What are the limitations to SQL Server Compact? (Or - how does one choose a database to use on MS platforms?)

Question

The application I want to build using MS Visual C# Express (I\'m willing to upgrade to Standard if that becomes required) that needs a database.

I was all psyched ab

Answer 1

ntext supports very large text data (see MSDN - this is for Compact 4.0, but the same applies to 3.5 for the data types you are mentioning).

int is a numeric data type, so the size of 4 means 4 bytes/32 bits of storage (–2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647). If you intend to store 11 bytes of data in a single column, use the varbinary type with a size of 11.

Automatically incrementing columns in the SQL Server world are done using the IDENTITY keyword. This causes the value of the column to be automatically determined by SQL Server when inserting data into a row, preventing collisions with any other rows.

You can also set a password or encrypt the database when creating it in SQL Compact to prevent users from directly accessing your application. See Securing Databases on MSDN.

All of the items you mention above are not really limitations, so much as they are understanding how to use SQL Server.

Having said that, there are some limitations to SQL Compact.

• No support for NVARCHAR(MAX)
  • NTEXT works just fine for this
• No support for VIEWs or PROCEDUREs
  • This is what I see as the primary limitation