Is it safe to use Microsoft Application blocks?

[bhardwaj_kamal]

Microsoft has provided application blocks for various application needs for e.g., Data Access block, Exception handling block etc. Since I'm new to VB.NET I'm not very sure about the pros and cons of using these blocks in my app. I'm using a typical 3-tier logical architecture for my app (Presentation, Business logic and Data access layer) and SQL Server 2000 as my db server.

I seek the advice of masters on this subject. I need the pros and cons of using these blocks. If any body has a better idea say for database connectivity and exception handling, then please come forward with your ideas.

[JoshuaColeman]

When it comes to exception handling, try/catch always works quite fine for me.

[coolbiz]

Well, the blocks are there as helper functions. So if you do not want to spend time in re-creating database connection functionalities, you can just import the DATA block and use it.

I sometimes refer to the source code for the blocks to see how MS engineers/programmers do it and use it as an example.

As far as safe goes, well read the EULA and see if you can handle it Worst come to worst, you can get the source code and compile it yourself.

[bhardwaj_kamal]

Thanx for all your valuable comments!