Data Source Connection Strings made Easy

Was just in a PASS session with Peter Myers as the speaker and saw a great tip I hadn't been aware of that makes it really easy to create database connection strings in Windows.

Just create a text file anywhere and change the file suffix to .udl

Note the Type is now 'Microsoft Data Link'

Double-click on this file and you will get the Connection String designer dialog window. Choose the provider and fill out the rest of the dialog as required;

Click OK to save the file.

Now open the file in Notepad (or text editor of your choice) to easily copy the full connection string as needed.

Thanks for the Tip Peter!