How to get a DataRow out the current row of a DataReader?

Question

Ok, I would like to extract a DataRow out a DataReader. I have been looking around for quite some time and it doesn't look like there is a simple way to do this.

I understand a DataReader is more a collection of rows but it only read one row at the time.

So my question: is there any way to extract a DataRow out the current row of a DataReader?

Answer 1

Is there any way to extract a DataRow out the current row of a DataReader ?

No, at least no simple way. Every DataRow belongs to one Table. You cannot leave that property empty, you cannot even change the table(without using ImportRow).

But if you need DataRows, why don't you fill a DataTable in the first place?

DataTable table = new DataTable();
using(var con = new SqlConnection("...."))
using(var da = new SqlDataAdapter("SELECT ... WHERE...", con))
    da.Fill(table);
// now you have the row(s)

If you really need to get the row(s) from the DataReader you can use reader.GetSchemaTable to get all informations about the columns:

if (reader.HasRows)
{
    DataTable schemaTable = reader.GetSchemaTable();
    DataTable data = new DataTable();
    foreach (DataRow row in schemaTable.Rows)
    {
        string colName = row.Field<string>("ColumnName");
        Type t = row.Field<Type>("DataType");
        data.Columns.Add(colName, t);
    }
    while (reader.Read())
    {
        var newRow = data.Rows.Add();
        foreach (DataColumn col in data.Columns)
        {
            newRow[col.ColumnName] = reader[col.ColumnName];
        }
    }
}

But that is not really efficient.