Add *.mdf file to C# Project

Question

I\'m using Visual Studio 2005. I create a project, not Web Project, just Windows application.

I remember that Access Database File can be added into a project. I don

Answer 1

To start with, and MDF file can be read only by an instance of SQL Server. If you deploy MDFs, then your application must either connect to a SQL Server provided by your end-user during setup, or it must deploy its own instance, in the later case a SQL Server Express Edition instance. See How to: Install SQL Server Express. With Visual Studio 2008 you can add a prerequisite to your own application setup MSI, see "Installing" the SQL Server 2008 Express ClickOnce Bootstrapper for Visual Studio 2008 SP1.

A second issue is that, despite the wide belief of the contrary, distributing the MDF alone without the LDF can land you into a world of pain. You can end up distributing an inconsistent MDF that needs the LDF to finish recovery and get into a consistent state.

But a more serious issue is your plan to deploy binaries (MDFs) instead of scripts for database deployment. This is doomed to fail. As soon as you'll plan to release v. 1.1 of your application you'll face the non-trivial problem of how to replace the user MDF (which now contains data added by the user) with your new MDF. This is why is much much better to deploy upgrade scripts always, and forget about the MDF in your project.

Answer 2

An .MDF is a sql server DB, not MS Access. MS access is .MDB. You cannot read an .MDF on its own. It needs a log file (.LDF) as well. If you attach it to your local instance, it will create a new one for you. You can then connect to that DB.

Answer 3

To solve deployement problem (Updated version of your .mdf file and Code), you can have a utility in your application which can create .xls file of every table(Backup your database) which you used in your application. Now you can easly import those .xls file in SQL Server and create new version of .mdf file and attach same file in latest code.Now new release of your app ready to deploye..!

Answer 4

You can read from an Access file (*.mdb) in your app without any other requirements because the core Jet engine used by Access is included as part of Windows — it's built in. Sql Server is not included as part of Windows, and so you cannot use an *.mdf file in your app unless Sql Server has been installed and you have appropriate permissions for it.

It is possible to distribute either Sql Server Express Edition or Sql Server Compact Edition (recommended) with your app. Another option is SqlLite, which has a fully-managed database engine available.