In this short code snippet article I will explain with an example how to use SQLCommand ExecuteReader function in ASP.Net
 
Database
I’ll make use of Customers Table of Microsoft’s Northwind Database which you can easily download using the link provided below
Download Northwind Database
 
HTML Markup
For this article I am using ASP.Net GridView control so that I can display the data fetched from the table using SQLCommand ExecuteReader function.
<asp:GridView ID="GridView1" runat="server" AutoGenerateColumns="false" RowStyle-BackColor="#A1DCF2"
    HeaderStyle-BackColor="#3AC0F2" HeaderStyle-ForeColor="White">
    <Columns>
        <asp:BoundField ItemStyle-Width="150px" DataField="CustomerID" HeaderText="CustomerID" />
        <asp:BoundField ItemStyle-Width="150px" DataField="ContactName" HeaderText="Contact Name" />
        <asp:BoundField ItemStyle-Width="150px" DataField="City" HeaderText="City" />
    </Columns>
</asp:GridView>
 
 
Namespaces
You will need to import the following namespaces
C#
using System.Data;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
 
VB.Net
Imports System.Data
Imports System.Configuration
Imports System.Data.SqlClient
 
 
Connection String
The connection string has been placed inside the connectionStrings section of the Web.Config file.
<connectionStrings>
 <addname="constr"connectionString="Data Source=.\sql2005; Initial Catalog=Northwind; user ID=sa; password=pass@123"providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>
 
 
Fetching Data using SQLCommand ExecuteReader function in ASP.Net
C#
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    if (!IsPostBack)
    {
        this.BindGrid();
    }
}
 
private void BindGrid()
{
    string strConnString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["constr"].ConnectionString;
    using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(strConnString))
    {
        using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand())
        {
            cmd.CommandText = "select top 10 * from Customers";
            cmd.Connection = con;
            con.Open();
            GridView1.DataSource = cmd.ExecuteReader();
            GridView1.DataBind();
            con.Close();
        }
    }
}
 
VB.Net
Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Not IsPostBack Then
        Me.BindGrid()
    End If
End Sub
 
Private Sub BindGrid()
    Dim strConnString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("constr").ConnectionString
    Using con As New SqlConnection(strConnString)
        Using cmd As New SqlCommand()
            cmd.CommandText = "select top 10 * from Customers"
            cmd.Connection = con
            con.Open()
            GridView1.DataSource = cmd.ExecuteReader()
            GridView1.DataBind()
            con.Close()
        End Using
    End Using
End Sub
 
 
Downloads
You can download the sample code in VB.Net and C# using the download link provided below.
Download Code