Professional IronPython

Binn;%PATH% and press Enter at the command line.
Creating the database Support module
Creating a database support module is a multi-step process. At a minimum, you must first create a 
connection to the database and then work with that connection using code. The example that fol-
lows isn’t very complex. All that this example will do is retrieve some information from the database 
in the interest of keeping things simple. Even so, the basics shown in the example provide enough 
information for you to start creating database extensions of your own.
Creating a Connection to the Database
The first step in working with the Northwind database is to create a connection to it. The following 
steps describe how to perform this task.
1.
Right-click on the Data Connections entry in Server Explorer and choose Add Connection from 
the context menu. You may see the Choose Data Source dialog box shown in Figure 17-17. If 
not, you’ll see the Add Connection dialog box shown in Figure 17-18 and will need to proceed 
to Step 3.
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CHAPTER 17
ExtEnding ironPython Using VisUal Basic.nEt
 2.
Highlight the Microsoft SQL Server 
entry. Select the .NET Framework Data 
Provider for SQL Server entry in the 
Data Provider field. Click Continue. 
You’ll see the Add Connection dialog 
box shown in Figure 17-18.
3.
Select or type the server name in the 
Server Name field. You can type a 
period (.) for the default server. The
Add Connection dialog box automati-
cally enables the Select or Enter
a Database Name field.
4.
Select the Northwind database in the Select or Enter a Database Name field.