At last night’s BAADD .NET Developer User Group meeting, I presented on Getting Started with SQL Compact Edition. The content for the presentation was based on knowledge that we have evolved from working with the technology over the last year plus how we leveraged it during our most recent Agile Enterprise JumpStart project. We built a foundation architecture for a rewrite of a commercial desktop application for one of our customers which required both a local disconnected database and an n-tier data services layer.
As usual, at the start of the meeting, we asked the attendees what was the one thing they hoped to get out of the presentation. While a number of people had some specific interest in performance or replication considerations, it was clear that the primary motivation for the 35 people in the room was a lack of understanding about the product.
One of the most common issues was the confusion about the versions that have appeared over the years, and a lack of clarity regarding which was the most current version, and what was its relationship to the current versions of both SQL Server and Visual Studio.
As this was exactly one the issues that I had dealt with when I first started working with the technology, I had devoted one of the slides (you can get them here) to listing the different versions that have appeared since its release in 2000 as SQL CE 1.0 so I thought I would post the information here:
○ 2000 – SQL Server CE 1.0
○ 2003 – SQL Server CE 2.0
○ 2005 – SQL Server Mobile 3.0
○ 2006 – Beta known as SQL Server Everywhere Edition
○ 2007 – SQL Server Compact Edition 3.1
○ 2008 – SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 SP1
So…to answer the question - the current version is 3.5 SP1 as of this writing, and is available for download at the Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 homepage.
An important point I raised was to be cautious when researching SQL CE on the web. You will want to pay close attention to the version associated with the content that you find in your searches. You will no doubt find content that appears to be related to your search, but you may not realize that the context is for a version not matching the one you are working with.
As we continue to work with SQL CE, I intend to BLOG on additional content. I have also started a discussion thread on the BAADD SF .NET LinkedIn Group, so please feel free to join in there or leave comments here.
Tags: .NET, development, SQL Server
Don,
I think it would be helpful if you augmented this with information with an explaination of how to find out what version you currently have installed.
For example, I am trying to run some sample code which tells me I need SQL v655 and that my installed version is SQL v612. I installed the SQL CE 3.5 SP1 and still got the same message.
I found this post helpful: http://conceptdev.blogspot.com/2009/04/mdf-cannot-be-opened-because-it-is.html
In the end, I found that the original MDF file was from SQL Server 2008 and I’m running 2005. I found a script to recreate the MDF file on my 2005 server but it was all very confusing because the error messages were written by idiots. It always amazes me to think that when reporting errors developers give the literal explanation of the error at times when they’ve got the exact cause in hand. Tell me BOTH!
Thanks, Scott