VB.NET 2005-Using App.config to store connection string : connection, 2005, string

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07.02.2007 at 05:28PM PDT, ID: 22671918

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7.8

VB.NET 2005-Using App.config to store connection string

Zones: SQL Server 2005, Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

Tags: connection, 2005, string

I am trying to use the APP.CONFIG file to store my VB.NET 2005 and an SQL Server 2005 DB connection string.

After spending the past hour reading over 40 posts here, I'm now mixmashing 6 posts worth of information and still not getting it to work (and also creating a nice bowl of spaghetti code).

Can someone please post ALL of the necessary code I will need to connect to the DB using the DB connection string stored within APP.CONFIG? Additionally, I am creating a client/server application and would like to use a data class for all of my data connections.

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Question Stats

Zone: Microsoft

Question Asked By: eMajorD

Solution Provided By: VBRocks

Participating Experts: 4

Solution Grade: A

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07.02.2007 at 05:42PM PDT, ID: 19407948

derekkromm:

eMajorD,

<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="connectionString" value="server=servername;database=dbname;integrated security=sspi" />

</appSettings>
</configuration>

To reference that in your code:

Dim oConn As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("connectionString"))

- derek

Assisted Solution

07.02.2007 at 10:48PM PDT, ID: 19408958

eMajorD:

Thanks Derek. Your suggestion is slightly different from what I have, but I still have the same issue.

"{"Configuration system failed to initialize"}" - is the exception that's thrown as I start the program. Additionally, this error is displayed in the VB.NET error window...
"'Public Shared ReadOnly Property AppSettings() As System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection' is obsolete: 'This method is obsolete, it has been replaced by System.Configuration!System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings'

Wait... nvermind. I deleted my App.config file, then closed Visual Studio, reopened my project and then added an Application Configuration File, reconfigured my connection string, and it worked fine. Here's the config string I used to eliminate the "Public Shared..." error message.
Dim oConn As New SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("connectionString"))

Am I missing something with that error message?

07.03.2007 at 02:48AM PDT, ID: 19409794

Rank: Sage

emoreau:

see http://www.emoreau.com/Entries/Articles/2007/03/AppSettings-revisited.aspx

Assisted Solution

07.03.2007 at 07:42AM PDT, ID: 19411584

Rank: Sage

VBRocks:

I'm not sure that this is the best way to approach this, but this always works...

What I typically do, is just create a Shared (Static) Class Module and name it AppConfig, then add a property for the connection string, and access it from anywhere in the program.

Here's the class:

Friend Class AppConfig

Public Shared ReadOnly Property ConnectionString() As String
Get
Return "Data Source=ServerName;Database=DataBaseName;" & _
"Integrated Security=SSPI; Asynchronous Processing = True"

End Get
End Property

End Class

Then, whenever you want to access it, all you need to do is this:
AppConfig.ConnectionString

So, for example:
MsgBox(AppConfig.ConnectionString)

07.03.2007 at 08:09AM PDT, ID: 19411865

eMajorD:

VBRocks - this will be a software product that has more than 10 different customers (even more down the road) - so I wanted to move to a portable solution that allows me to add the server location, name and security outside of the compiled software.

With that said, is there a solution that might be a compromise of your solution and the app.config file? I also see from your blog that I don't want to be editing the app.config directly, rather, I want to be configuring the app.config file from within VB. Am I on the right track there?

07.03.2007 at 08:30AM PDT, ID: 19412106

Rank: Sage

VBRocks:

Yes, you are right on track. That is exactly the intent of the app.config file.

You can try using the Settings file, and set it's Scope to "Application". Then you should be able to open the Settings.settings file and modify it there if you want. The access is similar:

My.Settings.ConnectionString

Additionally, you could still use the Shared AppConfig class, if you create a Strongly-Typed DataSet with a table and columns configured to store you data, the use the WriteXML method of the DataSet to save it. Then, when you access the property it can read in the XML file, using the ReadXML method of the DataSet, and return the stored property.

As another thought, you can create a class module to store your application properties, and serialize the class. Then, you can save the class instance data, and retrieve it (open it) when you need it, to retrieve the values.

Accepted Solution

davidsperling

01.31.2008 at 02:58AM PST, ID: 20785475

http://snippets.dzone.com/posts/show/1343

web.config:

<connectionStrings>
<add name="ConnectionString" connectionString="Server=xxx; Port=3306; Database=xxx; uid=xxx; pwd=xxx;" />
</connectionStrings>

C#:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString

20080236-EE-VQP-29