SharePoint and SQL Server Compact Data Files

Question

I'm doing a consulting job for an organization wanting something a small step above what an Access Database would do. Generally, they want to track network lines between buildings on their campus (obviously, I'm obfuscating a bit, just go with it). And of course, they want it done in SharePoint, WITHOUT a huge software development and maintenance effort due to a limited number of users.

So, the idea is to do initial data entry via an Infopath form (and some custom code for a few basic reporting features). However, SharePoint lists aren't going to work due to the amount of data being stored.

Is it possible to publish a single SQL Server Compact sdf file to, say, a SharePoint document library to hold this data? (DBAs for the company are being obnoxious). I'm aware of the 4 GB limit on SDF files.

Answer 1

It is possible, but you could be asking for real trouble if the file size is > 30 MB.

SharePoint was designed to store "normal" sized collaboration documents which typically avg. between 800KB - 2MB. These documents are stored as BLOBs in SQL Server and in the SharePoint Search index (if you have indexing turned on).