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Module Developers - ATTENTION

Jan 13

Comments (1), Permalink

Working on the module I tried to run the code with the appSetting connection string commented out. Of course if failed. I then decided to see what it would take to make my module not rely on the connectionString in the appSetting section, and it was a real easy change to the modules SQL Data provider.

Comments in red are my notes and do not need to be copied.

Original Code -- This code only checks the appSetting section and if not there then must be set in data provider section and it uses that.

If objProvider.Attributes("connectionStringName") <> "" AndAlso _
   System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings(objProvider.Attributes("connectionStringName")) <> "" Then
   _connectionString = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings(objProvider.Attributes("connectionStringName"))
Else
   _connectionString = objProvider.Attributes("connectionString")
End If

Replace With

-- This code handles getting the connection string from either the connectionString / appsetting section and use connectionstring section by default if it exists.
'Get Connection string from web.config
_connectionString = Config.GetConnectionString()

--If above funtion does not return anything then connectionString must be set in the dataprovider section.
If _connectionString = "" Then
    ' Use connection string specified in provider
     _connectionString = objProvider.Attributes("connectionString")
End If

Since some day get rid of the connectionString under appSettings and only have one place to set the connectionString, it would not hurt to start looking at the modules you write so your modules will work when the extra connectionString is eliminated. It has already been suggested that this be one of the things that the core sub-project look at, so it might not be long before all the core modules no longer rely on the appSetting connectionString.

Once that happens we could make installation easier, but commenting out the extra connectionString by default. Although this might break a few modules, for the users of DNN it will really make installation easier and cut down on installation issues. I cannot tell you how many installation I have answered have been because the use set the connectionString in on place but not the other.

Don't worry this is not an official announcement that the appSetting connection strings are going to be deleted. Just a push in the right direction so that if the official decision is ever made to eliminate the appSetting connectionString, you are ahead of the game and have nothing to worry about. By making the changes above, if changes are made in how the connectionString is stored / retrieved, your module(s) should be okay since the GetConnectionString function is most likely where the retrieval logic would change.

Published: January 13, 2007
By: Shawn Mehaffie

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