Question

I have a website project (C#/ASP.NET) opened in Visual Studio 11 (beta) which works with the built-in SQL Server Compact Edition. But, I would rather use my SQL Server 2012 which is installed on this machine, and I have my tables already created in it.

Question is, how do connect to it from VS11? Do I add it in the App_Data folder where I have the Compact database?

Right now I am opening my pre-made database with the

var db = Database.Open("StarterSite");

command.

Answer 1

If you already have the database created on SQL Server 2012, then just use it!

No need to add it to your project (and most definitely don’t copy it into App_Data!).

Just create a connection string in your web.config something like:

<connectionStrings>
   <add name="YourConnectionStringNameHere"
        connectionString="server=(local);database=YourDatabase;Integrated Security=SSPI;" />
</connectionStrings>

and then use that in your app using all the normal ADO.NET components like SqlConnection or SqlCommand:

string connectionString = WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["YourConnectionStringNameHere"].ConnectionString;

using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(connectionString))
using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand("your-sql-statement-here", conn))    
{
   // do work in your database here....
}

Or use something like Entity Framework to make your life even easier!