Summary

This chapter started with an introduction to the XML Schema Definition (XSD) language. You saw how to read schemas, how to create schemas using text editors, and how to create schemas programmatically using the XmlSchema class.

With the introduction to XSD out of the way, you saw how to use XSD to generate structure within a DataSet. Finally, you saw how to create typed DataSets that not only enforce structure, but do so at compile time, giving you IntelliSense support and compile-time type checking, as well as the ability to use annotations to make the DataSets even easier to use.

With this new knowledge, you should begin to consider using typed DataSets for your next applicable project rather than resorting to the quick and easy fix of using a generic DataSet. If you know the structure of your data at design-time, you should definitely think about taking advantage of typed DataSets.