Where is the SQL Server MDF database once deployed in production?

Question

Hello everyone,

I've developed a website project in VS2010 that includes the ASPNETDB.MDF database. In the project package/publish settings I select the option Exclude files from App_Data folder and when importing the package into IIS7.5 the database is located in the Users\AppData\... folder. So far so good, however I have the following questions:

Q1 - Importing the project into IIS7.5 works and the database is created successfully but my connectionString syntax in the web.config seems not correct since it causes an error on pages that have SQL DataSource objects. The error is: Invalid value for key 'attachdbfilename'. The connection string is:

Data Source=localhost\SQLExpress;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|\XYZWebDBTST20.mdf;Initial Catalog=XYWebDBTST20;User ID=XYZWebDBUser;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False

Q2 - When I finally upload the package to the web where will the database be located?

Q3 - Do I really need to know or will the connection string |DataDirectory| keyword automatically point to the correct location?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Have a wonderful day...

Regards

Michael

Answer 1

Hello everyone,

I've developed a website project in VS2010 that includes the ASPNETDB.MDF database. In the project package/publish settings I select the option Exclude files from App_Data folder and when importing the package into IIS7.5 the database is located in the Users\AppData\... folder. So far so good, however I have the following questions:

Q1 - Importing the project into IIS7.5 works and the database is created successfully but my connectionString syntax in the web.config seems not correct since it causes an error on pages that have SQL DataSource objects. The error is: Invalid value for key 'attachdbfilename'. The connection string is:

Data Source=localhost\SQLExpress;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|\XYZWebDBTST20.mdf;Initial Catalog=XYWebDBTST20;User ID=XYZWebDBUser;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False

Q2 - When I finally upload the package to the web where will the database be located?

Q3 - Do I really need to know or will the connection string |DataDirectory| keyword automatically point to the correct location?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Have a wonderful day...

Regards

Michael

PS

After some research I found the solution to questions one:

Data Source=localhost\SQLExpress;Database=XYZWebDBTST21.mdf;Initial Catalog=XYZWebDBTST21;User ID=XYZWebDBUser;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False

This works on web pages with a asp:SQLDataSource objects, however on another page where I retrieve the connection string with C# it doesn't work. It doesn't through an error it just hangs and doesn't do anything.

My C# code is straight from MSDN and looks like:

    // Get SQL Connection String
    static private string dsGetConnectionString()
    {
      // Get the application path needed to obtain
      // the application configuration file.
      string appName = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0];

      string appexePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, appName);

      // Get the application configuration file.
      System.Configuration.Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(appexePath);

      // Get the connectionStrings section.
      ConnectionStringsSection csSection = config.ConnectionStrings;

      // Select the section.
      ConnectionStringSettings cs = csSection.ConnectionStrings[0];

      //  Return connection string.
      return cs.ConnectionString;
    }

Answer 2

Hi Michael,

You could post the case in ASP.NET Forum. You would receive better and quicker support.

Thanks,
Maggie

---

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.