SQL Server CE and Visual Studio 2013

Question

So we now know that SQL Server CE is no longer supported with Visual Studio 2013. We can get some access to it via the SQL Server CE Toolbox add-in, but this does not fix the fact that a data provider is not included and thus we can no longer use SQL Server CE with Entity Framework etc.

I haven't yet found an explanation from MS as to why this is now missing, but I've accepted it for now and am looking for ways to move on.

My question is - what is the best migration path for this? I've been using data-first Entity Framework with SQL Server CE, and deploying small websites that use a small .sdf file for the database, and updates are simple to deploy - just copy the file over. SQL Server Express won't work this way. For desktop/WPF/winforms apps I imagine this is even more confusing, as the in-process SQL Server CE database was a great fit for small desktop applications.

Answer 1

You can use Database First with the Toolbox in VS 2013, not sure what you are missing? Just right click the database file, and select Create Entity Data Model in current Project. See my blog post here for screenshots: http://erikej.blogspot.dk/2013/10/sql-server-compact-toolbox-36visual.html PS: I am the developer of the Toolbox, let me know what else you are missing.

Answer 2

If you are using Entity Framework 6, then install the NuGet package
"EntityFramework.SqlServerCompact".

After installing this, my standard MVC5 application created a .sdf database file in the App_Data folder, and inserted my registration data in the new ASPNET Identity tables.