Hi I am using VS 2008's VB.net and want to connect to SQL server 2008....I am new to SQL server so please help. What are the things I need to install for SQL server to run compatible to VB.NET

Greetings Maina, I am not a very experienced programmer but I would like to try to help in some way. If you have SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 installed, then you should be able in a code-behind page to connect to the database. I have used Visual Studio 2005 web app to connect to a SQL Server 2000 db. I have used VB in the code-behind but not C#. You could have something like the following in the web config of the web app: <appSettings> <add key="Security" value="Data Source=KVCSQL;Initial Catalog=appSecurity; Integrated Security=True" /> <add key="DSN" value="Data Source=SQL-BETA;Initial Catalog=Transportation;Integrated Security=True" /> <add key="ClientKS" value="Data Source=SQL-BETA;Initial Catalog=Client_KS;Integrated Security=True" /> <add key="Portal" value="Data Source=SQL-BETA;Initial Catalog=Portal;Integrated Security=True" /> <add key="sitePath" value="/Transportation" /> <add key="SID" value="28" /> <add key="emailTesting" value="Y" /> <add key="CrystalImageCleaner-AutoStart" value="true" /> <add key="CrystalImageCleaner-Sleep" value="60000" /> <add key="CrystalImageCleaner-Age" value="120000" /> </appSettings> <connectionStrings> <add name="TransportationConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=SQL-Beta;Initial Catalog=Transportation;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/> <add name="Client_KSConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=SQL-Beta;Initial Catalog=Client_KS;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/> <add name="appSecurityConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=KVCSQL;Initial Catalog=appSecurity;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/> <add name="Portal" connectionString="Data Source=SQL-Beta;Initial Catalog=Portal;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/> </connectionStrings> Then in a code-behind page using VB, you could have something like the following to connect to a SQL Server db: Public Con_ClientKS As New Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("ClientKS").ToString()) Then somewhere in that code-behind page you could have the following: Dim cmdChildInDb As Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand Dim dtrChildInDb As Data.SqlClient.SqlDataReader cmdChildInDb = New Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand _ ("SELECT plctype, age, csmgrname " _ & "from masterfile where csnbr = " & "'" & Session("csnbrToEdit") & "'", Con_ClientKS) Con_ClientKS.Open() dtrChildInDb = cmdChildInDb.ExecuteReader() While dtrChildInDb.Read() = True If dtrChildInDb("age").ToString() <> "" And dtrChildInDb("age") Is DBNull.Value = False Then Me.txtAge.Text = dtrChildInDb("age") End If If dtrChildInDb("plctype").ToString() <> "" And dtrChildInDb("plctype") Is DBNull.Value = False Then Me.txtPlcType.Text = dtrChildInDb("plctype") End If If dtrChildInDb("csmgrname").ToString() <> "" And dtrChildInDb("csmgrname") Is DBNull.Value = False Then Me.txtCaseMgr.Text = dtrChildInDb("csmgrname") End If End While dtrChildInDb.Close() Con_ClientKS.Close() Maybe I am not understanding your problem correctly though and do not know correctly what are your intentions.