Thanks for both of your answers.
Walaa, I read carefully the section your pointed out. I did find that in the project settings, there is a setting for connection string key name pattern which is Main.ConnectionString.{$ProviderName}.
However, no where in the documentation I see where to drop the line
RuntimeConfiguration.AddConnectionString("Key", "ConnectionString");
Otis,
In my class library app.config file I now have
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="Main.ConnectionString.SQL Server (SqlClient)" connectionString="data source=xxx.xxx.x.xxx,xxx;initial catalog=dbname;User ID=idname;Password=pwd;persist security info=False"/>
</connectionStrings>
<runtime>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="Main.ConnectionString.SQL Server (SqlClient)" connectionString="data source=xxx.xxx.x.xxx,xxx;initial catalog=dbname;User ID=idname;Password=pwd;persist security info=False"/>
</connectionStrings>
</runtime>
</configuration>
but i still get the error No connection string specified at the first call to the database