Calling MS Access Connection String problem

I have the connection string located in a common.vb file in my asp.net solution. The connection string looks like this:

Public Function dbConn()
Dim connectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Ole DB Services=-4; Data Source=C:\Documents an" & _
"d Settings\EZ\Desktop\PurdueAlumni.mdb"
Dim strConnection As System.Data.IDbConnection = New System.Data.OleDb.OleDbConnection(connectionString )

dbConn = strConnection
End Function

This is what I have in a form that needs to call the connection string:

Dim dbConnection As String
dbConnection = dbConn()


When I run the debugger, I go to the default page. I type in my username and password (the main page is a login screen), and I recieve this error:

Cast from type 'OleDbConnection' to type 'String' is not valid.

Line 41:
Line 42: Dim strSQL As String
Line 43: Dim conn As New OleDb.OleDbConnection(dbConnection) Line 44: Dim cmd As New OleDb.OleDbCommand(strSQL, conn) Line 45: Dim reader As OleDb.OleDbDataReader

This is what is in my code right now:
Dim dbConnection As String
dbConnection = dbConn()

Dim strSQL As String
Dim conn As New OleDb.OleDbConnection(dbConnection)
Dim cmd As New OleDb.OleDbCommand(strSQL, conn)
Dim reader As OleDb.OleDbDataReader
Dim adapter As OleDb.OleDbDataAdapter


Any ideas??

Thanks

Your function returns a value of datatype System.Data.IDbConnection since it returns strConnection, not connectionString. When you call your function, you set a string variable to it:

Dim dbConnection As String
dbConnection = dbConn()

.Net doesn't know how to cast the IDbConnection value to a string.

I'm not sure I know what you're trying to do but I'm guessing you want to return a connection object to be used for database access. If so, you should call your function with something like the following:

Dim oConn as System.Data.IDbConnection = dbConn()

HTH.

Cast from type 'OleDbConnection' to type 'String' is not valid.

Line 41: Dim conn As New System.Data.odbc.OdbcConnection(dbConn)
Line 42: Dim cmd As New System.Data.odbc.OdbcCommand
Line 43: Dim reader As System.Data.odbc.OdbcDataReader
Line 44: Dim adapter As System.Data.odbc.OdbcDataAdapter


Line 43 is where the error occurs.

Here is my dbConn function that I call. It may be something wrong with this.

Public Function dbConn()

Dim strConnectionString As String = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Ole DB Services=-4; Data Source=C:\Documents an" & _
"d Settings\EZ\Desktop\Alumni.mdb"

dbConn = strConnectionString

End Function

Thanks for the help!!!

An incorrect connection string shouldn't cause a cast error. I suspect dbConn may be defined in more than one place. Try replacing

Line 41: Dim conn As New System.Data.odbc.OdbcConnection(dbConn)

with

Line 41: Dim conn As New System.Data.odbc.OdbcConnection("Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Ole DB Services=-4; Data Source=C:\Documents and Settings\EZ\Desktop\Alumni.mdb")

and see if you get the same error.

I'm not sure about the connection string itself (Ole DB Services=-4?). I use this site for reference: http://www.connectionstrings.com/. Click on Access and then the OLE DB connection.

HTH