Question

I am fairly new to c#. So far so good with learning. I do have one question, well maybe two.

How do you create a user dialog to allow the selection of a connection string when the project starts? I have 4 databases with the same schema and would like to allow the user to choose which to connect to when they launch the program.

I am currently using datasets but am willing to learn/try another method to acheive the desired result.

Answer 1

Put them into the config’s connectionStrings area and provide the user with a ComboBox containing the names of the connection strings. Then use the one selected.

In your config:

<connectionStrings>
  <add name="Environment1" connectionString="connString1" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  <add name="Environment2" connectionString="connString2" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  <add name="Environment3" connectionString="connString3" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  <add name="Environment4" connectionString="connString4" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

In your code, add the connection strings to a ComboBox:

foreach (ConnectionStringSettings connString in ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings)
{
    myComboBox.Items.Add(connString.Name);
}

Get the name from the ComboBox, then get the connString you need and use it:

// Access chosen one:
string chosenName = (string)myComboBox.SelectedItem;
string connString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[chosenName].ConnectionString;