Visual Studio 2008 (C#) with SQL Compact Edition database error: 26

Question

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

I've created a SQL compact database, included it in my application, and can connect to the database fine from other database editors, but within my application im trying

using (SqlConnection con = new SqlConnection(Properties.Settings.Default.DatabaseConnection))
{
    con.Open();
}

the connection string is

Data Source=|DataDirectory|\Database.sdf

I'm stumped, any insight?

Answer 1

You're using the wrong type of connection object. SqlConnection is for the grown up SQL server, not for SQL Server Compact.

connectionstrings.com has the connection strings you need. For the connection object itself I believe you need the SqlCeconnection class