INTRODUCTION
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition (SQL Server Everywhere) is the rebranding of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition (SQL Server Mobile) 3.0 without the desktop restriction. SQL Server Mobile 3.0 was released in 2005 with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005. SQL Server Mobile 3.0 is supported on devices and Tablet PCs and is partially supported on desktop computers. On desktop computers, either Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server 2005 had to be installed to use SQL Server Mobile 3.0. With SQL Server Everywhere, this restriction has been removed. In SQL Server Everywhere, users can develop and deploy applications independent of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005.
The SQL Server Everywhere Community Technology Preview (CTP) was released on June 12, 2006. The Release to Web (RTW) version of SQL Server Everywhere will be released in September 2006. The SQL Server Everywhere CTP is only available in English. The RTW version will contain the localized version of SQL Server Everywhere. SQL Server Everywhere will also be included with Visual Studio and SQL Server in future service pack releases. Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2) will also install SQL Server Everywhere. These service packs will be released in the later part of 2006. The following are the high-level highlights for SQL Server Everywhere serviceability:
- SQL Server Everywhere is available on the Web and can be downloaded and installed. The SQL Server Everywhere CTP will have runtime only.
- SQL Server Everywhere will be installed as part of the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 installation.
- SQL Server Everywhere will be installed as part of the SQL Server 2005 SP2 installation.
MORE INFORMATION
Download the SQL Server Everywhere CTP
To download the SQL Server Everywhere CTP, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
The SQL Server Everywhere CTP runtime binary will include the following DLLs:
- Sqlceca30.dll
- Sqlcecompact30.dll
- Sqlceer30en.dll
- Sqlceme30.dll
- Sqlceoledb30.dll
- Sqlceqp30.dll
- Sqlcese30.dll
- System.Data.SqlServerCe.dll
The Microsoft Windows Installer package for SQL Server Everywhere (SQLServerEv31-EN.msi) will be available on the Web. The Windows Installer package will always be installed in a fixed location to handle future serviceability of SQL Server Everywhere. When you install SQL Server Everywhere, the provider (System.Data.SqlServerCe.dll) is installed in the global assembly cache (GAC), and the OLE DB provider (sqlceoledb30.dll) is registered.
To register the OLE DB provider, you must have Administrator permissions. Therefore, you cannot install SQL Server Everywhere unless you have Administrator permissions.
The Windows Installer package installs these binaries in the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server Everywhere\v3.1 folder. After you have installed the SQL Server Everywhere CTP, an entry is added in Add or Remove Programs as
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition CTP.
Side-by-side installation together with Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server 2005
SQL Server Mobile 3.0 requires Visual Studio 2005 or SQL Server 2005 to be installed on the computer. However, SQL Server Everywhere does not have this requirement. Therefore, users can develop and deploy SQL Server Everywhere applications without having SQL Server 2005 or Visual Studio 2005 installed. However, this change may cause some behavior changes on a computer that has SQL Server Everywhere installed together with Visual Studio 2005 or with SQL Server 2005. Users will experience the following behavior in a side-by-side installation together with Visual Studio 2005 or with SQL Server 2005.
Visual Studio 2005 behavior
Visual Studio 2005 together with SQL Server Everywhere
- Management dialog boxes in Visual Studio 2005 will still display SQL Server Mobile 3.0 related elements.
- Visual Studio 2005 will start by using the SQL Server Everywhere runtime. This behavior occurs because SQL Server Everywhere installs the provider in the global assembly cache. The SQL Server Mobile 3.0 runtime is present in the Visual Studio 2005 installation location. However, the global assembly cache takes precedence over the SQL Server Mobile 3.0 runtime. Therefore, Visual Studio 2005 will always use the SQL Server Everywhere runtime at startup.
Visual Studio 2005 SP1 together with SQL Server Everywhere
- The user interface (UI) will start to display SQL Server Everywhere related elements.
- Visual Studio 2005 SP1 will use the SQL Server Everywhere runtime as mentioned earlier.
SQL Server 2005 behavior
SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2005 SP1 together with SQL Server Everywhere
- All UIs will still display SQL Server Mobile 3.0 related elements.
- SQL Server 2005 will start by using the SQL Server Everywhere runtime as mentioned earlier.
SQL Server 2005 SP2 together with SQL Server Everywhere
- The SQL Server 2005 SP2 UI will start to display SQL Server Everywhere related elements.
- SQL Server 2005 SP2 will use the SQL Server Everywhere runtime as mentioned earlier.
New features
SQL Server Everywhere includes some features that were not included with SQL Server Mobile 3.0. These features include the following:
- |DataDirectory| substitution string support
- ClickOnce support
|DataDirectory| substitution string support
|DataDirectory| (enclosed in pipe symbols) is a substitution string that indicates the database path. Therefore, you do not have to hard code the full path. When you hard code the full path, you may experience problems because the full database path could be serialized in different locations. The
|DataDirectory| substitution string also makes it easy to share a project and to deploy an application.
For example, if you hard code the full path, your application may have the following connection string:
Data Source= c:\program files\MyApp\Mydb.sdf
By using the
|DataDirectory| substitution string, your application can have the following connection string:
Data Source = |DataDirectory|\Mydb.sdf
To set the
DataDirectory property, call the
AppDomain.SetData method. If you do not set the
DataDirectory property, the following default rules will be applied to access the database folder:
- For applications that are put in a folder on the user's computer, the database folder uses the application folder.
- For applications that are running under ClickOnce, the database folder uses the specific data folder that is created.
Notes- With SQL Server Everywhere CTP, the |DataDirectory| substitution string works only with the SqlCeConnection object. It will not work when the |DataDirectory| substitution string is used in the connection string property of the SqlCeEngine object, of the SqlCeReplication object, and of the SqlCeRemoteDataAccess object. The DataDirectory property for these objects will be supported in SQL Server Everywhere RTW.
- The .NET Compact Framework does not support the AppDomain.SetData method on Microsoft Windows Mobile-based devices. If an application calls the AppDomain.SetData method on a Windows Mobile-based device, you will receive an error message.
ClickOnce support
ClickOnce is a new software installation technology that is supported by SQL Server Everywhere. ClickOnce simplifies deployment of a Windows-based application to a Web server or to a network file share. Administrators can deploy or update an application by updating the files on a server. Administrators do not have to individually update every client.
Visual Studio provides full support for publishing and updating applications that are deployed by using ClickOnce. ClickOnce support is available for projects that are created by using Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Visual C#, and Microsoft Visual J#. However, ClickOnce support is not available for projects that are created by using Microsoft Visual C++.
To download ClickOnce support, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
Then download the SqlEv31ClickOnce_EN.zip file that is described in the "Files in This Download" section.How to integrate ClickOnce with SQL Server EverywhereTo integrate ClickOnce with SQL Server Everywhere, follow these steps.
Note The descriptions of the files and the folders in these steps use the English version of SQL Server Everywhere. If you install another language version of SQL Server Everywhere, the locale name in the file names and in the folder names may differ. For example, the locale name may be "Zh" instead of "EN."
- Download the SqlEv31ClickOnce_EN.zip file. Put this file in the following folder:
%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages
| File name | Description |
| Product.xml | Defines the base package |
| Package.xml | Defines any localization-specific information or functionality to be added to the base package |
| Sqlev31eula-EN.txt | Contains the end user license agreement |
- Extract the files in the SqlEv31ClickOnce_EN.zip file. Put the extracted files in the appropriate folder as described in the following table.
| File name | The folder in which to put the file |
| Product.xml | %Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\SQL Server Everywhere\ |
| Package.xml | %Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\SQL Server Everywhere\en\ |
| Sqlev31eula-EN.txt | %Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\SQL Server Everywhere\en\ |
- Keep a local copy of the Windows Installer package for SQL Server Everywhere (SQLServerEv31-EN.msi). Otherwise, if the application that you built to include ClickOnce technology has SQL Server Everywhere as a prerequisite, ClickOnce will always download the SQLServerEv31-EN.msi file from the Microsoft
Download Center during the installation process.
To keep a local copy of the Windows Installer package for SQL Server Everywhere, copy the SQLServerEv31-EN.msi file to the following folder: %Program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages\SQL Server Everywhere\en