Cannot connect to SQL Sever

Question

I am new to C# and trying to connect to SQL Server for a demo query.

This is my shortcode for the same.

SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection("data source=.; database=Sample; integrated security=SSPI");

SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("select * from employees", conn);

conn.Open();

when I am running the script it is showing error at conn.Open() stating that cannot find the server.

When I googled it further I found that the SQL server browser should run in this case which is not there in my system. Any idea how can I make it reach the server?

I saw posts on StackOverflow Cannot connect to sql server but they seem to have different issue and solution.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

make a connection first to the DB in the visual studio by using "Server Explorer" in the left. Then press "Connect to a Database" and then once you are connected, look for the properties of the DB and pick the Connection string attribute. Once you have it try pasted it the conn object.

Answer 2

From your comments it appears that this is your database engine is named (localdb)\LocalDataBase

If so your connection string will be:

        SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@"data source=(localdb)\LocalDataBase; database=Sample; integrated security=SSPI");

In order to embed an escape character within a string - you need to tell the compiler to interpret the string literally by using the @ .