Question

Really simple problem:

I want to split a connection string into its keyword / value pairs, so for example the following connection string:

Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=vm-jp-dev2;Data Source=scsql\sql2005;Auto Translate=False

Would become:

Provider=SQLOLEDB.1
Integrated Security=SSPI
Persist Security Info=False
Initial Catalog=vm-jp-dev2
Data Source=scsql\sql2005
Auto Translate=False

The trouble is that the MSDN documentation states that connection string values are allowed to contain semicolons if the value is enclosed in single or double quote characters, (so if I understand it the following would be valid):

Provider="Some;Provider";Initial Catalog='Some;Catalog';...

Whats the best way of splitting this string (in C#)?

Answer 1

There is a DBConnectionStringBuilder class that will do what you want…

        System.Data.Common.DbConnectionStringBuilder builder = new System.Data.Common.DbConnectionStringBuilder();

        builder.ConnectionString = "Provider=\"Some;Provider\";Initial Catalog='Some;Catalog';";

        foreach (string key in builder.Keys)
        {
            Response.Write(String.Format("{0}: {1}<br>", key , builder[key]));
        }