Connect VB Net to Xampp SQL server

So I've had no problems programming with vb net and connecting to Access databases. But now I've installed the Xampp package with Apache and the works. I have a host name connected to my ip using noip.com. The address is mtsonline.no-ip-org So of course if I enter that into any browser right now on any computer it connects to my apache webserver. Now what I want to do is using vb net to access the mysql database I've created located under xampp\mysql\data\mtsonline where mtsonline is the database folder I created.

Basically I just need to get the connection going.. Once I get that, the rest will be fine for me to accomplish. So here's what I have:

Imports System.Data.Sql
Imports System.Data.SqlClient


Public Class SQLControl
Public SQLCon As New SqlConnection With {.ConnectionString = "Server=mtsonline.no-ip.org;Database=mtsonline;User ID=admin;password=admin;"}

Public SqlCmd As SqlCommand

Public Function HasConnection() As Boolean
Try
SQLCon.Open()

SQLCon.Close()
Return True
Catch ex As Exception
MsgBox(ex.Message)
Return False
End Try
End Function
End Class[/CODE][/CODE]

Then just on my form Load event:

If SQL.HasConnection = True Then
MsgBox("Successfully connected")
End If

Of course at this point it returns an error saying it could not establish a connection. Any help would be greatly appreciated.