How to connect to SqlExpress for Entity Framework using Visual Studio 2010 Express?

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to use the Visual Studio 2010 Express editions to set up an ASP.NET MVC 2 Web Application using SqlExpress + Entity Framework as the data access. I have both the "C# Edition" and "Web Developer Edition" installed.

If I try to add a data source using the "C# edition", I'm missing the "Microsoft SQL Server" data source type.

but Visual Studio 2008 Professional has it.

as noted by another StackOverflow question, the "Web Developer Edition" has this. However, the Web Developer Edition doesn't support the Entity Framework items: .

I'd want to stick with only the Express Editions. Is my use case one that Microsoft forgot about? What can I do here to use SqlExpress + MVC 2 + Entity Framework?

Thanks!

-Mike

Answer 1

You should be able to select SQL Server Database File, then change the connection string to connect to SqlExpress.

Answer 2

Hi

Im experiencing the same problem. Did you solve it by changing connection string? It does not work for me.