.NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle multiple open connection - asp.net

Question

I have the below mentioned code in a seperate class file for establishing connection and carry out DB transactions. I have an issue where multiple connections being opened which sometime exceed the connection pool. When I stepped through the code I found that there are codes which call ConnectDB() in a loop without calling DisconnectDB(). But I expected that the condition OraConn.State = ConnectionState.Closed should handle the situation. Somehow the condition is always satisfied hence openning another set of connection. Can you suggest where am I going wrong and also what best practice can be adopted here?
Public Class Connection
Dim Str_conn As String = "Data Source=...; User=...; password=...; Min Pool Size=10; Max Pool Size=500;"
Public OraConn As OracleConnection
Dim cmd As OracleCommand
Dim dr As OracleDataReader
Dim data_adapt As OracleDataAdapter
Dim dt As DataTable
Dim ds As DataSet
Public Sub ConnectDB()
OraConn = New OracleConnection(Str_conn)
If OraConn.State = ConnectionState.Closed Then
OraConn.Open()
End If
End Sub
Public Sub DisconnectDB()
If OraConn.State = ConnectionState.Open Then
OraConn.Close()
End If
End Sub
Public Function get_dataset(ByVal query As String, ByRef ds As DataSet) As DataSet
data_adapt = New OracleDataAdapter(query, OraConn)
data_adapt.Fill(ds)
Return ds
End Function
Public Function get_datareader(ByVal query As String) As OracleDataReader
cmd = New OracleCommand(query, OraConn)
dr = cmd.ExecuteReader()
Return dr
End Function
Public Sub UpdateDB(ByVal query As String)
cmd = New OracleCommand(query, OraConn)
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
cmd.Dispose()
End Sub
The class is refered in other classes or directly in the aspx.vb pages like this.
Public Function InsertData(ByVal var1 As String, ByVal var2 As String) As Integer
conn.ConnectDB()
Dim qryInsert As String
qryInsert = " INSERT INTO TABLE VALUES ('" & var1 & "', "
qryInsert = qryInsert & var2 & "')"
Try
conn.UpdateDB(qryInsert)
Catch ex As OracleException
If ex.Code = 1 Then
updData(var1, var2)
ElseIf ex.Code = 2091 Then
msgprompt("Duplicate Unique Key!", "Warning")
End If
Finally
conn.DisconnectDB()
End Try
Return count
End Function
The connection is again opened in function updData(). While I understand that it has to be closed correctly but keeping tab on every developer is not possible. Hence I want to control it directly from the connection class by using the same connection but the condition If OraConn.State = ConnectionState.Closed is not helping.
UPDATE
I have put the code in UpdateDB under a Using block and removed call to ConnectDB and DisconnectDB from function like InsertData(...). It seems that the issue has been resolved. But I would like to know in case of exception will the connection remain open? and also OraConn is a public variable defined outside Using block so will it be disposed of by the GC?
Public Sub UpdateDB(ByVal query As String)
Using OraConn = New OracleConnection(Str_conn)
cmd = New OracleCommand(query, OraConn)
Try
OraConn.Open()
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
Catch ex As Exception
Throw
Finally
cmd.Dispose()
End Try
End Using
End Sub

Answer 1

You must close all the connections as soon as you are done with it, no matter what.
Suggestion:
The best practice for closing the connection is to do it in finally block. So that even if there is any error, catch it (log it if required) in catch block, and then connection will get close in finally block.
UPDATE
You can put one private static counter in your Connection class. When ever ConnectDB() is called you increment this counter and decrement it in every DisconnectDB(). Now in ConnectDB() you check the value of counter, if it exceeds a minimum threshold you throw error, by doing this way; you can come to know idle connection present in your code and refactor it. On production keep this threshold value high or ignore it in code.