Database Connection String Syntax

[Will Chamberlain]

This may seem like a very novice question but I am having trouble with
it. I created an application that was hosted on a webserver where the
database location happened to be c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\db. For reasons
beyond my control the application folder is going to be moved to a
different folder and reside in a different directory structure. The
connection string below worked perfect on the last server.

<add key="strConnection" value="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OleDb.4.0;Data
Source=C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\DrawingList\db\db1.mdb;"/>

How would I edit this to reflect a change in drive letter, such as E, D,
or wherever the application gets moved to. I have no say in where this
application goes. Any suggestions.

 

[Christiaan van Bergen]

Hi Will,

Why not rewrite the connectionstring at runtime?
As long as the path of your database does not change relative to your
application, just ask for the current fysical path of the application using

Server.MapPath(".")

This method will return the fysical path of the virtual path you supply.
E.g. Server.MapPath("data") might return c:\inetpub\wwwroot\website\data\
or Server.MapPath(".") might return c:\inetpub\wwwroot\website\

As soon as you know the fysical path, rewrite the "Data Source" section in
your connectionstring.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Christiaan van Bergen

 

[Will Chamberlain]

Thanks for the reply Christiaan. The only problem is that Server.MapPath
can't be used in the web.config. The path needs to be static.

- will

 

[Christiaan van Bergen]

Hi Will,

Yes, I know. You could however place it for instance in the global.asax and
place the connectionstring in for example an application- or session
variable. This way you can use this variable instead of the value placed in
the web.config

In what way are you using the connectionstring in your application?
You could use it as follows:

SqlConnection oConn = new SqlConnection( Session["connectionstring"] as
string );


Christiaan