Connect to Microsoft Access database with C# .Net core

Posted on by Agnes Berry

I want to connect to an MS Access database with C# in .Net core. Therefore, I will be able to write queries to create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) records.

OS driver

From experience, I would recommend run the web app on Windows rather than Linux. On Windows, the only driver needed to be installed is MS Access Database Engine 2010 or MS Access Database Engine 2016. But for Linux, I couldn’t find a free driver.

Install Odbc connection

In visual studio, while your project is open, go to NuGet package manager:

Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Manage NuGet Packages for Solution

Search for and install System.Data.Odbc package by Microsoft. My version is 4.7.

Connection string

Define the connection string as

ConnectionString = "Driver={Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb)}; Dbq=C:\\Users\\sorush\\Documents\\nameOfDatabase.accdb; Uid = Admin; Pwd =; ",

Change my database address to yours. Leave the rest as it is.

Write a query

The easiest way to write a query is to use the MS Access Query Design tool. Copy the query and edit the variables in C# like:

public string GetBookDeleteQuery(int id)
{
  var query = $@"DELETE FROM Books WHERE BookID={id};";
  return query;
}

Non-return query

The method below can be used for queries that no data is pulled like create, update, and delete.

public void RunQuery(string query)
{
    OdbcCommand command = new OdbcCommand(query);

    using (OdbcConnection connection = new OdbcConnection(ConnectionString))
    {
        command.Connection = connection;
        connection.Open();
        var reader = command.ExecuteReader();
    }
}

Data return query

The sample below can be used when multiple rows of a table are pulled from the MS Access database.

public List<Person> GetPeople(string query)
{
  var people = new List<Person>();
  OdbcCommand command = new OdbcCommand(query);

  using (OdbcConnection connection = new OdbcConnection(ConnectionString))
  {
      command.Connection = connection;
      connection.Open();
      using (var reader = command.ExecuteReader())
      {
          while (reader.Read())
          {
              var person = new Person();
              person.Name = reader.SafeGetString(0);
              person.Height = reader.SafeGetDouble(1);
              person.IsEmployed = reader.SafeGetBool(2);
              people.Add(person);
          }
      };
  }
  return people;
}

Safe get

The pulled records can be null. Create the extension class below. Therefore, Instead of using GetString, GetDouble, etc. of OdbcDataReader, we use the below methods to handle null records. See the usage of methods in the example of the previous section.


public static class SafeGetMethods
{
  public static string SafeGetString(this OdbcDataReader reader, int colIndex)
  {
      if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
          return reader.GetString(colIndex);
      return string.Empty;
  }
  public static int SafeGetInt(this OdbcDataReader reader, int colIndex)
  {
      if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
          return reader.GetInt32(colIndex);
      return 0;
  }
  public static double SafeGetDouble(this OdbcDataReader reader, int colIndex)
  {
      if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
          return reader.GetDouble(colIndex);
      return 0;
  }
  public static DateTime SafeGetDate(this OdbcDataReader reader, int colIndex)
  {
      if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
          return reader.GetDateTime(colIndex);
      return new DateTime();
  }
  public static bool SafeGetBool(this OdbcDataReader reader, int colIndex)
  {
      if (!reader.IsDBNull(colIndex))
          return reader.GetBoolean(colIndex);
      return false;
      
  }
}

Agnes Berry

More Posts