Hi all,
This is a multipart question.
I’ve got an asp.net site that contains an access database. Previously, I
would debug by making changes and uploading to my host. Now, I’d like to be
able to debug locally and then deploy. I’d really like to use a relative path
for the database file (so I could make no changes between hostide and
debugging client side. When I try to use a relative path, it doesn’t seem to
be referring to the basepoint of my web application as it would for, say, an
href or src attribute. I get an exception stating:
System.Data.OleDb.OleDbException was unhandled by user code
ErrorCode=-2147467259
Message="'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio
8\Common7\IDE\App_Data\xc.mdb' is not a valid path. Make sure that the path
name is spelled correctly and that you are connected to the server on which
the file resides."
Source="Microsoft JET Database Engine"
The connection string I used was:
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;DATA SOURCE=App_Data\xc.mdb
I also tried
Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;DATA SOURCE=\App_Data\xc.mdb
And got the same result.
On the server side, I get a different long path. I figured out how to
construct this log path into what corresponds with the base point of my
application and could hardcode the application setting. This prevents me from
running the same app both on my machine and my host without making changes. I
suppose I could use server.mappath around every DB call, but I was wondering
if there was a more elegant way to handle this situation (to get the “mapped”
path into the appsettings value the first time).
How could one even use a server.mappath with a database connection string?
As the path to the database is embedded within the connection string?
Ok, next related question. I wanted to try to take advantage of the new
ConnectionStrings feature in 2.0, so I changed my appsettings to a connection
string. (For now, I’m using a hardcoded path to test.) The connection string
works when I grab it as an appsetting, but when I try to copy it over as a
connection string and grab it with:
conXCDB = New
OleDbConnection(Server.MapPath(System.Configuratio n.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("MyMainSt ring").ConnectionString))
I get:
System.Web.HttpException was unhandled by user code
ErrorCode=-2147467259
Message="'Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;DATA SOURCE=C:\xcbackup.mdb' is
not a valid virtual path."
Source="System.Web"
Interestingly, I’m able to response.write the “ConnectionString” property to
the output and it is indeed the exact same string as before. Why now the
complaints? I used:
<add name="MyMainString"
connectionString="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 ;DATA
SOURCE=C:\xcbackup.mdb" providerName="System.Data.OleDB" />
I don’t know if I set the providerName properly, but I don’t know why it
would even need this as it should just be grabbing the string so I can create
a connection.
Ok, so I thought maybe I’m constructing the string incorrectly, so I try to
use the server explorer to add the connection. I choose “Microsoft Access DB
file” which chooses .NET framework data provider for OLEDB. Sounds good. I
press next, and instead of different fields for each property (filename,
timeout settings, etc), there is only one property to set:
“ConnectionString.” I try pasting my working string in there, but I get:
“Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification
startingn at index 0.”
I’ve tried adding single / double quotes, and lots of other things. I’ve
never been able to find ANY input that doesn’t give this error. Whenever I
press “test connection” it immediately reports that it sccedded. It’s when I
press “ok” that it gives me trouble. After googling around, this error seems
to have been resolved by one other by reinstalling the framework, and another
indicated that he only got this on his XP machine.
I tried another route:
I chose “other” for data source and chose “Data provider for OLEDB for data
provider.” in the next screen, I chose “MS Jet 4.0 OLEDB provider” as this is
what I was using in the string. This lets me specify properties graphically.
Under server or file name, I specify an absolute path, and leave everything
else blank. I hit ok and get an error dialog stating:
“Object reference not set to an instance of an object.”
I’ve tried filling out various values, but no matter what I do in this
dialog I get this error and am unable to proceed.
Well, that’s where I stand. I know there’s a few different questions here,
but any help would be much appreciated. Thanks guys…
-Ben
