You could argue that any application is data-centric, for what is an application without data? In this section, "data-centric application" is used in a narrower sense to describe an application that relies on a live connection to a database, where the bulk of its processing involves querying a database and returning results.
Data access is the primary issue behind data-centric applications. How do you access the data you need? Which of Microsoft's many data access technologies should you use, and which of the Visual Studio tools supports which of the data access technologies? Data access is a large subject, one that needs a lot more discussion than what is presented here. If you're interested in all the details about data access, see Data Access and Security Strategies online in Visual Studio Developing for the Enterprise.
This section looks at what each Visual Studio tool offers to support data access and data-driven applications. For more information see any of the following topics in this section.