A Data Transfer Object (DTO) is one that can be used to pass data across the layers of an application. In this article I will demonstrate how we can implement a generic Data Transfer Object that can be used in lieu of DataSet, DataTable or even Custom Business Entity instances to transfer data through the layers of an application.

This implementation of the DTO comprises of a generic Business Entity that can be a DataSet instance, a DataTable instance, a Custom Business Entity instance, etc. as the data container. The instances of the DTO are in turn stored in a DTO Register, which actually is a hash table that stores the DTO instances as key - value pairs, the key being the hash code of the DTO instance and the value being the DTO instance itself. This hash code is actually used to pass data across the layers of the application. Such a design promotes loose coupling, flexibility and re-usability in your architecture. I have used generics in this design to use any business entity instance as a data container.