Insert rows in the datagridview with a dictionary

Question

I would like to improve the function below without calling twice InserisciRigaNote.

Before I fill my dictionary. When I compare idNota with the current database id I check if it is equal or not, if different means that the dictionary is filled and I can proceed with the insertion of the row in DataGridView

I have a query that return this output:

I have to fill a DataGridView in that way

string query = ""; // Query MySQL              
using (MySqlDataReader reader = db.ExecuteReader(query))
{
    if (reader.HasRows)
    {
        int idNota = 1;
        var note = new Dictionary<string, string>();
        while (reader.Read())
        {
            if (idNota != Convert.ToInt32(reader["id_nota_lavaggio"]))
            {
                InserisciRigaNote(note, idNota); // Function that insert row in the DataGridView

                idNota = Convert.ToInt32(reader["id_nota_lavaggio"]);
                note.Clear();
            }
            // Create a dictionary made by a language key and a description
            note[reader["id_lingua"].ToString()] = reader["descrizione_nota_lavaggio"].ToString();
        }
        if (note.Count > 0) // If there is something in the dictionary
        {
            InserisciRigaNote(note, idNota);
            note.Clear();
        }

    }
}

N.B. I did not use Pivot to make the query because I need it's all completely dynamic

Answer 1

Your code is really confusing, not in the least because it is partly in Italian.

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It does seem to me that you've coupled your UI and your back-end, and that's something to avoid. Look into developing an n-tier application so your db related code is in a back-end and all you're exposing to the UI is a collection of some sort with data objects.

And the you can bind that collection to your DataGridView, which is a much nicer solution instead of inserting one row at a time. Ideally you'd abandon WinForms, instead look into more modern technologies like WPF and apply MVVM. But if you're stuck with WinForms there are still ways to apply something like MVP.

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That is of course a massive leap from the code you have here, so try refactoring one bit at the time.

• Construct a class that can contain the results of your db-query, and fill a collection, so you can properly bind your data instead of inserting rows.
• Beware of strings like "id_nota_lavaggio" and consider defining them as const so you can easily update them if necessary.
• Twice you do Convert.ToInt32(reader["id_nota_lavaggio"]): instead, do it once and store the result in a variable.
• I don't know about how well Entity Framework works with MySQL, but there are other ORMs available anyway, so when possible consider abandoning writing ADO and instead work with an ORM.
• Comments should tell us why, not what. // Query MySQL is superfluous, and something like // Create a dictionary made by a language key and a description should be told by the code, not the comments (ditto // If there is something in the dictionary).

Answer 2

Use a pivot query to select the data from the database in the correct format. Then you don't need to use a dictionary, but just a regular old List which you can bind to.

dataGridView.DataSource = myPivotedQueryResults