I'm unhappy with most of the choices right now.

SQL Lite was not upgraded for 4.0 last I saw.
CE 3.5 No support for Identity Columns.
CE 4.0 Supports Identity Columns but EF cannot generate entities from the database.

Lately I've been using 3.5, but I hate not having identity columns.

Some projects need a lite database that is easy to install, I wish they would hurry up and finish the EF support for 4.0

John


>From a contrarian POV, on top of the benefits of only having to chuck a coiuple of DLLs into the deployment:
>
>You can use the Compact edition with the ADO.NET support for EF and Linq (native providers not OLDEB)
>You can use SSMS to create/manage CE databases.
>IIRC replicating to a main SQL server is supported?
>
>Admitted downsides:
>4GB database limit
>No Stored Procs.
>No nested transactions ?
>
>But unlikely that any of the latter would be a show-stopper for Mark ?
>
>>SQLIte can be just copied over as well, accessing it *might* need an install -
>>depends on the way you want to do it. C# has it's own version, should be installfree as well
>>BUT the big benefit is instant portability to almost every other language / dev system on almost any platform.
>>
>>compact has only syntax "nearness" to MS-SQL - from my POV a no brainer ;-)
>>
>>have fun
>>
>>thomas
>>
>>
>>>Thanks for all the help, multi user is not an issue so i'm going to go with either sqlite or compact. i like that compact does not need an install when distribution, not sure if sqlite does but going to get to grips with it over the coming days.
>>>~M
>>>
>>>>>Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>>I was going to start writing a few small applications in .Net and was wondering about a good desktop database. I'd rather not use VFP just from an experience point of view. What I'd like to do is write a small application to record the name and personal details of people using a .Net (c#) front with a database behind it that is deployable on any desktop windows xp or vista onwards.
>>>>>
>>>>If you want multiuser access across the network, use the MS-SQL free express -
>>>>you won't run into the size limit of 10GB from the above and for Dotnet it has the best support in VS.
>>>>The free versions of Oracle and especially DB2 have less restirction AFAIR
>>>>but you will find more help for MS-SQL directly in Dotnet circles.
>>>>If you consider to learn a totally OS DB, I'd pick PostGreSQL over MySQL
>>>>
>>>>If is deployable on any desktop windows xp or vista onwards.
>>>>is meant as a database for each single PC, no concurrent C/S access,
>>>>go for SQLite, probably the most installed ebedded DB,
>>>>but multiuser access there is less sophisticated than even vfp -
>>>>it is MEANT as the local datastore on a particular machine (Thunderbird, Firefox...).
>>>>
>>>>Also promises portability of the data file even down to mobile devices.
>>>>
>>>>my 0.02 EUR
>>>>
>>>>thomas