All interaction between a .NET application and the MySQL server is routed through a MySqlConnection object. Before your application can interact with the server, a MySqlConnection object must be instanced, configured, and opened.

Even when using the MySqlHelper class, a MySqlConnection object is created by the helper class.

In this section, we will describe how to connect to MySQL using the MySqlConnection object.

The MySqlConnection object is configured using a connection string. A connection string contains sever key/value pairs, separated by semicolons. Each key/value pair is joined with an equals sign.

The following is a sample connection string:

    Server=127.0.0.1;Uid=root;Pwd=12345;Database=test;
    

In this example, the MySqlConnection object is configured to connect to a MySQL server at 127.0.0.1, with a username of root and a password of 12345. The default database for all statements will be the test database.

The following options are typically used (a full list of options is available in the API documentation):

Once you have created a connection string it can be used to open a connection to the MySQL server.

The following code is used to create a MySqlConnection object, assign the connection string, and open the connection.

[VB]

Dim conn As New MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection
Dim myConnectionString as String

myConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;" _
            & "uid=root;" _
            & "pwd=12345;" _
            & "database=test;"

Try
  conn.ConnectionString = myConnectionString
  conn.Open()

Catch ex As MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException
  MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
End Try
  

[C#]

MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection conn;
string myConnectionString;
    
myConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;" +
    "pwd=12345;database=test;";
  
try
{
    conn = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection();
    conn.ConnectionString = myConnectionString;
    conn.Open();
}
catch (MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException ex)
{
    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}

You can also pass the connection string to the constructor of the MySqlConnection class:

[VB]

Dim myConnectionString as String

myConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;" _
              & "uid=root;" _
              & "pwd=12345;" _
              & "database=test;" 

Try
    Dim conn As New MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(myConnectionString)
    conn.Open()
Catch ex As MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException
   MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
End Try
  

[C#]

MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection conn;
string myConnectionString;

myConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;" +
    "pwd=12345;database=test;";

try
{
    conn = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(myConnectionString);
    conn.Open();
}
catch (MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException ex)
{
    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}

Once the connection is open it can be used by the other MySQL Connector/NET classes to communicate with the MySQL server.

Because connecting to an external server is unpredictable, it is important to add error handling to your .NET application. When there is an error connecting, the MySqlConnection class will return a MySqlException object. This object has two properties that are of interest when handling errors:

When handling errors, you can your application's response based on the error number. The two most common error numbers when connecting are as follows:

The following code shows how to adapt the application's response based on the actual error:

[VB]

Dim myConnectionString as String

myConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;" _
          & "uid=root;" _
          & "pwd=12345;" _
          & "database=test;" 

Try
    Dim conn As New MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(myConnectionString)
    conn.Open()
Catch ex As MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException
    Select Case ex.Number
        Case 0
            MessageBox.Show("Cannot connect to server. Contact administrator")
        Case 1045
            MessageBox.Show("Invalid username/password, please try again")
    End Select
End Try
  

[C#]

MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection conn;
string myConnectionString;

myConnectionString = "server=127.0.0.1;uid=root;" +  
    "pwd=12345;database=test;";

try
{
    conn = new MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection(myConnectionString);
    conn.Open();
}
    catch (MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlException ex)
{
    switch (ex.Number)
    {
        case 0:
            MessageBox.Show("Cannot connect to server.  Contact administrator");
        case 1045:
            MessageBox.Show("Invalid username/password, please try again");
    }
}