Need to get empty datatable in .net with database table schema

Question

What is the best way to create an Empty DataTable object with the schema of a sql server table?

Answer 1

All of these solutions are correct, but if you want a pure code solution that is streamlined for this scenario.

No Data is returned in this solution since CommandBehavior.SchemaOnly is specified on the ExecuteReader function(Command Behavior Documentation)

The CommandBehavior.SchemaOnly solution will add the SET FMTONLY ON; sql before the query is executed for you so, it keeps your code clean.

public static DataTable GetDataTableSchemaFromTable(string tableName, SqlConnection sqlConn, SqlTransaction transaction)
{
    DataTable dtResult = new DataTable();

    using (SqlCommand command = sqlConn.CreateCommand())
    {
        command.CommandText = String.Format("SELECT TOP 1 * FROM {0}", tableName);
        command.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
        if (transaction != null)
        {
            command.Transaction = transaction;
        }

        SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SchemaOnly);

        dtResult.Load(reader);

    }

    return dtResult;
}