Comments on database connection method

Question

Hi there,
I was wondering if i could use database connection code in the global.asax like the following. I'm doing my first .net web app currently.
public static DatabaseConnection Connection
{
get
{
string connectionString =
"Initial Catalog = ??????????; Integrated " +
"Security = true; Network Library = ????????; " +
"Packet Size = 4096";
return new DatabaseConnection("Data Source = ????????; " + connectionString);
}
}

Any comments would be much appreciated chaps.

Rekha Singh · Answer

The global.asax file setup by Visual Studio.NET gives every web application a Global class derived from HttpApplication. The class contains event handlers such as Application_Start and Session_Start. ASP.NET runtime calls Application_Start only once when the application starts. The Application object (of type HttpApplicationState) is what we generally think of when we need to store information global to the application. The Application object is a convenient place to store information such as a database connection string. protected void Page_Load( object sender, EventArgs e) { string connectionString = Application[ "ConnectionString" ].ToString(); } You can also make your own static variables in the HttpApplication class to carry application state. For example, the above information could also be stored like this: public class Global : System.Web. HttpApplication { public static readonly string ConnectionString = "connection information" ; } You can access the member from anywhere in your ASP.NET code like so: string connectionString = Global .ConnectionString; It is important to make the string a static member (you could also make a static property accessor) if you want the member to be global for the application. If you instead use member (non-static) variables, you can use these for request state. ***************************************************************************** Please mark it Accepted if u find it helpful.

Simon Bradley · Answer

Hi there, Thanks for the very detailed reply. It's all a good bit clearer now. Nice hat by the way :0)