>>I wouldn't say "preferrable", I'd say "interchangeable".
>
>Internally Dispose() calls Close() but not vice versa. OTOH since the clean-up occurs in the Close() method I guess they could regarded as interchangeable.
>MS also says that both options will return the connection to the pool (if pooling is enabled) - but here I'm a little confused. I've read that Dispose(), unlike Close(), will clear the connection string. If that is true and it is also returned to the pool I don't see how it will ever be re-used since it won't match any subsequent request for a connection.
>
>Maybe what I read about the connection string being cleared was wrong - I haven't verified it ......

I've also read conflicting information about what I bolded above, so I'm not sure which is actually correct either. But, the docs *do* say that both Close() and Dispose() return the connection to the Pool ... but documentation can be wrong. I wish I knew for sure ...

~~Bonnie