I am trying to show the table data of a table in a SQL CE database through Visual Studio and for some reason I’m getting the following error.
Now, here is a brief recent history of this machine and I’ll give it as best I can. Most recently I repaired the Visual Studio SP1 installation in hopes that it would fix this problem. Prior to that I installed SQL 2012 due to a requirement surrounding integration tests so I now have SQL 2008 and SQL 2012 installed on this box. Some other items of interest might be that I have LightSwitch installed and I had at one time installed Visual Studio 2012 RC – but have since uninstalled it.
I’m hoping that I can just repair something and get it working 🙂
I look forward to your responses.

Apparently a number of things could have caused this – but in my case I believe it was installing SQL Server 2012 on my box. Follow these steps and you’ll be good to go if you’re getting this error.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Visual Database Tools.dsref80.dlltodsref80.dll.old.And boom! It’s fixed.
Word to the wise – consider just using virtual machines – period. Different types of projects require different types of installations which always step on each other – it’s just safer to use virtual machines for every possible configuration these days it seems.
In short, because of the complexities of todays software requirements, just build yourself a local development network out of virtual machines and turn your box into a host.