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Understand 3- Tier Architecture in C#

Sourav Kayal, 2 Oct 2013
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How to

Introduction
In this article we will learn to implement 3- Tier architecture in C#.NET application. 3-Tier architecture is
very famous and well known buzz word in world of software development. If we analyze any traditional
project then we will find that most of (at least 60-70 %) them has traditional N-Tier, basically 3-Tier
architecture. It does not matter whether it is web or windows application, we can implement 3-Tier
architecture in any type of environment.
Although it is very well known and common architecture but its not very clear to fresher developer or
those who are very new in project development.

Why 3-Tier Architecture?

Still I can remember that, the first organization in my career was dealing with one small POS (Point of Sell)
project. It was a windows application and there was no layered architecture. We coder people started to
write all codes in behind of windows form. Problem started after few days. How? When our manager
announced that we have to develop one web version of same product. Again we started to develop web
pages from scratch and started to write all code. Totally mess.
So, this is the problem and the solution is tired architecture. If we separate our codes by layer then
changes in one layer will not affect much to another one. Tomorrow if business demands, we can change
UI very quickly by using existing code.

Difference between Tier and Layer

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It is one confusing question for beginner. Few think that both are same. But they are not same. Tier
represents different hardware box. Means the components are physically separated to different machines.
But in case of layer all component remains in same system.

What are the Layers?

Theoretically it is N-Tier architecture. So, we can create as much layer as possible but basically people
classify code in three different categories and put them in three different layers. So, for this article we will
consider N-Tier architecture as 3-Tier architecture and try to implement one sample application.
Lets discuss each and every Layer at first.

Presentation Layer/ UI Layer

This is the top most layer of application where user performs their activity. Lets take example of any
application where user needs to fill up one form. This form is nothing nut presentation layer. In windows
application windows form is presentation layer and in web application web form belongs to presentation
layer. Basically users input validation and rule processing performs in this layer.

Business Layer
This is on top of presentation layer. As the name suggest, most of the business operation performs here.
For example, after collecting form data we want to validate them with our custom business rule. Basically
we define classes and business entities in this layer.

Data Access Layer

It is on top of Business Logic Layer Data Access Layer presents. It contains methods that helps business
layer to connect with database and perform CRUD operation. In data access layer generally all database
related code and stuff belongs to. Sometimes people use platform independent data access layer to fetch
data from different database vendor.

Lets Implement
Before start with example one more question need to be clear. How we will pass data from one layer to
another layer? Means in which form data from pass?
There are many solutions for this problem. For our example we will pass data through function parameter.
In this example we will implement one small windows application to fetch data from database using
3-Tier architecture. In this example we will read data from single "Person" Table.

Code for Data Access Layer

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Lets start from Data access layer; we will create function to read data from database. Have a look on
below code.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1.DAL
{
public class PersonDAL
{
public string ConString =
"Data Source=SOURAV-PC\\SQL_INSTANCE;Initial Catalog=test;Integrated Security=True";
SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection();
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
public DataTable Read()
{
con.ConnectionString = ConString;
if (ConnectionState.Closed == con.State)
con.Open();
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select * from Person",con);
try
{
SqlDataReader rd = cmd.ExecuteReader();
dt.Load(rd);
return dt;
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
public DataTable Read(Int16 Id)
{
con.ConnectionString = ConString;
if (ConnectionState.Closed == con.State)
con.Open();
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select * from Person where ID= "+ Id +"", con);
try
{
SqlDataReader rd = cmd.ExecuteReader();
dt.Load(rd);
return dt;
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
}
}

We have created two overloaded function to read data. One function will not take any argument and
other function will fetch data using ID.

Create Business Logic Layer

Now, we will create Business Logic Layer to communicate with both Presentation layer and Data access
layer. Here is our code for Business layer.

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using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Data; using

WindowsFormsApplication1.DAL;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1.BLL
{
public class PersonBLL
{
public DataTable GetPersons()
{
try
{
PersonDAL objdal = new PersonDAL();
return objdal.Read();
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
public DataTable GetPersons(Int16 ID)
{
try
{
PersonDAL objdal = new PersonDAL();
return objdal.Read(ID);
}
catch
{
throw;
}
}
}
}

Create Presentation Layer.

This is the top most layer where user will interact with system. We will create simple windows for like
below.

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The form contains one datagrid one textbox and one button. In load event of form we will pull all data
and it will show in datagrid. There is another operation, where user can able to fetch particular person by
providing person ID. Have a look on below code.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using WindowsFormsApplication1.BLL;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
PersonBLL p = new PersonBLL();
this.dataGridView1.DataSource = p.GetPersons(Convert.ToInt16(this.txtID.Text));
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Error Occurred");
}
}
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
PersonBLL p = new PersonBLL();
this.dataGridView1.DataSource = p.GetPersons();
}
catch
{
MessageBox.Show("Error Occurred");
}
}
}
}

Folder structure in solution explorer

Here is our sample folder stricture in solution explorer. We have created all layers in same solution. You
may create separate solution for each layer.

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Here is sample output in form load event.

If we want to search particular person, we have to provide ID.

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Table Stricture
Here is our table structure. It contains three fields ID, name and surname.
Table Name:-Person

Conclusion
In this article we have discussed how to implement simple 3-tier architecture in C# application. Hope you
have understood the concept.

License
This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open
License (CPOL)

About the Author

Sourav Kayal
Software Developer TIMKEN India
research Institute
India

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I am software developer from INDIA, working in manufacturing domain. Beside my day to day
development work, i like to learn new technology and update myself. I am passionate blogger
and author in various technical community including dotnetfunda.com , c-sharpcorner.com and
codeproject. My area of interest is modern web technology in Microsoft stack.
Follow on

LinkedIn

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