,"objects","declare","table","into",
"sqlcancel","sqlsetprop","sqlexec","sqlcommit","revoke","rollback","sqlrollback","values","sqldisconnect","sqlconnect","user","system_user","use","schema_name","schemata","information_schema","dbo","guest","db_owner","db_","table","@@","Users","execute","sysname","sp_who","sysobjects","sp_","sysprocesses ","master","sys","db_","is_","exec", "end", "xp_","; --", "/*", "*/", "alter", "begin", "cursor", "kill","--" ,"tabname","or","sys"};

Save Select Query: User can also save the Select Query as text file to selected folder for using the select query later.

 

 

 Open saved Select Query: User can also open the saved Select Query to execute the select script.

 

 

 

Export the Result to CSV file Format: User can also export the selected result to CSV format. Here in the following image we can see the result has been exported as CSV file.

 

 

Prerequisites

Visual Studio 2015: You can download it from here.

SQL SERVER SMO Reference: For working with SQL Server SMO we need to add 4 important reference to our project,

• Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo.dll
• Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo.dll
• Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Sdk.Sfc.dll
• Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum.dll

You can find the reference from this path (Here we have used SQL Server 2014),

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\SDK\Assemblies\

Add all these 4 Assembly reference to your project,

 

 

Code part

The main aim was to create a simple and easy to use Easy SQL Tool. All the functionalities have been added in one main form with Tab. We have created 2 classes:

1. smoSQLServerClass: In this class we have created function to Connect, Disconnect to SQL Server, Create Database, Delete Database, Backup Database, Write all the Exception to Log text file to executable folder, Create Table etc.
2. sqlBizClass: In this class we perform all business logic for our Main form for example like creating Dynamic query, Creating Dynamic Controls and bind to panel, Bind all Table names returned from SMOSQLServerClass to Combobox controls ,Check SQL injection for Select query and return the result as true or false etc. 

Here we will see some important code parts used in the Easy SQL Server Tool. All the code parts have been well-commented, so the user can easily understand the code.

Connect to SQL Server

In this article I have mentioned that for using SQL Server SMO objects we need to add four important Assembly references to our project. Using SMO ServerConnection we can connect to SQL server. We need to set the SQL Server name to ServerInstance and set SQL Server login and password. After connecting we check if Connection is open and return the Boolean value to our main function to display the appropriate message to user. 

public bool SqlServerConnect()
        {
            try
            {
                servConn = new ServerConnection();
                servConn.ServerInstance = serverName;
                servConn.LoginSecure = false;
                servConn.Login = LoginID;
                servConn.Password = password;
                servConn.Connect();
                if(servConn.IsOpen)
                {
                    return true;
                }
                else
                {
                    return false;
                }

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                writeLogMessage(ex.Message.ToString());

            }
            return false;
        }

Write Exception Message to Log File:

We will be writing all exception error message to Log file with Date and Time. 

public void writeLogMessage(String logMessage)
        {
            string path = Application.StartupPath + @"\LogFile.txt";
            logMessage = logMessage + " - on " + DateTime.Now.ToString();
            if (!File.Exists(path))
            {
                using (StreamWriter tw = File.CreateText(path))
                {
                    tw.WriteLine(logMessage);
                    tw.Close();
                }
            }
            else
            {
                StreamWriter tr = new StreamWriter(path);
                tr.WriteLine(logMessage);
                tr.Close();
            }
        }

Load Database Name

In Load Database Name button click event, we will pass the comboBox control to the Biz class method. In biz class method we will call the SMO Class to get all the database names and add all the database names to combobox. Here in this method I will check for Master Database and will not add the name for security reasons, for example, the user can delete the database from our main form. Similarly, you can change the code to restrict any database that shows it in our main form. 

public void loaddbNames(ComboBox cbo)
        {
            //return objSQL.loaddbNames();
            DatabaseCollection dbnamesCol = objSQL.loaddbNames();
            cbo.Items.Clear();
            cbo.Items.Add("");
            if (dbnamesCol != null)
            {
                string dbnames = "";
                int ival = 0;
                foreach (Database db in dbnamesCol)
                {

                    if (db.Name != "master")
                    {
                        cbo.Items.Add(db.Name);
                    }                   }
                }
            cbo.SelectedIndex = 0;
        }

In SMO Class we will be loading all the Database name for a given SQL Server and return as DatabaseCollection to calling class. 

public DatabaseCollection loaddbNames()
        {
            DatabaseCollection dbNames = null;
            try
            {
                if (SqlServerConnect())
            {
                Server srv = new Server(servConn);
                    dbNames = srv.Databases;
                    SqlServerDisconnect();
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                writeLogMessage(ex.Message.ToString());
            }
            return dbNames;
        }

Create Database

In this function first we check if Database already existswith the user-entered name. If a database with the same name does not exist we will create a new database in our SQL Server. If Database already exists in the SQL Server, then return the message, as Database exists 

public string createourDatabase(string DatabaseName)
        {

            try
            {
                if (SqlServerConnect())
                {
                    Server srv = new Server(servConn);

                    Database database = srv.Databases[DatabaseName];
                    if (database == null)
                    {
                        database = new Database(srv, DatabaseName);
                        database.Create();
                        database.Refresh();
                        SqlServerDisconnect();
                        return "Database Created Successfully !";
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        SqlServerDisconnect();
                        return "Database Already Exist";
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    return "Enter valid SQL Connection Details";
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                writeLogMessage(ex.Message.ToString());
            }
            return "Sorry Error While creating DB";
        }

Create Table

In Create button click we will pass the user selected Database Name, User entered Table Name with Column Details as DataTable to SMO Class. In this function we will check if table already exists or not; if it exists, return false message to user and if not, then we will create a new Table with column details. 

public string createTable(string DatabaseName, string TableName,DataTable dtColumns)
        {
            try
            {
                if (SqlServerConnect())
                {
                    Server srv = new Server(servConn);
                    Database database = srv.Databases[DatabaseName];
                    if (database != null)
                    {
                        bool tableExists = database.Tables.Contains(TableName);
                        if (tableExists)
                        {
                            SqlServerDisconnect();
                            return "Table Already Exist.kindly Enter Different Table Name";
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            Table tbl = new Table(database, TableName);
                            foreach (DataRow dr in dtColumns.Rows)
                            {
                                string columnName = dr["ColumName"].ToString();
                                string DataType = dr["DataType"].ToString();
                                string dataSize = dr["Size"].ToString();
                                Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Column columntoAdd =null;
                                switch (DataType)
                                {
                                    case "Varchar":
                                        if(dataSize=="max")
                                        {
                                            columntoAdd = new Column(tbl, columnName, Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.DataType.VarCharMax);
                                        }
                                        else if (dataSize != "")
                                        {
                                            columntoAdd = new Column(tbl, columnName, Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.DataType.VarChar(Convert.ToInt32(dataSize)));
                                        }
                                        break;
                                    case "Int":
                                            columntoAdd = new Column(tbl, columnName, Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.DataType.Int);
                                        break;
                                    case "nVarchar":
                                        if (dataSize == "max")
                                        {
                                            columntoAdd = new Column(tbl, columnName, Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.DataType.NVarCharMax);
                                        }
                                        else if (dataSize != "")
                                        {
                                            columntoAdd = new Column(tbl, columnName, Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.DataType.NVarChar(Convert.ToInt32(dataSize)));
                                        }
                                        break;
                                }
                                if(columntoAdd!=null)
                                {
                                tbl.Columns.Add(columntoAdd);
                                }
                            }
                            tbl.Create();
                            SqlServerDisconnect();
                            return "Table Created Successfully !";
                        }
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    return "Enter valid SQL Connection Details";
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                writeLogMessage(ex.Message.ToString());
            }
            return "Sorry Error While Creating Table";
        }

Load Column Details for Insert

In Load Column details button click we will pass the Panel Control to our biz class to get all the column details of selected table and bind a text box with column name to panel. From our SMO Class we will get all the Column details of table and return as ColumnCollection. In biz class using foreach we will add all column details like Name as Label control to display the Column Name and add a Textbox for user input. In this method we will check for column type and column size. If the column type is Integer then we will set the Textbox as Numeric Textbox. If the column type is Varchar or NVarchar we check for column length and assign the length as TextBox Maxlenght. 

public void loadTableColumnDetails(Panel pnControls, string DataBaseName,string TableName)
        {
            ColumnCollection tableColumnDetail = objSQL.loadTableColumnDetails(DataBaseName, TableName);
            pnControls.Controls.Clear();

            if (tableColumnDetail != null)
            {
                string dbnames = "";
                int lableHeight = 20;
                int textboxHeight = 20;
                int lablewidth = 100;
                int lableXVal = 10;
                int lableYVal = 10;

                foreach (Column colName in tableColumnDetail)
                {
                    string s = colName.Name;

                    Random rnd = new Random();
                    int randNumber = rnd.Next(1, 1000);

                    //to add Column name to display as caption
                    Label ctrl = new Label();
                    ctrl.Location = new Point(lableXVal , lableYVal+6);
                    ctrl.Size = new Size(lablewidth , lableHeight);
                    ctrl.Name = "lbl_" + randNumber; ;
                    ctrl.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("NativePrinterFontA", 7F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)));
                    ctrl.Text = colName.Name;
                    pnControls.Controls.Add(ctrl);

                    //to add textbox for user enter insert text
                    TextBox ctrltxt = new TextBox();
                    ctrltxt.Location = new Point(lableXVal+110, lableYVal);
                    ctrltxt.Size = new Size(lablewidth+40, lableHeight);
                    ctrltxt.Name = "txt_" + randNumber;
                    ctrltxt.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("NativePrinterFontA", 8F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)));
                    ctrltxt.Text = "";

                    if (colName.DataType.Name== "int")
                    {
                        ctrltxt.MaxLength = 20;
                        ctrltxt.KeyPress += new KeyPressEventHandler(textBox_KeyPress);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        if(colName.DataType.MaximumLength.ToString()!="-1")
                        {
                            ctrltxt.MaxLength = Convert.ToInt32(colName.DataType.MaximumLength.ToString());
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            ctrltxt.MaxLength =100;
                        }
                    }

                    pnControls.Controls.Add(ctrltxt);

                    //to add Column datatype as hidden field
                    Label ctrllbl = new Label();
                    ctrllbl.Location = new Point(lableXVal + 112, lableYVal + 6);
                    ctrllbl.Size = new Size(1, 1);
                    ctrllbl.Name = "_lblDT_" + randNumber; ;
                    ctrllbl.Font = new System.Drawing.Font("NativePrinterFontA", 7F, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Regular, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, ((byte)(0)));
                    ctrllbl.Text = colName.DataType.Name;
                    ctrllbl.Visible = false;
                    pnControls.Controls.Add(ctrllbl);

                    if (lableXVal + 360 < pnControls.Width-110)
                    {
                        lableXVal = lableXVal + 270;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        lableXVal = 10;
                        lableYVal = lableYVal + 40;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
//for numeric textbox validation
        private void textBox_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
        {
            e.Handled = !char.IsDigit(e.KeyChar) && !char.IsControl(e.KeyChar);
        }

In SMO class loadTableColumnDetails method we will get all the column details for given database and table name return the column details as ColumnCollection top biz class for adding dynamic controls for user input to insert records. 

public ColumnCollection loadTableColumnDetails(string DatabaseName,string TableName)
        {
            ColumnCollection columnDetails = null;
            try
            {
                if (SqlServerConnect())
                {
                    Server srv = new Server(servConn);
                    Database db = srv.Databases[DatabaseName];
                    bool tableExists = db.Tables.Contains(TableName);
                    if (tableExists)
                    {
                        foreach (Table table in db.Tables)
                        {
                            if (table.Name == TableName)
                            {
                                columnDetails = table.Columns;
                                break;
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    SqlServerDisconnect();
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                writeLogMessage(ex.Message.ToString());
            }
            return columnDetails;
        }

Insert Records

In Insert button click we pass the user added insert details panel Control with Database Name and Table Name to biz Class. In biz class we will create a dynamic Insert query by adding all the column names and adding all the insert values as parameter and pass the SqlCommand to SMO Class insertQuery method for inserting new record to the given Table. 

public string saveTableInsertQuery(Panel pnControls, string DataBaseName, string TableName)
        {
            string result = "";
            StringBuilder sqlQuery = new StringBuilder("INSERT INTO " + TableName );
            StringBuilder Insert = new StringBuilder(" (");
            StringBuilder values = new StringBuilder("VALUES (");
            SortedDictionary<string, string> sd = new SortedDictionary<string, string>();

            string columnName = "";
            string colvalue = "";
            string dataType = "";
            int iCount = 0;

            SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand();

            foreach (Control p in pnControls.Controls)
            {

                if (p.Name.ToString().Substring(0, 4) == "lbl_")
                {
                    columnName = p.Text;
                }
                else if (p.Name.ToString().Substring(0, 4) == "txt_")
                {
                    colvalue = p.Text;
                }
                else if (p.Name.ToString().Substring(0, 4) == "_lbl")
                {
                    Insert.Append(columnName);
                    Insert.Append(", ");

                    sd.Add(columnName, colvalue);
                    values.Append("@" + columnName);

                    values.Append(", ");
                    if (p.Text == "int")
                    {
                        command.Parameters.Add("@" + columnName, SqlDbType.Int).Value = colvalue;
                    }
                    else if (p.Text == "varchar")
                    {
                        command.Parameters.Add("@" + columnName, SqlDbType.VarChar).Value = colvalue;
                    }
                    else if (p.Text == "nvarchar")
                    {
                        command.Parameters.Add("@" + columnName, SqlDbType.NVarChar).Value = colvalue;
                    }
                }
            }
            string sqlresult = Insert.ToString().Remove(Insert.Length - 2) + ") ";

            sqlQuery.Append(sqlresult);

            string valueresult = values.ToString().Remove(values.Length - 2) + ") ";

            sqlQuery.Append(valueresult);
            sqlQuery.Append(";");

                command.CommandText = sqlQuery.ToString();
                command.CommandType = CommandType.Text;

            return objSQL.insertQuery(DataBaseName, sqlQuery.ToString(),  command);

        }

Select Query

In Select button click we check for select query type, if SQL Select Query check box is not checked then we will pass all the column details to biz class selectRecordsfromTableQuery Method to create a dynamic SQL Select query. If user selected all Columns then we will be using “select * from tablename”. If user checked only few columns to display then we will create a dynamic query and add all user selected columns and after that return the result as DataTable to bind in grid. 

public DataTable selectRecordsfromTableQuery(bool isAllColumns, CheckedListBox chkListBoxCols, string DataBaseName, string TableName)
        {
            string result = "";
            StringBuilder sqlQuery = new StringBuilder("Select * FROM " + TableName);

            string sqlresult = sqlQuery.ToString();
            if (!isAllColumns)
            {
                sqlQuery = new StringBuilder("Select  " );
                foreach (object itemChecked in chkListBoxCols.CheckedItems)
                {
                    string colsName = itemChecked.ToString();
                    sqlQuery.Append(colsName+", ");
                }
                sqlresult = sqlQuery.ToString().Remove(sqlQuery.Length - 2) + " FROM " + TableName;
            }

            SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand();
            command.CommandText = sqlresult;
            command.CommandType = CommandType.Text;

            return objSQL.selectRecordsfromTableQuery(DataBaseName, command);

        }

Points of Interest

Hope you all liked this article. The main aim of creating this tool is for easy learning of SQL Server. Without writing a SQL Script, now members can connect to SQL Server, create Database, Table, Insert and select records. There are some limitations in this tool; for example,  we can add only 3 datatypes for now, etc. There is no limitation for our expectation, now that the code and Tool are in your hands you can add any number of functionalies as per your need.