Making a DataTable case-insensitive

[MAHAH]

Is it possible to make a DataTable case-insensitive? Example, in a table I have a list of names, and among these name I have:
- fr?d?ric
- frederic

I only filter the DataTable that contains data with

RowFilter = "first_name like 'frederic'"

the lines "fr?d?ric" and "frederic" be reduced.

Is this possible?

[CitricAcid]

I think DataTable.CaseSensitive Property will be helpful to you. It indicates whether string comparisons within the table are case-sensitive. The CaseSensitive property affects string comparisons in sorting, searching, and filtering.

For example:

Private Sub ToggleCaseSensitive()
    Dim t As DataTable
    Dim foundRows() As DataRow

    t = CreateDataSet().Tables(0)

    t.CaseSensitive = False
    foundRows = t.Select("item = 'abc'")

    ' Print out DataRow values. Row 0 contains the value we're looking for.
    PrintRowValues(foundRows, "CaseSensitive = False")

    t.CaseSensitive = True
    foundRows = t.Select("item = 'abc'")

    PrintRowValues(foundRows, "CaseSensitive = True")
End Sub

Public Function CreateDataSet() As DataSet
    ' Create a DataSet with one table, two columns
    Dim ds As New DataSet
    Dim t As New DataTable("Items")

    ' Add table to DataSet
    ds.Tables.Add(t)

    ' Add two columns
    Dim c As DataColumn

    ' First column
    c = t.Columns.Add("id", Type.GetType("System.Int32"))
    c.AutoIncrement = True

    ' Second column
    t.Columns.Add("item", Type.GetType("System.String"))

    ' Set primary key
    t.PrimaryKey = New DataColumn() {t.Columns("id")}

    For i As Integer = 0 To 9
        t.Rows.Add(New Object() {i, i.ToString()})
    Next
    t.Rows.Add(New Object() {11, "abc"})
    t.Rows.Add(New Object() {15, "ABC"})

    CreateDataSet = ds
End Function

Private Sub PrintRowValues(ByRef rows As DataRow(), ByVal label As String)
    Console.WriteLine()
    Console.WriteLine(label)
    If rows.Length <= 0 Then
        Console.WriteLine("no rows found")
        Return
    End If

    For Each r As DataRow In rows
        For Each c As DataColumn In r.Table.Columns
            Console.Write(vbTab & " {0}", r(c))
        Next
        Console.WriteLine()
    Next
End Sub

[MAHAH]

My DataTable is already sensitive. What I want is to make it insensitive to accented characters. I mean some of the accented character given below (foreign characters):

?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ? ...........

[Reegan]

I have a method that removes accents and other diacritical marks. this is not the answer to your question, but you'll find your happiness ...

private string RemoveDiacritics(string s)
      {
         string normalizedString = s.Normalize(NormalizationForm.FormD);
         StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
 
         for(int i = 0; i < normalizedString.Length; i++)
         {
            Char c = normalizedString[i];
            if(CharUnicodeInfo.GetUnicodeCategory(c) != UnicodeCategory.NonSpacingMark)
               stringBuilder.Append(c);
         }
 
         return stringBuilder.ToString();
      }

[MAHAH]

I have read your solution, and I had already found this on internet during my research but it is not entirely to my need.

I use this method to remove these characters from user input, however, the accents are always in the database: the comparison between "frederic" entered by the user and "fr?d?ric" in the database is always false. Therein lies my problem.

For now the only solution I see is to select the database by replacing the diacritics in the request. It works but it is not optimized, given the number of rows.

[DotNetUser]

If you want to do in the database, I am tempted to tell you to add a column to your table with either the name without accents or a foreign key to a table containing all the names without accents (the latter option allows reduce the size of the database, but increases the processing time of applications).

You fill this column on inserts and updates in the table containing the names and you will only use this column to your accents-insensitive searches.