'  This function takes arguments for 2 connection strings and commands to create a transaction 
'  involving two SQL Servers. It returns a value > 0 if the transaction is committed, 0 if the 
'  transaction is rolled back. To test this code, you can connect to two different databases 
'  on the same server by altering the connection string, or to another 3rd party RDBMS  
'  by altering the code in the connection2 code block.
Public Function CreateTransactionScope( _
  ByVal connectString1 As String, ByVal connectString2 As String, _
  ByVal commandText1 As String, ByVal commandText2 As String) As Integer

    ' Initialize the return value to zero and create a StringWriter to display results.
    Dim returnValue As Integer = 0
    Dim writer As System.IO.StringWriter = New System.IO.StringWriter

    Try
    ' Create the TransactionScope to execute the commands, guaranteeing
    '  that both commands can commit or roll back as a single unit of work.
        Using scope As New TransactionScope()
            Using connection1 As New SqlConnection(connectString1)
                ' Opening the connection automatically enlists it in the 
                ' TransactionScope as a lightweight transaction.
                connection1.Open()

                ' Create the SqlCommand object and execute the first command.
                Dim command1 As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand(commandText1, connection1)
                returnValue = command1.ExecuteNonQuery()
                writer.WriteLine("Rows to be affected by command1: {0}", returnValue)

                ' If you get here, this means that command1 succeeded. By nesting
                ' the using block for connection2 inside that of connection1, you
                ' conserve server and network resources as connection2 is opened
                ' only when there is a chance that the transaction can commit.   
                Using connection2 As New SqlConnection(connectString2)
                    ' The transaction is escalated to a full distributed
                    ' transaction when connection2 is opened.
                    connection2.Open()

                    ' Execute the second command in the second database.
                    returnValue = 0
                    Dim command2 As SqlCommand = New SqlCommand(commandText2, connection2)
                    returnValue = command2.ExecuteNonQuery()
                    writer.WriteLine("Rows to be affected by command2: {0}", returnValue)
                End Using
            End Using

        ' The Complete method commits the transaction. If an exception has been thrown,
        ' Complete is called and the transaction is rolled back.
        scope.Complete()
        End Using
    Catch ex As TransactionAbortedException
        writer.WriteLine("TransactionAbortedException Message: {0}", ex.Message)
    End Try

    ' Display messages.
    Console.WriteLine(writer.ToString())

    Return returnValue
End Function