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SqlDataSource.ConnectionString Property

  • Reference

Definition

Namespace:
System.Web.UI.WebControls
Assembly:
System.Web.dll

Gets or sets the ADO.NET provider-specific connection string that the SqlDataSource control uses to connect to an underlying database.

public:
 virtual property System::String ^ ConnectionString { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };
public virtual string ConnectionString { get; set; }
member this.ConnectionString : string with get, set
Public Overridable Property ConnectionString As String

Property Value

String

A .NET Framework data provider-specific string that the SqlDataSource uses to connect to the SQL database that it represents. The default is an empty string ("").

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to set the ConnectionString property to connect to a SQL Server database and display the results of the SelectCommand property in a GridView control.

<%@ Page Language="C#" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
  <head runat="server">
    <title>ASP.NET Example</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">

      <asp:SqlDataSource
          id="SqlDataSource1"
          runat="server"
          DataSourceMode="DataReader"
          ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:MyNorthwind%>"
          SelectCommand="SELECT FirstName, LastName, Title FROM Employees">
      </asp:SqlDataSource>

      <asp:GridView
          id="GridView1"
          runat="server"
          DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1">
      </asp:GridView>

    </form>
  </body>
</html>

<%@ Page Language="VB" %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
  <head runat="server">
    <title>ASP.NET Example</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form id="form1" runat="server">

      <asp:SqlDataSource
          id="SqlDataSource1"
          runat="server"
          DataSourceMode="DataReader"
          ConnectionString="<%$ ConnectionStrings:MyNorthwind%>"
          SelectCommand="SELECT FirstName, LastName, Title FROM Employees">
      </asp:SqlDataSource>

      <asp:GridView
          id="GridView1"
          runat="server"
          DataSourceID="SqlDataSource1">
      </asp:GridView>

    </form>
  </body>
</html>

Remarks

The SqlDataSource control can be used with a variety of ADO.NET providers and the syntax of the connection string that is used to connect to an underlying data source is specific to the provider.

When you configure a SqlDataSource control, you set the ProviderName property to the type of database (the default is System.Data.SqlClient), and you set the ConnectionString property to a connection string that includes information that is required in order to connect to the database. The contents of a connection string differ depending on what type of database the data source control is accessing. For example, the SqlDataSource control requires a server name, database (catalog) name, and information about how to authenticate the user when connecting to a SQL Server. For information about the contents of connection strings, see the ConnectionString property for the SqlConnection class, ConnectionString property for the OracleConnection class, ConnectionString property for the OleDbConnection class, or the ConnectionString property for the OdbcConnection class.

If you change the ConnectionString property, the DataSourceChanged event is raised, causing any controls that are bound to the SqlDataSource control to rebind.

Important

For information about storing a connection string, see How To: Secure Connection Strings when Using Data Source Controls.

Applies to

See also