How to set the DB ConnectionStringSettings in Code Behind

Question

Studio 2010 C# application accessing LUW DBs. I am receiving an error when building my DB Conncetion settings in the code behind file rather than using the web.config. We have a third party product where passwords are stored and retrieved.

The old web.config file method currently establishs DB connection as follows:

In the web.config file:

<add name="myDBConnect" connectionString="Database=mydbname;User    
ID=myuserid;Password=abcxyz" providerName="IBM.Data.DB2"/>

In the code behind file the following is executed to open the DB connection:

ConnectionStringSettings settings = WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["myDBConnect"];
ConnectionString = settings.ConnectionString;
ConnectionStringSettingsCollection settings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings;
        if ((settings != null))
        {
            foreach (ConnectionStringSettings cs in settings)
            {
                returnValue = cs.ProviderName;
            }
        }

The above logic works fine - but I am now trying to dynamically build the connection string after retrieving the appropriate password from our third party product as follows:

(Note: connPW is the password retrieved from thrid party product)

ConnectionStringSettings settings = "Database=" + mydbname + ";User ID=" + myuserid + ";Password=" + connPW + " providerName=IBM.Data.DB2";

This line of code receives the following error: "Cannot implicitly convert type 'string' to 'System.Configuration.ConnctionStringSettings'

Can someone please suggest how I can get past this error when defining settings. Thanks

Why use ConnectionStringSettings? Doesn't the connection string itself suffice? — Corak
– Corak, Commented Jul 9, 2013 at 15:12

SLaks · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-09 15:11:28Z

3

You don't need a ConnectionStringSettings; you should connect to the string directly.

You should also use DbConnectionStringBuilder fix fix the injection vulnerabilities in your code.

answered Jul 9, 2013 at 15:11

SLaks

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p e p · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-09 15:17:53Z

1

It's giving that error to you because you are settings a String object equal to a ConnectionStringSettings object, of course. If you would like to use ConnectionStringSettings, you just need to use the ConnectionStringSettings(string name, string connectionString, string providerName) constructor.

ConnectionStringSettings settings = new ConnectionStringSettings("name", "Database=" + mydbname + ";User ID=" + myuserid + ";Password=" + connPW, "IBM.Data.DB2");

answered Jul 9, 2013 at 15:17

p e p

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1 Comment

dev Over a year ago

Thank you for these suggestions. I will research and move forward.

Gowthaman · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-24 07:36:13Z

1

Try this...

   ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionStringName"].ConnectionString = "your connection string";

IF you the above code the system will throw an error " Configuration is Read Only" since the configuration is Read Only
we can do it by this method

  var settings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionStringName"];
    var Reset = typeof(ConfigurationElement).GetField(
                  "_bReadOnly", 
                  BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
    Reset .SetValue(settings, false);
    settings.ConnectionString = "Data Source=Something";

answered Nov 24, 2014 at 7:36

Gowthaman

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