How to: Reference an Object by Using a Collection in Visual Basic .NET
This section describes how to reference an object by using the collection to which it belongs in Visual Basic .NET.
The code example shows how to set a column property by using the Columns, Tables, and Databases properties. These properties represent collections, which can be used to identify a particular object when they are used with a parameter that specifies the name of the object. The name and the schema are required for the Tables collection object property.
Referencing objects using collections
Start Visual Studio 2005.
From the File menu, select New Project. The New Project dialog box appears.
In the Project Types pane, select Visual Basic. In the Templates pane, select Console Application.
(Optional) In the Name box, type the name of the new application.
Click OK to load the Visual Basic console application template.
On the Project menu, select Add Reference item. The Add Reference dialog box appears. Select Browse and locate the SMO assemblies in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\SDK\Assemblies folder. Select the following files:
Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo.dll
Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo.dll
Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum.dll
Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum.dll
On the View menu, click Code.-Or-Select the Module1.vb window to display the code window.
In the code, before any declarations, type the following Imports statements to qualify the types in the SMO namespace:
Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.CommonInsert the code that follows this procedure into the main program.
Run and build the application.
Example
'Connect to the local, default instance of SQL Server.
Dim srv As Server
srv = New Server
'Modify a property using the Databases, Tables, and Columns collections to reference a column.
srv.Databases("AdventureWorks").Tables("Contact", "Person").Columns("LastName").Nullable = True
'Call the Alter method to make the change on the instance of SQL Server.
srv.Databases("AdventureWorks").Tables("Contact", "Person").Columns("LastName").Alter()