Connecting to a database from an application using the IBM Data Server Provider for .NET

When using the IBM® Data Server Provider for .NET, a database connection is established through the DB2Connection class.

To connect to a database:

1. Create a string that stores the connection parameters. The format for a typical connection string format is:

   Server=<ip address/localhost>:<port number>; 
   Database=<db name>;
   UID=<userID>; 
   PWD=<password>; 
   Connect Timeout=<Timeout value>

   Examples of possible connection strings are:
   Example 1:

   String connectString = "Database=SAMPLE";
   // When used, attempts to connect to the SAMPLE database. 

   Note: If you specify only the database name in the connection string, the other information such as the server, userid, and password, must be included in the db2dsdriver.cfg file.
   Example 2:

   String cs = "Server=srv:50000;
   Database=SAMPLE;
   UID=db2adm;
   PWD=ab1d;Connect Timeout=30";
   // When used, attempts to connect to the SAMPLE database on the server
   // 'srv' through port 50000 using 'db2adm' and 'ab1d' as the user id and
   // password respectively. If the connection attempt takes
   // more than thirty seconds, the attempt will be terminated and an error
   // will be generated.

2. Pass the connectString to the DB2Connection constructor.
   • Connecting to a database in C#:

     String connectString = "Database=SAMPLE";
     DB2Connection conn = new DB2Connection(connectString);
     conn.Open();
     return conn;

   • Connecting to a database in Visual Basic .NET:

     Dim connectString As String = "Database=SAMPLE"
     Dim conn As DB2Connection = new DB2Connection(connectString)
     conn.Open()
     Return conn

3. Use the DB2Connection object's Open method to formally connect to the database identified in connectString.