Connecting to a SQL Server Compact Edition (.sdf) from an MFC application

Question

Hey !

I'm building an MFC app in Visual Studio 2008 which classifies textures and I need some sort of lightweight database to hold the characteristics (just some doubles and strings) which can be:

-carried around with the app on different computers;

-be able to perform queries on it from the app (searches , updates ,inserts ,etc);

Currently I'm looking into SQL compact edition because it was very easy to create from Visual Studio ( I also need only one table) but I having a hard time connecting and updating the db from C++. This is what I've found on msdn regarding C++ and SQLCE:

public:
 void createSqlCeConnection(){
    SqlCeConnection* myConnection = new SqlCeConnection();
    myConnection->ConnectionString = "DataSource = blabla.sdf";
    MessageBox::Show(String::Format( S"Connection State: {0}", __box(myConnection->State)));
 }

Unfortunately my experience with .net apps is pretty limited.

Hopefully you bright minds could tell me if I'm on the right path and what links and includes should I add for this to work with an C++ MFC projects.

Thanks !

Answer 1

For C++ applications, you're going to want to use the OLE DB Provider for SQL CE. For example, take a look here for a code snippet on initializing a Session (you might have to explicitly click the C++ tab in the Examples section).