Best practice for creating (on demand) SQL Server 2008 Express databases in C #?

Question

The goal is to process user data (you can call it a project, document, file, or whatever) in the new SQL Server 2008 Express database. It is expected that the data will occupy much less space than the 4 GB available through the express edition (which can also be freely distributed).

For example, each time the user selects the "File-> Create" command, a new empty database is created in the specified location. On the other hand, a similar File-> Open command should provide support for retrieving a list of databases in order to select one to open.

So, the following problems should be solved: a) The application should be able to create a connection string and bind the database to SQL Server 2008 Express using code (C #) b) The application should be able to retrieve (again through the code) a list with all available databases data to give the user the opportunity to select it to open.

I think it would be useful to have a template database in resources and copy it to a user-specified location.

Do you think this is a working solution? Do you have any suggestions?

Answer 1

There you can do with Sql Server Management Objects (SMO):

// Add a reference to Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo
// Add a reference to Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo
// Add a reference to Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum

using Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Data;

public class SqlServerController
{

    private Server m_server = null;

    public SqlServerController(string server)
    {
        m_server = new Server(server);
    }

    public void AttachDatabase(string database, StringCollection files,
        AttachOptions options)
    {
        m_server.AttachDatabase(database, files, options);
    }

    public void AddBackupDevice(string name)
    {
        BackupDevice device = new BackupDevice(m_server, name);
        m_server.BackupDevices.Add(device);
    }

    public string GetServerVersion(string serverName)
    {
        return m_server.PingSqlServerVersion(serverName).ToString();
    }

    public int CountActiveConnections(string database)
    {
        return m_server.GetActiveDBConnectionCount(database);
    }

    public void DeleteDatabase(string database)
    {
        m_server.KillDatabase(database);
    }

    public void DetachDatabase(string database, bool updateStatistics, 
        bool removeFullTextIndex)
    {
        m_server.DetachDatabase(database, updateStatistics, removeFullTextIndex);
    }

    public void CreateDatabase(string database)
    {
        Database db = new Database(m_server, database);
        db.Create();
    }

    public void CreateTable(string database, string table, 
        List<Column> columnList, List<Index> indexList)
    {
        Database db = m_server.Databases[database];
        Table newTable = new Table(db, table);

        foreach (Column column in columnList)
            newTable.Columns.Add(column);

        if (indexList != null)
        {
            foreach (Index index in indexList)
                newTable.Indexes.Add(index);
        }

        newTable.Create();

    }

    public Column CreateColumn(string name, DataType type, string @default,
        bool isIdentity, bool nullable)
    {
        Column column = new Column();

        column.DataType = type;
        column.Default = @default;
        column.Identity = isIdentity;
        column.Nullable = nullable;

        return column;
    }

    public Index CreateIndex(string name, bool isClustered, IndexKeyType type,
      string[] columnNameList)
    {

        Index index = new Index();

        index.Name = name;
        index.IndexKeyType = type;
        index.IsClustered = isClustered;

        foreach (string columnName in columnNameList)
            index.IndexedColumns.Add(new IndexedColumn(index, columnName));

        return index;
    }

}

Answer 2

SQLite, SQL Express. ADO.NET, . SQLite - , . , .

Answer 3

, . , SQL- Express . , . , : Sql Server Compact Edition, Sqlite ( ) Access.

Answer 4

, SQL Server Express 2008 (sqllite, , ), , - .

Answer 5

, SQL Server:

SQL Server Express
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165673.aspx

, : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190794.aspx

http://www.databasejournal.com/features/mssql/article.php/2224361/Attaching-and-Detaching-Databases-on-SQL-Server.htm

Answer 6

For the next connection string for SQL Server 2008 R2.

   <connectionstring>Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=MyDatabase;Integrated Security=True;Pooling=True</connectionstring>

You can do

  var connectionString = new SqlConnectionStringBuilder(connectionString);

  var serverConnection = new ServerConnection("DatabaseInstanceName in server");

  var serverInstance = new Server(serverConnection);

  if (serverInstance.Databases.Contains(connectionString.InitialCatalog))
      serverInstance.KillDatabase(connectionString.InitialCatalog);

  var db = new Database(serverInstance, connectionString.InitialCatalog);

  try
  {
     db.Create();
  }
  catch (SqlException ex)
  {
     throw;
  }

Thanks to Mr. Harvey for pointing right. Although in my case I have to make these small changes. Because I use Windows authentication.