Visual Basic

This is how your app.config should look like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
   <connectionStrings>
    <add name="ConnectWithWinAuth" connectionString="Data Source=pshukla4;Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks;Persist Security Info=False;Trusted_Connection=Yes;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
   </connectionStrings>
  <appSettings>
  </appSettings>
</configuration>


The code in the calling method \ function should be something like this, I am using AdventureWorks DB that comes with SQL Server :

            List<Dept> departments = new List<Dept>();
            ConnectionStringSettings conString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectWithWinAuth"];

            using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(conString.ConnectionString))
            {
                con.Open();

                using (SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("SELECT Name, GroupName FROM HumanResources.Department", con))
                {
                    SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader();
                    while (reader.Read())
                    {
                        string name = reader.GetString(1);
                        string grpName = reader.GetString(2);
                        departments.Add(new Dept() { DeptId = deptId, Name = name, GroupName = grpName });
                    }
                }
            }

CType(tb_Options.DropDown, ToolStripDropDownMenu).ShowImageMargin = False
CType(tb_Options.DropDown, ToolStripDropDownMenu).ShowCheckMargin = True

Private aValue as String = "Hello World!"

Public Function GetTheValue() As String

 return aValue

End Function

Public Sub DoSomething
    Dim theOtherForm as new Form1
    MessageBox(theOtherForm.GetTheValue)
End Sub

For Each theForm As Form In Application.OpenForms

    If theForm.Name = "FormOrder" Then
        MessageBox(theForm.GetSomeValue)
    End If

Next

Dim theForm as Form2 ' Note No NEW
MessageBox(theForm.GetTheValue)