Where is your connection string?
SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection(YourConnectionString)
Try something like this:
cn.open();
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(strSql);
SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);
DataSet ds = new DataSet();
adapter.Fill(ds, "Applicant");
GridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables["Applicant"];
GridView1.DataBind();
cn.close()