Table Representation in Classes

[penfold69]

Imagine you have a database with a table in it.

 

Imagine that you wish to represent this table in your code as a class.

 

What is the most efficient (maintenance-wise) way of representing your database table?

 

Currently, I'm trying to decide. I can either go for something like:

 

Public Class MyClass
   Protected mID as Long
   Protected mSomeField as String
   Protected mSomeOtherField as Long
   .. repeat private member for each database field

#Region "Properties"
Public Property ID() as Long
   Get
       return mID
   End Get
   Set (Byval Value as Long)
      mID = Value
   End Set
End Property 

(... repeat property for each private member)

#End Region

Public Sub New()
   '  perhaps overloaded constructor to handle loading by ID and pre-setting all values
End Sub

Public Sub Save()
    'Various DB code to save back to database
End Sub
End Class

 

 

Or, I could go with a Hashtable-type system, whereby the values are stored in a hashtable, which is the default property of my class. Problem with that is returning the various fields in the correct data-type.

 

I would like this to be as EASY to maintain as possible - if a structural change is made to the database, it would be NICE if the code didn't have to be changed, but this is not a necessity.

 

Somebody out there must have dealt with this problem and come up with a nifty solution?

 

B.

[Robby]

What about a Strongly Typed Dataset?