SQL Server 2008 compatibility with SQL Server 2005

Question

What is the best way to use SQL Server 2008 as a development database, but ensure that the database is compatible with SQL Server 2005?

Answer 1

You can set the database compatibility level, but there is no guarantee that this will cover all your bases. For example the new data types will be available on the SQL 2008 system, but they won't be available on the SQL 2005 server.

The only way to guarantee that everything will work from Dev to Prod is to put SQL 2005 in development.