Hi folks

I am building this distributed app that has a number of Web Service Projects.

A common task is to  connect to a DB with code that looks like this:

Dim cn As SqlConnection
       Dim strInfo As String

       strInfo = "server=(local);Persist Security
Info=False;pwd=;Integrated
Security=SSPI;database=FusionCommunityVolunteerService;Connect Timeout=30"

       Try
           cn = New SqlConnection
           With cn
               .ConnectionString = strInfo
               .Open()
           End With

           Return cn

       Catch ex As Exception

       Finally

           If cn.State <> Data.ConnectionState.Closed Then
               cn.Close()
               cn.Dispose()
           End If
       End Try

I was thinking that it would be good both from a programming time viewpoint
and also in terms of code maintainability if I could have a func procedure
that does exactly that and could be called from any procedure in any of the
projects in the Solution.

What is the best way to do this?  Any advice would be muchly appreciated.

Kind regards

Ross Petersen