CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sql-server
Bill Kary
Bill Kary

Reputation: 705

Redistributable local database for windows desktop app

I am getting a little bit confused about the difference of the followings:

  1. SQL Server Express
  2. SQL Server Compact
  3. localDB

My requirement is to develop a desktop application that will use basic RDBMS features. I need to package the application and allow the user to install a single distributed package. I don't want the user to install even SQL server express.

In this case, which DB I should use? SQLite is not considered as too much re-coding has to be done.

Thank you.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2303

Answers (1)

Nikola Radosavljević
Nikola Radosavljević

Reputation: 6911

SQL Server Express is full featured DBMS, with some limitations in terms of database size and resources it is allowed to use. You can see it's limitations (relative to SQL Server) on microsofts site (Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2012)

SQL Server CE is embedded database, meaning that it runs in user mode, it's easy to deploy (requires you to copy just few assemblies), lightweight but fast, can be run by a low privileged user. It's supported by NHibernate. However, has more limitations. To me most notable is that there are problems when you try to have multiple connections to same database. Although MS claims that this is supported, if you try this in Windows 2008 server, you will fail. And what's worse, such use scenario may lead to DB corruption. This means that you will effectively not be able to use some Management tool to update data while your service/website is running. Also, SQL Server Management studio doesn't support SQL CE anymore, so you will have to use a 3rd party tool, like Database.NET. It also does not support subqueries.

localDB, having not used it, sounds like a compromise. It's a standalone database which is executed in user mode (can be used by low privilege user), but must be installed so you will need administrative privileges for that part. Offers set of capabilities of SQL Server Express. It's much larger than SQL CE, and also requires to be installed (unlike CE which is just binary drop in). Shortest overview of this DBMS can be found here.

Upvotes: 2

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