.NET allows you to use something like this in your connection string:
|DataDirectory|WebShop.mdf
At run-time, this expands to App_Data folder of your site. Where exactly this is, depends on your ISP. If you need the physical path to the folder, you need to ask them, or diagnose the Request object and write out its properties, like Request.PhysicalApplicationPath
And if you want to use SQL Server 2005, you need it on the server somehow (or on a different machine accessible by the server), whether it's the free Express Edition or one of the commercial versions.
Cheers,
Imar
---------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.
Author of
ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results and
Beginning Dreamweaver MX / MX 2004
Want to be my colleague? Then check out this post.