Check Database connection using C# or VB.NET

Tweet

As a programmer, one of the most common tasks in your application is to connect to the database. Here’s a very simple way to check your database connection before you start any task or use this as a service to check the connection and pause tasks if the connection breaks.

C#

private static bool DBConnectionStatus()
{
    try
    {
        using (SqlConnection sqlConn =
            new SqlConnection("YourConnectionString"))
            {
                sqlConn.Open();
                return (sqlConn.State == ConnectionState.Open);
            }
    }
    catch (SqlException)
    {
        return false;
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        return false;
    }
}

VB.NET (Converted Code)

Private Function DBConnectionStatus() As Boolean
    Try
        Using sqlConn As New SqlConnection("YourConnectionString")
                sqlConn.Open()
                Return (sqlConn.State = ConnectionState.Open)
        End Using
    Catch e1 As SqlException
        Return False
    Catch e2 As Exception
        Return False
    End Try
End Function

The code above opens a connection to the database and returns a boolean depending on the database status.

Tweet

About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, Developer Technologies MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) is the founder and contributor for DevCurry, DotNetCurry and SQLServerCurry. He is the Chief Editor of a Developer Magazine called DNC Magazine. He has also authored two Books - 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls. and The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Follow him on twitter @suprotimagarwal.