Like TextReader and XmlReader, DataReader provides a read-only, forward-only view of the underlying data stream. This means that updating a database requires a new IDbCommand and the ExecuteNonQuery( ) method, which I mentioned earlier.

Example 11-2 shows a program to insert a new coupon into the database.

using System;
using System.Data.SqlClient;

public enum DiscountType {
  Percentage,
  Fixed
}

public class AddCoupon {
  public static void Main(string [ ] args) {
    SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection(
      "Initial Catalog=AngusHardware; User ID=sa");

    SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(
      "insert into coupons ( coupon_code, discount_amount, discount_type, expiration_date ) " +
      "values ( '077GH', 15, " + (int)DiscountType.Percentage + 
      ", '11/30/2002' )", connection);

    connection.Open( );

    command.ExecuteNonQuery( );

    connection.Close( );
  }
}

The SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery( ) method simply executes the SQL command without expecting any values to be returned. If you’re familiar with SQL, this insert statement should need no explanation.