Microsoft® SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Connecting to SQL Database Using a Custom Windows Application

First and foremost you need a connection string. As mentioned in the “Using Management Portal” section, a number of commonly used connection strings for your databases have already been conveniently prepared for you. To view them, log in to the online Management Portal, click on one of your SQL databases, and then navigate to the Dashboard tab for that database. Handily located at bottom right (under Quick Glance) is the Show Connection Strings link. Click it to reveal them and then copy to your Clipboard the connection string inside the text area located just below the ADO.NET header.

Next, we create a simple application using Visual Studio 2012 (VS) that incorporates data from SQL ...