Hi everyone,

I really need help to a very aggravating problem. I am trying to connect to data source in VC# express. I know that there are supposed to be five options when you do this in the choose data dialog box. However, I am only able to see two options when I go to make the connection string. The two options that I am getting is to connect to an Access database file and a SQL Server database file. I know I should be able to connect to an ODBC database, an Oracle database, and the SQL database directly. I am really wanting to connect to the SQL server database directly. I have SQL Express loaded with the Management Studio express. I also made sure that IIS is running. What could I possibly be doing wrong? Please somebody help me.

Thanks,
Chris

Hi everyone,

Well I have figured out the problem. Some good news and bad news. Bad news is that C# express only supports those two options in the choose data source dialog box. So the only way to see these options is to have either the standard or professional edition installed. However there is some light at the end of this tunnel. You can directly write the connection into the SqlConnection object in the properties pane which will connect to the SQL Server database and not just the file. Also I think that when you are working with the .mdf you cannot do UPDATE commands against it. I believe this file is read only.