The connection property has not been set or is null - mysql

Question

When I run this function
For RepeatBooking = 1 To 51
dateConvertedDateToBook = dateDateToBook.Date
dateDateToBook = dateDateToBook.AddDays(7)
strDateToBook = dateConvertedDateToBook.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")
Try
Dim command As MySqlCommand = New MySqlCommand
Dim sqlQuery As String = "INSERT INTO bookings SET Date=" & "'" & strDateToBook & "',RoomID='" & strComputerRoomToBook & "',Length='" & intNewBookingLength & "',Period='" & intNewStartPeriod & "',UserID='" & intid & "'"
Dim reader As MySqlDataReader
SQLConnection.Open()
command.CommandText = sqlQuery
command.Connection = SQLConnection
reader = command.ExecuteReader
SQLConnection.Close()
Catch excep As Exception
MsgBox(excep.ToString)
End Try
Next
in my program I get an error saying "The connection property has not been set or is null"
How can I get rid of this?
It goes to the exception when it gets to SQLconnection.Open()
I created the ServerString and MySQL connection at the top of the module like so:
Dim ServerString As String = "Server=localhost;User Id=root;Password=**********;Database=rooms"
Dim SQLConnection As MySqlConnection = New MySqlConnection

Answer 1

You are opening a connection without its property
It should be,
Dim SQLConnection As New MySqlConnection(ServerString)
SQLConnection.Open
Also, you may want to use the USING function so that your connection is properly closed.
It seems you are just inserting a bunch of values to your database and not retrieving anything so why do you use a DataReader?
Your code should be something like this:
Using SQLConnection = New MySqlConnection(ServerString)
SQLConnection.Open 'You should open a connection only once
For RepeatBooking = 1 To 51
dateConvertedDateToBook = dateDateToBook.Date
dateDateToBook = dateDateToBook.AddDays(7)
strDateToBook = dateConvertedDateToBook.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")
Try
Dim sqlQuery As String = "INSERT INTO bookings SET " & _
"Date='" & strDateToBook & "'," & _
"RoomID='" & strComputerRoomToBook & "', " & _
"Length='" & intNewBookingLength & "', " & _
"Period='" & intNewStartPeriod & "', " & _
"UserID='" & intid & "'"
Dim command = New MySqlCommand(sqlQuery, SQLConnection)
command.ExecuteNonQuery
Catch excep As Exception
MsgBox(excep.Message)
End Try
Next
End Using
Also, you may want to change how to pass your values into a parameter. This will prevent SQL Injection.