If you haven't experimented with Linq-to-sql, or the MS Entity Framework yet, you're missing a wonderful couple of things that make storage and retrieval of data much easier.
Once you stumble through those, you might find something like the T4 toolbox (code generation tools), that will, once again, change your perspective on things. If you are going down that route, visit Oleg Sych's blog (olegsych.com).
Also, as your taste for the MS development tools grows, you may want to check out what the higher-end VS editions can do for you ( think about putting your create table scripts in source control, or comparing one DB to another and generating change scripts ).
Any way you want to look at it, there is a wonderful world of development tools and troubles in front of you. VS and .Net are not perfect (nor is any development platform), but it is a whole new set of challenges, and will for quite some time feel like you've been liberated from a very restrictive environment.
If you haven't experimented with Linq-to-sql, or the MS Entity Framework yet, you're missing a wonderful couple of things that make storage and retrieval of data much easier.
Once you stumble through those, you might find something like the T4 toolbox (code generation tools), that will, once again, change your perspective on things. If you are going down that route, visit Oleg Sych's blog (olegsych.com).
Also, as your taste for the MS development tools grows, you may want to check out what the higher-end VS editions can do for you ( think about putting your create table scripts in source control, or comparing one DB to another and generating change scripts ).
Any way you want to look at it, there is a wonderful world of development tools and troubles in front of you. VS and .Net are not perfect (nor is any development platform), but it is a whole new set of challenges, and will for quite some time feel like you've been liberated from a very restrictive environment.