Storing The database connection string in the web.config file

[mike55]

Hi

 

Am trying to store my connection string in my web.config file. According to the net, all i have to do is add the following:

<configuration>
<add key="dbconnection" value=" server=(local);
Initial Catalog=Northwind;UID=tester;PWD=123456"/>
</configuration> 

 

However, when I go to run my web app I get a message telling me that there may be syntax problems with my web.config file, and that I should run "Start without Debugger". This in turn tells me that: Parser Error Message: Unrecognized configuration section 'configuration'

 

Any suggestions on how to get around this?

 

Mike55

[PlausiblyDamp]

Are you adding your own configuration section? If so that is probably the problem - the default web.config already has a configuration section and you may be trying to nest yours inside the existing one.

[Joe Mamma]

in the existing configuration section add a section <appSettings>

 

<appSettings>
<add key="dbconnection" value="server=(local);Initial Catalog=Northwind;UID=tester;PWD=123456"/>
</appSettings>

make sure your values do not span multiple lines

[mike55]

in the existing configuration section add a section <appSettings>

 

<appSettings>
<add key="dbconnection" value="server=(local);Initial Catalog=Northwind;UID=tester;PWD=123456"/>
</appSettings>

make sure your values do not span multiple lines

 

 

Had originally tried that but ran into trouble with it, however I went at it again but this time I added the lines to the top of the web config file and it worked. Is it a good idea putting the database string in the web config file or not? Some sites are saying that I should also encrypt the connection string that I am storing, and decrypt the string before I open the database connection.

 

Mike55

[donnacha]

At a minimum you should not put the password in the config file. Add that to the string in the file. Generally all you really need in the file is the database location, the name is probably standard, so the remainder can be built up in code.

How are you going to encrypt the string as this will probably need to be done in advance and you may not know the location until deployment, but you could still do the encryption as part of a custom action in the deployment and add it to the config file.