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.NET Framework 2.0
 ConnectionStrings Property
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This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/.NET Framework 2.0

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings Property

Note: This property is new in the .NET Framework version 2.0.

Gets the ConnectionStringsSection data for the current application's default configuration.

Namespace: System.Configuration
Assembly: System.Configuration (in system.configuration.dll)

Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Shared ReadOnly Property ConnectionStrings As ConnectionStringSettingsCollection
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim value As ConnectionStringSettingsCollection

value = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings
C#
public static ConnectionStringSettingsCollection ConnectionStrings { get; 
C++
public:
static property ConnectionStringSettingsCollection^ ConnectionStrings {
    ConnectionStringSettingsCollection^ get ();
J#
/** @property */
public static ConnectionStringSettingsCollection get_ConnectionStrings ()
JScript
public static function get ConnectionStrings () : ConnectionStringSettingsCollection

Property Value

Returns a ConnectionStringSettingsCollection object containing the contents of the ConnectionStringsSection object for the current application's default configuration.
Exception typeCondition

ConfigurationErrorsException

Could not retrieve a ConnectionStringSettingsCollection object.

A ConnectionStringsSection object contains the contents of the configuration file's connectionStrings section.

The following code example shows how to get a named connection string using the ConnectionStrings property.

Visual Basic
' Get connectionStrings.
Shared Sub GetConnectionStrings()
   ' Get the connectionStrings.
     Dim connectionStrings As _
     ConnectionStringSettingsCollection = _
     ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings
   
   ' Get the collection enumerator.
     Dim connectionStringsEnum As IEnumerator = _
     connectionStrings.GetEnumerator()
   
   ' Loop through the collection and 
   ' display the connectionStrings key, value pairs.
   Dim i As Integer = 0
   While connectionStringsEnum.MoveNext()
      Dim name As String = connectionStrings(i).Name
         Console.WriteLine("Name: {0 Value: {1", _
         name, connectionStrings(name))
      i += 1
   End While
End Sub 'GetConnectionStrings
C#
// Get connectionStrings.
static void GetConnectionStrings()
{
    // Get the connectionStrings.
    ConnectionStringSettingsCollection connectionStrings =
         ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings;

    // Get the collection enumerator.
    IEnumerator connectionStringsEnum =
        connectionStrings.GetEnumerator();

    // Loop through the collection and 
    // display the connectionStrings key, value pairs.
    int i = 0;
    Console.WriteLine("Connection strings.");
    while (connectionStringsEnum.MoveNext())
    {
        string name = connectionStrings[i].Name;
        Console.WriteLine("Name: {0 Value: {1",
        name, connectionStrings[name]);
        i += 1;
    

Windows 98, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 2.0
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