DB Connection In A Script Transformation

Hi all, I have what will probably turn out to be a very simple issue but has eluded me for a few hours. I have a Script Transformation that I am using to create surrogate keys I have to seed the key from the db and the best solution I have come up with is to use the Script Transformation. Here is what I have





Imports System.Data.SqlClient


Public Class ScriptMain
    Inherits UserComponent
    Dim max As Integer
    Dim connMgr As IDTSConnectionManager90
    Dim sqlConn As SqlConnection
    Dim sqlReader As SqlDataReader

   

    Public Overrides Sub Input0_ProcessInputRow(ByVal Row As Input0Buffer)
        max = max + 1
        Row.BonusId = max
    End Sub

    Public Sub New()
        max = 0
        connMgr = Me.Connections.Connection
        sqlConn = CType(connMgr.AcquireConnection(Nothing), SqlConnection)
        Dim cmd As New System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand("select max(bonusid)as max from pnt_bonus", sqlConn)
        sqlReader = cmd.ExecuteReader

        sqlReader.Read()
        max = sqlReader.GetInt32(0)
        sqlReader.Close()
        connMgr.ReleaseConnection(sqlConn)

    End Sub
End Class




But I keep getting this error and can not figure out what I did wrong





Error 1 Validation error. Pnt_BonusGrant: Script Component [2094]: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.     at ScriptComponent_72b9559a12514bab836d9b5da9922bce.Connections.get_Connection() in dts://Scripts/ScriptComponent_72b9559a12514bab836d9b5da9922bce/ComponentWrapper:line 50     at ScriptComponent_72b9559a12514bab836d9b5da9922bce.ScriptMain..ctor() in dts://Scripts/ScriptComponent_72b9559a12514bab836d9b5da9922bce/ScriptMain:line 24     --- End of inner exception stack trace ---     at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandle& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)     at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean fillCache)     at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean fillCache)     at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)     at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes)     at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, BindingFlags bindingAttr, Binder binder, Object[] args, CultureInfo culture, Object[] activationAttributes)     at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.ScriptComponentHost.CreateUserComponent() Package.dtsx 0 0