The data access in Version 2 is a lot harder to understand at first and inf=general you would not be able to read it like plain english. But it is much better with extensive use of caching to minimise database calls like the one you show.
Also we no longer use the data reader object above the Business Logic Layer as we now create an Arraylist of custom objects. Which agina gives better performance and is a more object Oriented way of writing code.
Anotehr advantage is the DNN 2 can connect to other types of databases apart from SQL Server simply by selecting the Data Provider in the web config file. Of course you will need a data provider for each database type but the code in DNN proper does not change only the code in the data provider.
Have a read of the Data Access paper on the dnn site.
Cheers
Philip Beadle (MVP, MCAD,
DotNetNuke Core Team)