Closing an SqlConnection

Question

I don't know whether this function should (or could) be described as an 'optimized method'
Anyhow, need some advices regarding on how to close an SqlConnection without wasting too much resources

public object MethodName(){
    object retVal=new object();
   string sql="";
   SqlConnection sConn=new SqlConnection();
   SqlCommand sCmd=new SqlCommand();
   try{
       using (sConn=new SqlConnection(CONNECTION_STRING)){
           sql="SELECT * FROM [TABLE_NAME]";
           sCmd=new SqlCommand(sql, sConn);
           sConn.Open();
           try{
               retVal=sCmd.ExecuteScalar();
           }
           catch{
           }
       }
       return retVal;
   }
   catch{
       throw;
   }
   finally{
       if (sConn!=null)
           sConn.Close();
   }
}

Do I really have to put the code within the 'finally' scope?
My intention was to close the connection if there's any exception been thrown
Any advices/comments would be highly regarded

Dy Oswald · Answer

@Scott Lysle and Josip Majic: Thanks for your advices/comments Anyway I found a nice article about this topic Badillos' blog about connection pool http://blogs.msdn.com/angelsb/archive/2004/08/25/220333.aspx In case you're interested

Josip Majic · Answer

You can wrap up the SQLCommand object in a using statement too so no cleanup is needed. Also put the try around everything so you catch any potential connectivity errors: try { using ( SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection ( Connections .SQLDataConnection)) { // Open connection conn.Open(); // New command using ( SqlCommand cmd = conn.CreateCommand()) { cmd.CommandType = CommandType .Text; cmd.CommandText = SELECT * FROM [TABLE_NAME] ; // Execute return cmd.ExecuteScalar(); } } } catch ( Exception ex) { // Rethrow throw new Exception ( Unhandled error.  ex); }

Scott Lysle · Answer

You are fine with the using statement; it will dispose of it when it goes out of scope.