Make sure to add your namespace reference
using System.Configuration;
First we need to create a ConnectionList that inherits from IList<>
/**
* Data_Access_Layer - Management
* ConnectionsList contains all the connection items from the web.config file
* The methods contained in the List<> Already contains all the necessary methods
* to manage the list, except for Insert (ConnectionStringSettings item) and
* this[string name] which exist to ease the management and use of connection
* strings with the Asp.Net Application
**/
public class ConnectionsList : IList<ConnectionStringSettings>
You may implement this class in whatever way you see fit. Just keep in mind that in this example is added the method Insert(ConnectionStringSettings item) and the this[string name] Index property.
public void Insert(ConnectionStringSettings item)
{
int index = list.Count; //inserts the item into the end of the list
this.Insert(index, item);
}
public ConnectionStringSettings this[string name] //search for item by name
{
get
{
int index = 0;
while (string.Compare(this[index].Name, name, true) != 0)//ignore casing for string compare
{
if (index < list.Count - 1) index++; //count should not surpass the number of items in the list
else throw new Exception("Connection with name " + name + " was not found, check your web.config file and ConnectionString property in your BusinessObject to verify the strings match");
}
return this[index];
}
set
{
int index = 0;
while (string.Compare(this[index].Name, name, true) != 0)
{
if (index < list.Count - 1) index++;
else throw new Exception("Connection with name " + name + " was not found, check your web.config file and ConnectionString property in your BusinessObject to verify the strings match");
}
this[index] = value;
}
}
Then, create a class that will handle the connections, fill the ConnectionList and allow the developer to select a connection based on the connection name.
public class Connection_Manager
{
internal System.Configuration.Configuration rootWebConfig = System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration(Resources.ConfigPath.ToString());
internal ConnectionsList connections;
/// <summary>
/// List of connections retrieved from the web.config file and set as a list
/// </summary>
public ConnectionsList ConnectTo
{
get { return connections; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Fills the ConnectionList object with instances of connection strings
/// </summary>
public Connection_Manager()
{
connections = GetConnections();
}
/// <summary>
/// Retrieves all the connections listed in the web.config file
/// </summary>
/// <returns>The List of connections retrieved</returns>
private ConnectionsList GetConnections()
{
ConnectionsList list = new ConnectionsList(); //instantiates the list of connections
foreach (ConnectionStringSettings conn in rootWebConfig.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings)
{
if(conn.Name!= "LocalSqlServer")//all the strings except the .\SQLExpress connection for ASPNETDB
list.Add(conn);
}
return list;
}
}
When used, the Connection_Manager class allows developers to reference the connections by simply typing
ConnectionList.ConnectTo["SQLServer-Connection"];
you may download the code source here