ADO.NET: Does ExecuteScalar close the connection automatically?

Question

Does ExecuteScalar close the connection automatically?

Answer 1

No, you need to explicitly open and close the connection when using ExecuteScalar().

Answer 2

You could create an overload using an extension method though I'm not sure if it's a good idea.

public static object ExecuteScalar(this IDbCommand Command, bool CloseConnetion)
{

    (if Command == null)
        throw new NullReferenceException();

    object obj = null;

    try
    {
      obj = Command.ExecuteScalar();        
    }
    finally
    {
      if(CloseConnection && Command.Connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed)
        Command.Connection.Close();    
    }

    return obj;
}

Answer 3

That depends.
One can write an implementation of IDbCommand that will close the connection.
But as far as I know the provided implementations does not close the connection.