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Examining Dataset Schema

As discussed in the In Depth section of this chapter, ADO.NET uses XML to transfer data, and uses XML schema to validate that data. If you know what you're doing in XML, you might want to edit or check the schema that Visual Basic is using for your data; you can work with such schema directly.

To do that, you need a dataset. To take a look at the XML schema Visual Basic is using for a particular dataset, use the Data|View Dataset Schema menu item, or right-click a dataset and select the View Schema menu item. This opens the dataset's schema, which is a file with the extension .xsd, in a Visual Basic designer, as you see in Figure 20.22. As you see in that figure, you can work with the XML of the schema directly in that designer.

You can toggle between XML and Dataset view by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the designer-in XML view, you see the actual XML of the schema, and in Dataset view, you see the resulting types, field by field, for the dataset, as shown in Figure 20.23.