Imports MySql.Data.MySqlClient
Public Class Form1

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
        Dim Pass As String = "DBpass"
        Dim DB As String = "DBname"
        Dim connStr As String = String.Format("host=localhost;user id=root; password={0}; database={1}; port=3306; connect timeout=10; compress=false; logging=false; pooling=false; Allow Zero Datetime=false; charset=utf8; persist security info=true; Use Performance Monitor=false;", Pass, DB)
        Dim Conn As New MySqlConnection(connStr)
        Conn.Open()

        MySqlHelper.ExecuteNonQuery(Conn, "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS eurotest; CREATE TABLE eurotest ( " & _
                                    "id INT(10) NOT NULL, " & _
                                    "test1 TEXT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT '', " & _
                                    "test2 TEXT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT  '', " & _
                                    "PRIMARY KEY(id) " & _
                                    ") ENGINE = INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;")

        MySqlHelper.ExecuteNonQuery(Conn, "INSERT INTO eurotest VALUES (1,'" & Chr(128) & "','" & Chr(128) & "')")
        MySqlHelper.ExecuteNonQuery(Conn, "INSERT INTO eurotest VALUES (2,'€','€')")
        Dim cmd As New MySqlCommand("INSERT INTO eurotest VALUES (3,?a,?b)", Conn)
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("?a", "€")
        cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("?b", "€")
        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()

        Dim DA As New MySqlDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM eurotest", Conn)
        Dim DS As New DataSet
        DA.Fill(DS)
    End Sub

End Class