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Get connection string from app.config

I use this function in my applications to retrieve the connection string from the app.config file. It is especially handy in the application I'm working on now as there are 2 databases it can connect to.

Submitted By: PsychoCoder

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Views: 27,101

Language: VB.NET

Last Modified: August 2, 2007

Instructions: Store your connection stirng in the app.config like this:

< connectionStrings >
< add name="YourName"
connectionString="Persist Security Info=False;Data Source=Database_Name;Initial Catalog=Table_Name;Integrated Security=SSPI;Trusted_Connection=TRUE;Application Name=Application_Name"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
< /connectionStrings >
To use:

Dim SqlConnection As New SqlConnection("GetConnectionString("YourName"))

Snippet

Public Shared Function GetConnectionString(ByVal strConnection As String) As String
'Declare a string to hold the connection string
Dim sReturn As New String("")
'Check to see if they provided a connection string name
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(strConnection) Then
'Retrieve the connection string fromt he app.config
sReturn = ConfigurationManager. & _
ConnectionStrings(strConnection).ConnectionString
Else
'Since they didnt provide the name of the connection string
'just grab the default on from app.config
sReturn = ConfigurationManager. & _
ConnectionStrings("YourConnectionString").ConnectionString
End If
'Return the connection string to the calling method
Return sReturn
End Function