Driver: Add pages about C#, F#, Visual Basic

[amotl]

About

Improve presentation for popular business languages.

Preview

• https://cratedb-guide--409.org.readthedocs.build/connect/csharp/
• https://cratedb-guide--409.org.readthedocs.build/connect/fsharp/
• https://cratedb-guide--409.org.readthedocs.build/connect/visualbasic/

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

This PR extends the CrateDB connection documentation to support three additional .NET-based languages (C#, F#, and Visual Basic). It adds dedicated driver cards to the main drivers index grid, updates navigation structure, introduces a new links reference file, and provides language-specific documentation pages with code examples and connection guidelines.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Navigation & Links docs/connect/index.md, docs/_include/links.md	Added three new grid-item-card blocks for C#, F#, and Visual Basic drivers with corresponding logos and links; updated toctree with csharp/index, fsharp/index, and visualbasic/index entries; added two new documentation links (ADO.NET Overview, Connection Strings in ADO.NET)
C# Documentation docs/connect/csharp/index.md	New page covering C# (.NET) connections via Npgsql, including project configuration examples, sample csproj and cs code, CrateDB Cloud connection details, and external resource links
F# Documentation docs/connect/fsharp/index.md	New page documenting F#/.NET connections using Npgsql and Npgsql.FSharp, with example fsproj and fs files, query execution examples, and See also reference section
Visual Basic Documentation docs/connect/visualbasic/index.md	New page providing Visual Basic .NET connection guidance via Npgsql, including VB.NET project setup, connection and query code examples, connection string variants, and shell execution snippet

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• Driver: Add page about Rust #407: Adds Rust driver card and toctree entry to docs/connect/index.md using the same grid-item-card pattern.
• Driver: Add page about Go #406: Introduces Go language driver card and index page to the same connect drivers documentation structure.
• Driver: Improve section about Java #402: Modifies docs/connect/index.md and docs/_include/links.md to update driver-by-language navigation and shared documentation links.

Suggested reviewers

• surister
• kneth

Poem

🐰 Three languages hopped into the fold,
C#, F#, and Visual Basic bold,
With Npgsql as their trusty guide,
Connection strings and examples wide,
CrateDB's .NET path now open wide! 🚀

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'Driver: Add pages about C#, F#, Visual Basic' directly and clearly describes the main change - adding documentation pages for three .NET language drivers.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Description check	✅ Passed	The pull request description clearly describes the changes: adding documentation pages for C#, F#, and Visual Basic drivers with preview links, directly related to the changeset.

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch dotnet

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Actionable comments posted: 3

📜 Review details

Configuration used: Repository UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4df1ac3 and 476969f.

⛔ Files ignored due to path filters (3)

• docs/_assets/icon/csharp-logo.svg is excluded by !**/*.svg
• docs/_assets/icon/fsharp-logo.svg is excluded by !**/*.svg
• docs/_assets/icon/visualbasic-logo.svg is excluded by !**/*.svg

📒 Files selected for processing (5)

• docs/_include/links.md
• docs/connect/csharp/index.md
• docs/connect/fsharp/index.md
• docs/connect/index.md
• docs/connect/visualbasic/index.md

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• docs/_include/links.md

🧰 Additional context used

🧠 Learnings (4)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: amotl
Repo: crate/cratedb-guide PR: 406
File: docs/connect/go.md:110-137
Timestamp: 2025-10-20T21:49:18.785Z
Learning: In the cratedb-guide repository, documentation examples for connecting to CrateDB (e.g., Go examples in docs/connect/go.md) should be kept minimal and focused on demonstrating basic functionality, rather than including comprehensive error handling. Full examples with proper error handling are maintained separately in the cratedb-examples repository.

Learnt from: amotl
Repo: crate/cratedb-guide PR: 420
File: docs/connect/erlang.md:100-113
Timestamp: 2025-10-19T19:21:49.864Z
Learning: In the cratedb-guide repository, when documenting cloud or alternative connection methods, show only the differences from the canonical example (e.g., SSL configuration) rather than repeating the entire workflow (query execution, cleanup, etc.). This pattern is used consistently across pages to avoid repetition.

📚 Learning: 2025-10-20T21:49:18.785Z

Learnt from: amotl
Repo: crate/cratedb-guide PR: 406
File: docs/connect/go.md:110-137
Timestamp: 2025-10-20T21:49:18.785Z
Learning: In the cratedb-guide repository, documentation examples for connecting to CrateDB (e.g., Go examples in docs/connect/go.md) should be kept minimal and focused on demonstrating basic functionality, rather than including comprehensive error handling. Full examples with proper error handling are maintained separately in the cratedb-examples repository.

Applied to files:

• docs/connect/csharp/index.md

📚 Learning: 2025-10-06T16:40:16.322Z

Learnt from: amotl
Repo: crate/cratedb-guide PR: 0
File: :0-0
Timestamp: 2025-10-06T16:40:16.322Z
Learning: In the crate/cratedb-guide repository, documentation is organized by content type: files in `docs/feature/`, `docs/integrate/`, and `docs/ingest/` are reference material designed for quick access, while `docs/start/` contains learning path content. Reference material sections use top-right reference layouts for efficient navigation.

Applied to files:

• docs/connect/csharp/index.md

📚 Learning: 2025-10-19T19:21:49.864Z

Learnt from: amotl
Repo: crate/cratedb-guide PR: 420
File: docs/connect/erlang.md:100-113
Timestamp: 2025-10-19T19:21:49.864Z
Learning: In the cratedb-guide repository, when documenting cloud or alternative connection methods, show only the differences from the canonical example (e.g., SSL configuration) rather than repeating the entire workflow (query execution, cleanup, etc.). This pattern is used consistently across pages to avoid repetition.

Applied to files:

• docs/connect/csharp/index.md

🪛 LanguageTool

docs/connect/fsharp/index.md

[grammar] ~14-~14: Use a hyphen to join words.
Context: ...:{rubric} About ::: [Npgsql] is an open source ADO.NET Data Provider for Postgr...

(QB_NEW_EN_HYPHEN)

docs/connect/visualbasic/index.md

[grammar] ~14-~14: Use a hyphen to join words.
Context: ...:{rubric} About ::: [Npgsql] is an open source ADO.NET Data Provider for Postgr...

(QB_NEW_EN_HYPHEN)

docs/connect/csharp/index.md

[grammar] ~21-~21: Use a hyphen to join words.
Context: ...:{rubric} About ::: [Npgsql] is an open source ADO.NET Data Provider for Postgr...

(QB_NEW_EN_HYPHEN)

🪛 markdownlint-cli2 (0.18.1)

docs/connect/csharp/index.md

5-5: No space inside hashes on closed atx style heading

(MD020, no-missing-space-closed-atx)

---

83-83: Bare URL used

(MD034, no-bare-urls)

---

92-92: Bare URL used

(MD034, no-bare-urls)

⏰ Context from checks skipped due to timeout of 90000ms. You can increase the timeout in your CodeRabbit configuration to a maximum of 15 minutes (900000ms). (1)

• GitHub Check: Build docs

🔇 Additional comments (5)

docs/connect/visualbasic/index.md (1)

36-69: Example structure is appropriate.

The code example correctly demonstrates basic connection, query execution, and result display in Visual Basic. The explicit cleanup (lines 64–65) aligns with VB idiom and is acceptable.

docs/connect/fsharp/index.md (1)

43-76: F# example is well-structured and idiomatic.

The use of Npgsql.FSharp with functional composition (pipe operators) is idiomatic F# and avoids explicit resource cleanup by leveraging the library's abstraction. The record type definition and result collection pattern are appropriate for the language.

docs/connect/csharp/index.md (2)

44-61: C# example follows minimal example guidance.

The code demonstrates basic connection, query execution, and result output without explicit cleanup (no using statements or Dispose calls). Per learnings from prior PRs in this repository, documentation examples should remain minimal and focused on core functionality; comprehensive error handling and cleanup belong in the cratedb-examples repository. This approach is intentional and aligns with established patterns.

---

7-12: CI/CD badges enhance credibility.

The badges linking to active GitHub Actions workflows for Npgsql and EF Core examples add transparency and demonstrate ongoing test coverage.

docs/connect/index.md (1)

65-76: Grid cards and navigation structure are well-integrated.

The three new driver cards (C#, F#, Visual Basic) are properly positioned in the grid with consistent styling (50px image heights matching other SVG logos like Scala), correct anchor references, and user-friendly link-alt text. The toctree entries (lines 289, 292, 303) maintain alphabetical order within the drivers section. All cross-references to the new language pages are correctly established.

Verify that the corresponding SVG logo assets exist:

• /_assets/icon/csharp-logo.svg
• /_assets/icon/fsharp-logo.svg
• /_assets/icon/visualbasic-logo.svg

Also applies to: 100-111, 207-218