Possible way to attach database to exe

Question

I created a small application using C# winforms that uses SQL Server as a database.

Is there a way to attach the database to the exe file so I won't need to install SQL Server on all the machines that I want to run the program on?

Answer 1

As far as I know, that's where SQL Server Compact comes into play.

Quoting the Wikipedia article:

Unlike other editions of Microsoft SQL Server, SQL CE runs in-process with the application which is hosting it; while having a memory footprint of less than 2 MB;

Answer 2

Have you seen SQL Server Compact?

It's a Zero-config, single file version of SQL Server.

Answer 3

You can included it as part of the app installer. See this article

Answer 4

in addition to sql server compact, there is also a c# port of sqlite that you could use.

Answer 5

You can use SQL Server compact: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/compact.aspx

or SQLite: http://www.sqlite.org/ - it has a .NET library that you can download and use...it's pretty fast and compact