Question

I am developing C# windows application first time.

Que 1 – ) I have developed my windows application which uses SQL server 2008 using below connection string..

Data Source=myMachineName;Initial Catalog=myDataBase;User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;

But When I created setup of my application and installed it to another computer then it is throwing error of could not establish connection with SQL server..

I guess this error is because of my connection string as it is specific to my computer and installing it to another computer will not work..

Hence How can I make my connection string which will work with any computer..

Que 2 – Do I need to attach schema file with my setup as How my database will be created into the other computers??

This might be silly qustion but as I am doing this first time , i dont know about this all.

Regards,
Mahesh

Answer 1

If you’ve used SQL Server on your development machine, it has to be installed on every computer that will be using your app. There are several options to resolve this issue:

If your app doesn’t need access to a central sql server (for example your app just keeps track of users DVDs), use SQL Server Compact Edition instead and embed it to your app

If your app needs some kind of a centralized data, get a dedicated SQL server first, install there everything you need and in your app change your current myServerAddress to the address of the server. Note that the server needs to be accessible from remote locations (some restrict access to localhost!).

Que 2 – Do I need to attach schema file with my setup as How my
database will be created into the other computers??

Again, multiple options. For instance, you can export your database to a .sql file (Right click on the db in your DB explorer and select option Publish to provider) and then import it using a sql manager on other computers. Or maybe you can create a .cs installation script, that will do the same job using C# code.

Edit based on OP’s comments:

Example links for solutions:

question1: Embedding SQLServer CE in an installer
question2: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307283

Okay that’s fine but will my current Connection string work in that case as the DataSource
is my specific machine name

Of course not, you’d have to change it to point to the SQL Server CE database file. Probably the best way is to not hardcode it, but use a relative path to the database. It looks like this for instance:

Data Source=|DataDirectory|\MyDb.sdf, where |DataDirectory| points to the App_Data folder of your application.

Also plese see the error screen map i have attach with the question..

Your error is quite clear – there was a problem establishing a connection to your database. It either doesn’t exist or isn’t accessible from your current machine.