How can I deploy a windows form application with sql server database. I've searched a lot, The problem is I want the actual .mdf file when the application got installed on a PC for backup purposes. When I tried the publish feature, it converts the .mdf file into .mdf.deploy. I don't want to attach it into Sql Server Management Studio. I want to publish it with the actual application as .mdf, Kindly guide me in right direction. Thanks
If you nose around on the MS SQL Server site, you find that you can include a 'silent installer' for SQL Server in your .NET project. This will download and install an instance of SQL Server Express as part of your installation process. Just having the .MDF in a folder is useless.
In effect, you have to make at least a few items of functionality that stand in for SSMS: in particular database backups, database compaction, DBCC CHECKDB, etc. You are installing a 'full blown' SQL server instance, with it's separate windows service and system account, so you should be aware of how that impacts your user machine. This gets interesting if it's being deployed to a laptop, particularly a laptop that might sit in a café exposing ports to public LANs.
In general this is a can of worms. It is better to mandate the installation of SQL Server Express first, with SSMS, and merely attach your database to the existing instance. This makes a lot of other operations better behaved.
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I have a desktop app developed in C# with SQL Server and I want to deploy the app on client Machine.
How to compile the app into setup files?
I have SQL Server Express installed on client machine.
When you compile the app you will need to have the connection string to the database that exist on the client machine. Also ensure the correct tables and what not are in there too. You can compile the app for release by right clicking the solution and then clicking publish. You can then publish a release version for production that can be used on client machines.
You will have to do this for every client machine.
Some options to make this easier might be as follows:
Create a shared instance of SQL Server that all clients can connect to
Use a nosql solution like litedb or something else.
Store the data locally in another fashion.
Hope this helps! Leave comments if you are confused on anything.
I have created a Windows Forms desktop application using Visual Studio 2019. I also created a database using SQL Server Management Studio. I connected the database with my application with connection string
"Data Source=CYBERCELL\\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=Details;Integrated Security=True;"
The application is running without any error. I published this application using Visual Studio 2019 publish wizard and installed in another computer. But I can't understand how to use and connect the database with the application in that system.
I am looking to install SQL Server in every computer. But if I install SQL Server, the server name will be different.
If you're locally installing SQL Server Express on each individual computer, you could use
.\SQLEXPRESS
or
(local)\SQLEXPRESS
as your server/instance name - this is the same on every computer. The dot . or (local) (in parenthesis) refers to the local computer, and SQLEXPRESS is the default instance name for any SQL Server Express installation.
I once stuck with this same scenario... and this is how I solved the problem,
You don't have to install SSMS or SQL server on any of your client's pc, if you follow these steps
You have to create a localDB on your application and make sure the application will connect to that localDB.(if you don't know how to connect to local db, here => Connect to LocalDB. And make sure to create tables and procedures as same as your previous database.
Follow this answer(ticked) with code(connection string)
After this, you have to install Advanced Installer to create an installer for your application (the best choice I ever chose).
Then Follow this to create an installer where you make sure to add a prerequisite of localDB (say localdb 2019) installer of your current version.
This makes your application run on any pc and only requires localdb as a prerequisite to be installed which also comes with the installer.
Make sure to leave a message not to delete localdb on the application installed location.
I'm trying to learn how to create a simple application using Visual Studio IDE in C#.
I wrote a little application that uses a local SQL Server database for reading and storing data. On my machine, the program seems to work normally, but when trying to install the application on client computer it seems unable to read from the database.
I've tried to include the following prerequisites to the publish properties but it doesn't work:
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2
SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB
Any ideas about the right way to do it?
Thanks to all.
You need to install SQL Server Express LocalDB (SqlLocalDB.MSI) on the computer you are deploying your ClickOnce application to.
Selecting "SQL Server Express LocalDB" in the Prerequisites window and using "Download prerequisites from the component vendor's web site" should take care of that:
If you do that it should install the LocalDB for you and any database errors are more than likely resulting from connection string errors or leaving Integrated Security enabled.
You need to test on a target computer which does not have "SQL Server Express LocalDB" installed and verify that after the ClickOnce deployment it is installed. This will confirm that the problem is not the missing prerequisites but the database access issues...
I wanted to create a desktop application with database, am using Visual Studio 2013 and C# , Can anybody suggest me what server I used to create my database, in order to run my application in my client's system locally with out installing any database server in client's system [ie, with out installing MsSql server or MySql server or Acess], I want my app works properly when installing my own application's exe file ?
And Now am using MSSQL server with my application , Is there any way run this application in client's system locally with out installing MSSQL Server? [my application front end works when I install .Net FrameWork 4.5 , I need something like this for my .mdf databse in Sql Server]
somebody says about SQL Server Compact ,but i don't know how to use it
You can use SQL Server Compact, which can either be installed separately or deployed as part of your application.
See here: How to deploy SQL Server Compact Edition 4.0?
And here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa983326(v=vs.110).aspx
Your DB code in your app - apart from your connection string - should not need to change as you're already using some version of SQL Server.
There is also SQLite, which is as far as I know is well regarded, but I know very little about it. http://www.sqlite.org/
Hope that helps!
It is not unusual for an application to require an existing functional database server. Of course this is appropriate only if your target audience is technical enough to install the prerequisite on their own, or if the target environment is guaranteed to already meet your prerequisite.
If not, you need to fall back to an embedded database.
I'm using Visual Studio 2005. I create a project, not Web Project, just Windows application.
I remember that Access Database File can be added into a project. I don't need connection to server, data can be retrieved. And I want to do the same thing with SQL Database file.
I did the following steps:
Right-click on project.
Choose Add An Existing Item
Browse for *.mdf file.
DataSource Config Wizard appears and it displays this Message
An error occurred while retrieving the information from the database:
Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure int starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed.
I need help to add mdf file into my project.
To start with, and MDF file can be read only by an instance of SQL Server. If you deploy MDFs, then your application must either connect to a SQL Server provided by your end-user during setup, or it must deploy its own instance, in the later case a SQL Server Express Edition instance. See How to: Install SQL Server Express. With Visual Studio 2008 you can add a prerequisite to your own application setup MSI, see "Installing" the SQL Server 2008 Express ClickOnce Bootstrapper for Visual Studio 2008 SP1.
A second issue is that, despite the wide belief of the contrary, distributing the MDF alone without the LDF can land you into a world of pain. You can end up distributing an inconsistent MDF that needs the LDF to finish recovery and get into a consistent state.
But a more serious issue is your plan to deploy binaries (MDFs) instead of scripts for database deployment. This is doomed to fail. As soon as you'll plan to release v. 1.1 of your application you'll face the non-trivial problem of how to replace the user MDF (which now contains data added by the user) with your new MDF. This is why is much much better to deploy upgrade scripts always, and forget about the MDF in your project.
You can read from an Access file (*.mdb) in your app without any other requirements because the core Jet engine used by Access is included as part of Windows — it's built in. Sql Server is not included as part of Windows, and so you cannot use an *.mdf file in your app unless Sql Server has been installed and you have appropriate permissions for it.
It is possible to distribute either Sql Server Express Edition or Sql Server Compact Edition (recommended) with your app. Another option is SqlLite, which has a fully-managed database engine available.
An .MDF is a sql server DB, not MS Access. MS access is .MDB. You cannot read an .MDF on its own. It needs a log file (.LDF) as well. If you attach it to your local instance, it will create a new one for you. You can then connect to that DB.
To solve deployement problem (Updated version of your .mdf file and Code), you can have a utility in your application which can create .xls file of every table(Backup your database) which you used in your application. Now you can easly import those .xls file in SQL Server and create new version of .mdf file and attach same file in latest code.Now new release of your app ready to deploye..!