How do I store my Connection string or other data in my Web.Config file?

In a data intensive web site, you may have to reference your connection string in many places in your code. When you publish your site the production server has a different connection string than your development server. Rather than change this string in your code, you can store your connection string, or any other configuration data in your Web.Config file. Here's how:

The Web.Config file is an editable XML based configuration file in your web application's root directory. Be careful, web.config entries are case sensitive!

To store configuration strings in the file, you need to add a section to top of the web.config:

<configuration>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="ConString" value="server=local;database=MyDb" />
  </appSettings>
  <system.web>

<!-- the rest of the web.config follows...
Note: The connection string has been shortened to fit in this space.

Now that the data is stored in the web.config, you can retrieve it from anywhere in your code.

You can store any string, and give the key any name you want. You can use it to store a path name, or business info, or whatever.

In any page in your site this code would be used to retrieve the connection string:

Dim ConS as string
ConS = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings("ConString")

Notice that the key name is the same as the key name that you used to store the data.

Note: It is a good idea to make a backup of your web.config file before you edit it. If there is an error in your web.config file, your application will fail to run!

Study and Research resources:

Microsoft Certification Info:

See the list of .Net articles

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