Relational Database Management Systems

One of the most common places to store data is in a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). Common ones include Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL.

Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server LocalDb

Microsoft offers various editions of its SQL Server product. We will use a free version that can run standalone and is known as LocalDb. The latest version of LocalDb is installed as part of Visual Studio 2015.

When you write code to connect to a database, you need to know its server name. The name depends on the version you choose to use. Here are some examples:

• Visual Studio 2015 installs SQL Server 2014: (localdb)\mssqllocaldb

• Visual Studio 2012/2013 installs SQL Server 2012: (localdb)\v11.0

• If you install SQL Server Express: .\sqlexpress

The Northwind sample database

To learn how to manage a database, it would be useful to have a sample one to practice on that has a medium complexity and a decent amount of sample records. Microsoft offers several...