CODEWITHSUNDEEP
iisiis-7web-configconnection-string
Nimrod Fiat
Nimrod Fiat

Reputation: 483

what are all the locations in which connectionStrings can be defined for an iis site?

I'm trying to find all the locations in which a connectionString can be defined for an iis site (to write a script to extract them all). I know it can be part of a web.config. I would like to have a complete list of files it can be configured in. Does it make sense for it to be configured in the site code? Which other configuration files can define a site's connectionStrings?

And a bonus question - how do I know the order of the files in which the connectionString is searched in ?

Thanks,

EDIT:
Additional info - all IIS sites are pure dotnet sites.

Also, specifying the general location of files, rather then file names, is also helpful.
E.g. - connectionStings can be located in external configuration files, whose location is defined at a in an appSettings element in the "%runtime install path%\config\machine.config" file.

Another option is to just link to the relevant docs.
My issue is that I haven't found anything conclusive.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 771

Answers (2)

Nimrod Fiat
Nimrod Fiat

Reputation: 483

I found a pretty good source for the locations of the IIS dotnet Framework configuration files - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/cc754617(v=ws.10)?redirectedfrom=MSDN#inheritance

You could define additional connectionStrings

  1. In dotnet code.
  2. In env.
  3. In external config files.
  4. For non-IIS scopes - such as user scopes and role scopes.

These 4 options are not specific to IIS.
I don't know where options (3) and (4) are defined, and I'm not sure if this list is complete. But by combing this list and the one in the doc, I think we have 99% coverage of defined connectionStrings.

Upvotes: 0

Bruce Zhang
Bruce Zhang

Reputation: 3042

As far as I know, there are several ways to configure connectionstring in ASP.NET applications.

  1. Define it in code. This is the method used by many beginners. Because at this time they focus on code learning and logical understanding. But some people are accustomed to using it if the database is fixed, it does not need to be modified.

    SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection("Data Source=.\\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=mytest;Integrated Security=True");

  2. Define it in web.config or App.config. The benefit of it is easy to modified connectionstring after publishing application. Developers can change web.config, no need to change code and deploy application again.

     <connectionStrings>
   <add name="mytest" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=mytest;Integrated Security=True;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />  
 </connectionStrings>

  3. Using External Configuration Files. ConnectionString is stored in a independent file for example connections.config. The benefit of it is modifying an external configuration file does not cause an application restart.

    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>  
<configuration>  
  <connectionStrings configSource="connections.config"/>  
</configuration>

About list all connectionstrings, you can use ConnectionStringSettingsCollection. It can get a connection by name and provider name.

Upvotes: 2

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