ConnectionString for connecting to SQL Server Database? - sql-server

Question

I have an application (WinForms) which using SQL Server as its database.
Now I am using app.config file to access ConnectionString.
Have a look at my app.config file
<configuration>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="dbConnectionString"
connectionString="Data Source=abc-79f1f531c9f;Initial Catalog=ItemStockInParth;Integrated Security=True;Pooling=False"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>
</configuration>
You can see that Data Source=abc-79f1f531c9f.
Here ==> abc-79f1f531c9f is server name which is running on my (Developer's) PC.
Now when application is being installed at client's site, the server name should be changed to the server name which is running on the client machine or server name which will client machine use.
Then what should be the best criteria for handling this situation?
Means I have to create one new form which asking user to enter their Server Name and as per that I creating our ConnectionString?
Or dynamically getting the servername?
Or just hard-code the Server Name of client machine (or server name which will client machine use) inside our App.config file?
please help.....

Answer 1

You will probably want to provide a place where the user can enter the name of the server, or if you are clever, provide a list of available servers on the network (for example by using the code referenced by #user350374). Then you can generate an appropriate connection string as you need it using the SqlConnectionStringBuilder class:
var builder = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder();
builder.DataSource = ##SERVER NAME FROM USER##
builder.InitialCatalog = "ItemStockInParth";
builder.IntegratedSecurity = true;
builder.Pooling = false;
string connectionString = builder.ConnectionString;
using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
{
con.Open();
// use the connection here for your code
con.Close();
}
This would take the place of requesting the connection string from your configuration class, i.e., where you would normally say ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings['dbConnectionString'].ConnectionString.

Answer 2

Since you can programmatically read the list of connectionstrings defined in the app.config, I suggest you create a list of connection strings and ask the user which one to use:
foreach(ConnectionStringSettings setting in ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings)
{
...
}
It's better than to ask for the server name, as you can give a nice name to a connectionstring entry.

Answer 3

Is this what you are looking for
http://krishnapyrmca.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/get-sql-server-name-using-c/

Answer 4

<add key="Connectionstring" value="Data Source=.;
AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\AppData.mdf;
Initial Catalog=Appdata;Integrated Security=True"/>
<add key="Connectionstring" value="Data Source=.;
AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\AppData.mdf;
Initial Catalog=Appdata;Integrated Security=True"/>
Simply add this code in the app.config file and attach your database to the setup file.
It automatically takes the database from the setup file of your project.