I am assuming that you are using .Net Framework and not DotNet Core.
If I remember correctly, you should do something like:
Dim ConnectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["StringName"].ConnectionString
Where
StringName
is the key in your settings file.
Update
Here is the official documentation:
ConfigurationManager Class (System.Configuration) | Microsoft Learn[
^]
Update #2
I found some time to fire up VS on New Year's Day...
App Type: Console
Target Framework: .Net Framework 4.7.2 (also works with 4.5)
Nuget Package: NuGet Gallery | System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager 7.0.0[
^]
1.
App.config
="1.0"="utf-8"
<configuration>
<startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.7.2" />
</startup>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="default" connectionString="This is my connection string"/>
</connectionStrings>
</configuration>
2.
Program.vb
Imports System.Configuration
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim ConnectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("default").ConnectionString
Console.WriteLine($"[{ConnectionString}]")
End Sub
End Module
Output:
[This is my connection string]
Enjoy!