SQLite 1.0.82.0 (latest) in Visual Studio 2012 not showing in Designer Data Source

Question

I am using the latest version, 1.0.82.0 (sqlite-netFx40-setup-bundle-x86-2010-1.0.82.0.exe), and am using the released version of Visual Studio 2012 with all the latest everything.

I do not see the SQLite in the Designer Data Source in Source Explorer (new Connections).

The download on SQLite states, "This setup package is capable of installing the design-time components for Visual Studio 2010". I presume the "Visual Studio 2010" part is why I do not see the designer in VS2012, which is what I have.

How can I get the designer to work with VS2012?

When will the System.Data.SQLite.org team come out with a version that works with VS 2012?

(I did see a couple of posts back in July which talked about 1.0.66 and 1.0.73, but that was then and 1.0.82 includes the designers just for VS 2010 apparently. I see other file names with "-2008" presumably for Visual Studio 2008. That means that a Visual Studio 2012 will probably come, but in the mean time, I am curious about a manual registry hack or something like that.)

Answer 1

In order to get designer support for SQLite in Visual Studio, you have to download a very specific version of System.Data.SQLite. The downloads page has an astonishing 56 different possibilities, so it's easy to get the wrong one.

Look for the big bold text that says this:

This setup package is capable of installing the design-time components for Visual Studio 2012.

But it's still easy to miss among the zillions of downloads. If you need to, use Control-F to find the "Visual Studio 2012" text.

Don't download the 64-bit version, even if you're on a 64-bit machine. You need the 32-bit version with the text above to get designer support.