Creating a SQL Server Compact Edition database file in Microsoft Visual Studio 2017
Creating a SQL Server Compact Edition database file in Microsoft Visual Studio 2017
Microsoft is dropping support for SDF files with Visual Studio
It appears Microsoft deprecated SQL Server Compact and it's suggested to use SQL Server Express moving forward instead.
The file extension for SQL Server Compact DB data files is SDF so just plan to the use SQL Server Express and its correlated MDF extension for its DB data file(s).
Microsoft Connect
Posted by Srini [MSFT] on 2/18/2013 at 11:52 AM
SQL Server compact edition is in deprecation mode with no new releases planned near future. Last release SQL CE 4.0SP1 (and earlier releases that are still in the support cycle) will continue to be supported through its lifecycle and Microsoft is committed to fix any major, production blocking issues found in these releases. At this point, we don't consider this issue to be in that category and hence we are closing this issue.
On the desktop/laptop deployments, migrating to SQL Server LocalDB/SQL Express is a possible option for many of the current users (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh510202.aspx)
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SQL Server Express
Deprecation
In February 2013, Microsoft announced that SQL Server Compact Edition had been deprecated.
Although no new versions or updates are planned, Microsoft will continue to support SQL Compact through their standard lifecycle support policy. This support will end in July 2021.
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Further Resources
- Download SQL Server Express
- How to install SQL Server Express