Obtain a Connection String through the Data Link Properties Screen

This Blog entry discusses how to obtain a connection string from users using the Data Link Properties screen.

To obtain a database connection string through the Data Link Properties screen, you would need the following references:

-          ADODB

-          MSDASC

Declare an object of type MSDASC.DataLinks and assign it a new instance.

Example:

MSDASC.DataLinks dataLink = new MSDASC.DataLinksClass();

Declare an ADODB Connection object.

Example:

ADODB._Connection connection;

Call the PromptNew method of the datalink and assign it to the ADODB connection. This will return an ADODB connection object.

Example:

connection = (ADODB._Connection)dataLinks.PromptNew();

Access the connection string property of the connection object

return connection.ConnectionString.ToString();

Example Code:

MSDASC.DataLinks dataLinks = new MSDASC.DataLinksClass();

ADODB._Connection connection;

connection = (ADODB._Connection)dataLinks.PromptNew();

return connection.ConnectionString.ToString();