SqlConnectionStringBuilder.InitialCatalog Property

Definition

Namespace:

System.Data.SqlClient

Assembly:

System.Data.dll

Gets or sets the name of the database associated with the connection.

public:
 property System::String ^ InitialCatalog { System::String ^ get(); void set(System::String ^ value); };

[System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter(typeof(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionStringBuilder+SqlInitialCatalogConverter))]
public string InitialCatalog { get; set; }

[<System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter(typeof(System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionStringBuilder+SqlInitialCatalogConverter))>]
member this.InitialCatalog : string with get, set

Public Property InitialCatalog As String

Property Value

String

The value of the InitialCatalog property, or String.Empty if none has been supplied.

Attributes

TypeConverterAttribute

Exceptions

ArgumentNullException

To set the value to null, use Value.

Examples

The following example creates a simple connection string and then uses the SqlConnectionStringBuilder class to add the name of the database to the connection string. The code displays the contents of the InitialCatalog property, just to verify that the class was able to convert from the synonym ("Database") to the appropriate property value.

using System.Data.SqlClient;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            string connectString = "Data Source=(local);" +
                "Integrated Security=true";

            SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder =
                new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(connectString);
            Console.WriteLine("Original: " + builder.ConnectionString);

            // Normally, you could simply set the InitialCatalog
            // property of the SqlConnectionStringBuilder object. This
            // example uses the default Item property (the C# indexer)
            // and the "Database" string, simply to demonstrate that
            // setting the value in this way results in the same
            // connection string:
            builder["Database"] = "AdventureWorks";
            Console.WriteLine("builder.InitialCatalog = "
                + builder.InitialCatalog);
            Console.WriteLine("Modified: " + builder.ConnectionString);

            using (SqlConnection connection =
                new SqlConnection(builder.ConnectionString))
            {
                connection.Open();
                // Now use the open connection.
                Console.WriteLine("Database = " + connection.Database);
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("Press any key to finish.");
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}

Imports System.Data.SqlClient
    
Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Try
            Dim connectString As String = _
             "Data Source=(local);" & _
             "Integrated Security=True"

            Dim builder As New SqlConnectionStringBuilder(connectString)
            Console.WriteLine("Original: " & builder.ConnectionString)

            ' Normally, you could simply set the InitialCatalog
            ' property of the SqlConnectionStringBuilder object. This
            ' example uses the default Item property (the C# indexer)
            ' and the "Database" string, simply to demonstrate that
            ' setting the value in this way results in the same
            ' connection string.
            builder("Database") = "AdventureWorks"
            Console.WriteLine("builder.InitialCatalog = " _
                & builder.InitialCatalog)
            Console.WriteLine("Modified: " & builder.ConnectionString)

            Using connection As New SqlConnection(builder.ConnectionString)
                connection.Open()
                ' Now use the open connection.
                Console.WriteLine("Database = " & connection.Database)
            End Using

        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
        End Try

        Console.WriteLine("Press any key to finish.")
        Console.ReadLine()
    End Sub
End Module

Remarks

This property corresponds to the "Initial Catalog" and "database" keys within the connection string.

See also

• Connection Strings in ADO.NET
• ADO.NET Overview