Question

Given the following connection string (for SQL Server CE 4.0)

Data Source=|DataDirectory|IntegrationTests.sdf

how do I figure out if the file exists?

(I know I can hard-code the path in a call to File.Exists(), but I don’t want to. What if I decide to change the connection string?)

Answer 1

Perhaps use the SqlConnectionStringBuilder Class to parse your connection string into its component pieces:

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Create a new SqlConnectionStringBuilder and
        // initialize it with a few name/value pairs.
        SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder =
            new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(GetConnectionString());

        // The input connection string used the 
        // Server key, but the new connection string uses
        // the well-known Data Source key instead.
        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString);

        // Pass the SqlConnectionStringBuilder an existing 
        // connection string, and you can retrieve and
        // modify any of the elements.
        builder.ConnectionString = "server=(local);user id=ab;" +
            "password= a!Pass113;initial catalog=AdventureWorks";

        // Now that the connection string has been parsed,
        // you can work with individual items.
        Console.WriteLine(builder.Password);
        builder.Password = "new@1Password";
        builder.AsynchronousProcessing = true;

        // You can refer to connection keys using strings, 
        // as well. When you use this technique (the default
        // Item property in Visual Basic, or the indexer in C#),
        // you can specify any synonym for the connection string key
        // name.
        builder["Server"] = ".";
        builder["Connect Timeout"] = 1000;
        builder["Trusted_Connection"] = true;
        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString);

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

    private static string GetConnectionString()
    {
        // To avoid storing the connection string in your code,
        // you can retrieve it from a configuration file. 
        return "Server=(local);Integrated Security=SSPI;" +
            "Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks";
    }
}

In this case you can use the DataSource property:

SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder("Data Source=|DataDirectory|IntegrationTests.sdf");
Console.WriteLine(builder.DataSource);