VB.NET CF - Establish data connection

[robplatt]

I have an app that pulls data from a SQL server over any data connection (activesync, wifi, evdo, etc). It works great. At the moment I have it check to see if it has a connection and if it doesnt it alerts the person and bails on the sql query. So far its a pretty decent little app.

 

Heres the deal. If you open IE/opera/etc and browse to a webpage, I get a notification bubble that says dialing my data connection, which thereafter the webpage connects.

 

I want the same for my app. I do not want to use opennetcf's connection manager. I want to rely strickly on .net 2.0 if i can.

 

How can I invoke a connection to the net. (I dont need to be able to see errors, I dont need to disconnect, I dont need all the extra stuff opennetcf provides).

 

I have spent hours on the net trying to figure something out. I tried an httpwebrequest and it didnt work. Maybe I did it wrong? I just need to spawn a data connection if there isnt one.