Choosing a DataReader or a DataSet in ADO.Net

When deciding whether your application should use a DataReader or a DataSet, you should consider the type of functionality that your application requires. Use a DataSet to do the following: Cache data locally in your application so that you can manipulate it. If you only need to read the results of a query, the DataReader is the better choice. Remote data between tiers or from an XML Web service. Interact with data dynamically such as binding to a Windows Forms control or combining and relating data from multiple sources. Perform extensive processing on data without requiring an open connection to the data source, which frees the connection to be used by other clients. If you do not require the functionality provided by the DataSet, you can improve the performance of your application by using the DataReader to return your data in a forward-only, read-only fashion. Although the DataAdapter uses the DataReader to fill the contents of a DataSet, by using the DataReader you can boost performance because you will save memory that would be consumed by the DataSet, as well as avoid the processing required to create and fill the contents of the DataSet.