Question

I want to output some data to the user based on their username. This data is held in a table that is linked to the aspnet_Users table. I’m trying to write a sqldatareader as part of a function so I don’t have to rewrite the code when it could be called from several pages. I know this is probably very simple buty I can’t seem to access the data from outside the function. The function I have so far is as follows:

Public Shared Function AgencyDetails() As SqlDataReader
    Dim details As String = "SELECT * FROM tbl_Relationships WHERE ContactSub = @Username"
    Dim connString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("ApplicationServices").ConnectionString

    Using dbConnection As New SqlConnection(connString)
        dbConnection.Open()
        Dim cmdAgency As New SqlCommand(details, dbConnection)
        cmdAgency.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Username", membership.getuser)
        Return cmdAgency.ExecuteReader()


    End Using
End Function

How can I call this function and access the information on my page? Something like the following?

lblAgencyDetails.text = AgencyDetails(0)

Thanks

Answer 1

The way you have it now, it won’t work because you enclosed the connection in a using statement, by the time you return the Reader the connection will be closed and disposed so the reader won’t be able to read anything.

What you should do in that function is load the info in a DataTable and return the datatable.

Example:

Public Shared Function AgencyDetails() As DataTable
    Dim details As String = "SELECT * FROM tbl_Relationships WHERE ContactSub = @Username"
    Dim connString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("ApplicationServices").ConnectionString

    Using dbConnection As New SqlConnection(connString)
        dbConnection.Open()
        Dim cmdAgency As New SqlCommand(details, dbConnection)
        cmdAgency.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Username", membership.getuser)
        Dim dt as new DataTable()
        dt.Load(cmdAgency.ExecuteReader())
        return dt

    End Using
End Function

You can access the rows in the data table by doing:

For Each row as DataRow in dt.Rows
   Console.WriteLine(row("ColumnName"))
Next