OdbcConnectionStringBuilder Class

Definition

Namespace:

System.Data.Odbc

Assembly:

System.Data.Odbc.dll

Package:

System.Data.Odbc v9.0.0

Source:

OdbcConnectionStringbuilder.cs

Provides a simple way to create and manage the contents of connection strings used by the OdbcConnection class.

public ref class OdbcConnectionStringBuilder sealed : System::Data::Common::DbConnectionStringBuilder

public sealed class OdbcConnectionStringBuilder : System.Data.Common.DbConnectionStringBuilder

type OdbcConnectionStringBuilder = class
    inherit DbConnectionStringBuilder

Public NotInheritable Class OdbcConnectionStringBuilder
Inherits DbConnectionStringBuilder

Inheritance

Object

DbConnectionStringBuilder

OdbcConnectionStringBuilder

Examples

The following console application builds connection strings for several ODBC databases. First, the example creates a connection string for a Microsoft Access database. It then creates a connection string for an IBM DB2 database. The example also parses an existing connection string, and demonstrates various ways of manipulating the contents of the connection string.

using System.Data.Odbc;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        OdbcConnectionStringBuilder builder = new()
            {
                Driver = "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)"
            };

        // Call the Add method to explicitly add key/value
        // pairs to the internal collection.
        builder.Add("Dbq", "C:\\info.mdb");

        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString);
        Console.WriteLine();

        // Clear current values and reset known keys to their
        // default values.
        builder.Clear();

        // Pass the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder an existing
        // connection string, and you can retrieve and
        // modify any of the elements.
        builder.ConnectionString =
            "driver={IBM DB2 ODBC DRIVER};Database=SampleDB;" +
            "hostname=SampleServerName;port=SamplePortNum;" +
            "protocol=TCPIP";

        Console.WriteLine($"protocol = {builder["protocol"].ToString()}");
        Console.WriteLine();

        // Call the Remove method to remove items from
        // the collection of key/value pairs.
        builder.Remove("port");

        // Note that calling Remove on a nonexistent item does not
        // throw an exception.
        builder.Remove("BadItem");
        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString);
        Console.WriteLine();

        // Setting the indexer adds the associated value, if
        // necessary.
        builder["NewKey"] = "newValue";
        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString);
    }
}

Imports System.Data.Odbc

Module Module1
    Sub Main()
        Dim builder As New OdbcConnectionStringBuilder With {
            .Driver = "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)"
        }

        ' Call the Add method to explicitly add key/value
        ' pairs to the internal collection.
        builder.Add("Dbq", "C:\info.mdb")

        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString)
        Console.WriteLine()

        ' Clear current values and reset known keys to their
        ' default values.
        builder.Clear()

        ' Pass the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder an existing
        ' connection string, and you can retrieve and
        ' modify any of the elements.
        builder.ConnectionString =
            "driver={IBM DB2 ODBC DRIVER};Database=SampleDB;" &
            "hostname=SampleServerName;port=SamplePortNum;" &
            "protocol=TCPIP"

        Console.WriteLine("protocol = " & builder("protocol").ToString())
        Console.WriteLine()

        ' Call the Remove method to remove items from
        ' the collection of key/value pairs.
        builder.Remove("port")

        ' Note that calling Remove on a nonexistent item does not
        ' throw an exception.
        builder.Remove("BadItem")
        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString)
        Console.WriteLine()

        ' The Item property is the default for the class,
        ' and setting the Item property adds the value, if
        ' necessary.
        builder("NewKey") = "newValue"
        Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString)

        Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to finish.")
        Console.ReadLine()
    End Sub
End Module

Remarks

The connection string builders let developers programmatically create syntactically correct connection strings, and parse and rebuild existing connection strings, using properties and methods of the class. The connection string builder provides strongly typed properties corresponding to the known key/value pairs allowed by ODBC connections, and developers can add arbitrary key/value pairs for any other connection string values.

Developers needing to create connection strings as part of applications can use the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder class to build and modify connection strings. The class also makes it easy to manage connection strings stored in an application configuration file. OdbcConnectionStringBuilder performs checks only for the limited set of known key/value pairs. Therefore, this class can be used to create invalid connection strings. The following table lists the specific known keys together with their corresponding properties within the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder class, and their default values. Besides these specific values, developers can add any key/value pairs to the collection that is contained within the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder instance.

Key	Property	Comment	Default value
Driver	Driver	Developers should not include the braces surrounding the driver name when they set the Driver property. The OdbcConnectionStringBuilder instance adds braces as needed.	Empty string
DSN	Dsn		Empty string

If any value (other than the Driver value) within the connection string contains a semicolon (;), the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder surrounds the value with quotation marks in the connection string. In order to avoid this issue with the Driver value that frequently contains a semicolon, the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder class always surrounds this value with braces. The ODBC specification indicates that driver values that contain semicolons must be surrounded with braces, and this class handles this for you.

The Item[] property handles attempts to insert malicious code. For example, the following code, using the default Item[] property (the indexer, in C#) correctly escapes the nested key/value pair.

Dim builder As _
 New System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnectionStringBuilder
' Take advantage of the Driver property.
builder.Driver = "SQL Server"
builder("Server") = "MyServer;NewValue=Bad"
Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString)

System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnectionStringBuilder builder =
  new System.Data.Odbc.OdbcConnectionStringBuilder();
// Take advantage of the Driver property.
builder.Driver = "SQL Server";
builder["Server"] = "MyServer;NewValue=Bad";
Console.WriteLine(builder.ConnectionString);

The result is the following connection string that handles the invalid value in a safe manner:

Driver={SQL Server};Server="MyServer;NewValue=Bad"

Constructors

OdbcConnectionStringBuilder()	Initializes a new instance of the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder class.
OdbcConnectionStringBuilder(String)	Initializes a new instance of the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder class. The provided connection string provides the data for the instance's internal connection information.

Properties

BrowsableConnectionString	Gets or sets a value that indicates whether the ConnectionString property is visible in Visual Studio designers. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
ConnectionString	Gets or sets the connection string associated with the DbConnectionStringBuilder. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
Count	Gets the current number of keys that are contained within the ConnectionString property. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
Driver	Gets or sets the name of the ODBC driver associated with the connection.
Dsn	Gets or sets the name of the data source name (DSN) associated with the connection.
IsFixedSize	Gets a value that indicates whether the DbConnectionStringBuilder has a fixed size. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
IsReadOnly	Gets a value that indicates whether the DbConnectionStringBuilder is read-only. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
Item[String]	Gets or sets the value associated with the specified key. In C#, this property is the indexer.
Keys	Gets an ICollection that contains the keys in the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder.
Values	Gets an ICollection that contains the values in the DbConnectionStringBuilder. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)

Methods

Add(String, Object)	Adds an entry with the specified key and value into the DbConnectionStringBuilder. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
Clear()	Clears the contents of the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder instance.
ClearPropertyDescriptors()	Clears the collection of PropertyDescriptor objects on the associated DbConnectionStringBuilder. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
ContainsKey(String)	Determines whether the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder contains a specific key.
Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object. (Inherited from Object)
EquivalentTo(DbConnectionStringBuilder)	Compares the connection information in this DbConnectionStringBuilder object with the connection information in the supplied object. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
GetHashCode()	Serves as the default hash function. (Inherited from Object)
GetProperties(Hashtable)	Fills a supplied Hashtable with information about all the properties of this DbConnectionStringBuilder. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
GetType()	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object)
MemberwiseClone()	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object)
Remove(String)	Removes the entry with the specified key from the OdbcConnectionStringBuilder instance.
ShouldSerialize(String)	Indicates whether the specified key exists in this DbConnectionStringBuilder instance. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
ToString()	Returns the connection string associated with this DbConnectionStringBuilder. (Inherited from DbConnectionStringBuilder)
TryGetValue(String, Object)	Retrieves a value corresponding to the supplied key from this OdbcConnectionStringBuilder.

Extension Methods

See also

• Connection String Builders
• Connection Strings in ADO.NET