Question

I’m experimenting some difficulties trying to use Connection String Builders (ADO.NET) within LINQ to SQL. Let me show you guys what I’m trying to do:

the app.config file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
    </configSections>
    <connectionStrings>
        <add name="LoremIpsum"
             connectionString="Data Source=SomeServer;Initial Catalog=SomeDB;User ID=joe;"
             providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
    </connectionStrings>
</configuration>

and a snippet of the form:

ConnectionStringSettings settings = 
    ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["LoremIpsum"];
if (null != settings)
{
    string connection = settings.ConnectionString;
    SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder = 
         new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(connection);

    // passwordTextBox being the control where joe the user actually 
    // enters his credentials           
    builder.Password = passwordTextBox.Text;
}

LINQTOSQLDataClassDataContext db = new LINQTOSQLDataClassDataContext();

// finally some rather anecdotic LINQ sentence here:
var foo = db.Table.Single(bar => bar.Table == whatever);

On the other hand checking the Immediate Window:

?builder.ConnectionString
"Data Source=SomeServer;Initial Catalog=SomeDB;User ID=joe;Password=swordfish"

I’m always getting an exception: Login failed for user ‘joe’. Any ideas? Thanks much in advance.

Answer 1

It seems like you are trying to modify the connection string that is stored in the app.config file. When you use a no argument constructor for your data context, it reads what was configured at design time.

Try injecting your modified connection string into the constructor of the DataContext:

ConnectionStringSettings settings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["LoremIpsum"];
SqlConnectionStringBuilder builder;
LINQTOSQLDataClassDataContext db;

if (null != settings) 
{   
    string connection = settings.ConnectionString;  
    builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(connection);

   // passwordTextBox being the control where joe the user actually enters his credentials

    builder.Password =passwordTextBox.Text;  
    db = new LINQTOSQLDataClassDataContext(builder.ConnectionString);
 } }