Why use the GetOrdinal() Method of the SqlDataReader

Question

What\'s the difference between reading a value from an SqlDataReader using this syntax:

Dim reader As SqlClient.SqlDataReader
reader(\"value\").ToString()
         


        

Answer 1

GetOrdinal performs a case-sensitive lookup first. If it fails, a second case-insensitive search is made. GetOrdinal is kana-width insensitive.Because ordinal-based lookups are more efficient than named lookups, it is inefficient to call GetOrdinal within a loop. Save time by calling GetOrdinal once and assigning the results to an integer variable for use within the loop.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.data.sqlclient.sqldatareader.getordinal.aspx