7.4. Passing Own Connection String

If you use data sources that are defined inside a report, you may need to pass an application-defined connection string to a report. This can be done in three ways.

The first method: you pass a connection string directly to the Connection object in a report. Do the following:

report1.Load(...); 
// do it after loading the report, before running it
// assume we have one connection in the report
report1.Dictionary.Connections[0].ConnectionString = my_connection_string;
report1.Show();

The second method: you pass a connection string using the report parameter. Do the following:

run the report designer;
in the “Data” window, create a new report parameter (with “MyParameter” name, for example);
in the “Data” window, select the “Connection” object that contains a data source;
switch to the “Properties” window and set the ConnectionStringExpression property to the following:
```
[MyParameter]
```

pass the connection string to the MyParameter parameter:

report1.SetParameterValue("MyParameter", my_connection_string);

Configuring the Environment

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