How to connect WinForms DataGridView to PostgreSQL DB over network

[Mark Yorkovich]

I'm trying to set up a connection to a PostgreSQL database as a datasource for a WinForms DataGridView.

I can't figure out how to set up the connection.

I'm using DBeaver for my DBMS and have set up a test table with some simple data. Right now, I'm just trying to test the connection by sending the version to the console. The server is on a network and the host is an IP address.

In Form1_Load I've tried this:

string strConnString = "Server=<ipaddress>;Port=5432;Username=<username>;Password=<password>;Database=test.cars";
NpgsqlConnection objConn = new NpgsqlConnection(strConnString);

try
{
objConn.Open();
string strSelectCmd = "select version()";
var cmd = new NpgsqlCommand(strSelectCmd, objConn);
var version = cmd.ExecuteScalar().ToString();
Console.WriteLine($"PostgreSQL version: {version}");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Error message", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}

But I get an exception at the `objConn.Open();` line.

So, am I not setting up the connection string correctly? Once I get that connected, is the remainder of the code correct?

Then there's the question of how to connect the db to a DataGridView (the only way I know how to do that is via the wizard and I've only done that with a SQL Server db - but first things first...).

Continue reading...