I'm new to visual stuido and having trouble with the data sources that are created using the wizards. The wizards and data binding work great but what I'm not sure about it is how to have my app programatically select a sql server db when it's finished and rolled out to other systems? Do I affect the connection strings in application settings (app.config) programatically? Or is there just some really simple answer I'm missing?

I think you will have to change the app.config manually once you roll it out.

Jim

Create a connection at runtime. I think you may have to change the connection string.
You can also create a DSN through your application.
Check your connection at run time

        Dim strCON As String = "<Connection String>"
        Dim strQuery As String = "Select * from TBL"
        Dim DA As SqlDataAdapter = Nothing
        Dim DS As DataSet = Nothing
        Try
            Dim CON As New SqlConnection(strCON)
            DA = New SqlDataAdapter(strQuery, CON)
            DS = New DataSet
            DA.Fill(DS, "TBL")
            CON.Close()
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox("Error")
            Me.Close()
            Return
        End Try
        DataGrid1.DataSource = DS.Tables("TBL")