Dim conn As New SqlConnection()
 Dim comm As New SqlCommand()
 Dim dr As SqlDataReader
 Dim connString As String
 Dim customerName As String

 Try
   connString = "Initial Catalog=Northwind;"
   connString += "Data Source=Office1\Test;"
   connString += "uid=test;pwd=password;"
   conn = New SqlConnection(connString)
  

   With comm
      .Connection = conn
      .CommandText = "SELECT * FROM Northwind.dbo.Customers"
      .CommandType = CommandType.Text
      conn.Open()
      dr = .ExecuteReader()
   End With

   While (dr.Read())
      If Not (dr.Item(2) Is System.DBNull.Value) Then
        customerName = CStr(dr.Item(2))
      End If
   End While

   Catch ex As SqlException
      System.Console.WriteLine("SQL Server Error: " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace)

   Catch ex As Exception
      System.Console.WriteLine("Exception: " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace)

   Finally
      If Not (conn Is Nothing) Then
         If (conn.State = ConnectionState.Open) Then
            conn.Close()
         End If
         conn.Dispose()
      End If

      If Not (dr Is Nothing) Then
         If Not (dr.IsClosed) Then
            dr.Close()
         End If
      End If
     

      If Not (comm Is Nothing) Then
        comm.Dispose()
      End If
 End Try