Hi, Steven-

Me, again. <s>

>The connection here just takes a few seconds usually. Sometimes even less. I have created app both ways, I was just wandering what if any is the standard practice.

Cris points out his proclivity to stateless environments, which is my case, also. Hence my recommendation. IMO, it violates encapsulation for a code to rely on a connection being open. Of course, you'd want to check, first, and not just assume. However, if your opening is so fast, I think it's tidier to keep the tasks all together (open connection, do something, close connection). JMO.