SQL Server 2008 and .Net 4.0?

Question

Does anyone know whether I can load .net 4.0 assemblies from SQL Server 2008? In particular, we are looking at SQL Reporting, with Custom Data Extensions. I have noticed that SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Studio does not seem to support VS2010 at the moment. If I release my CDE's as .net 4.0 assemblies, will I even be able to load them from within the SQL Server Reporting Server?

Answer 1

This article on the SQL Server Express blog suggests there will be no .NET 4 SQLCLR in SQL Server 2008 (assuming that the logic extends to the other editions):

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlexpress/archive/2009/12/09/sql-server-express-and-net-4.aspx .

ie it would break backwards compatibility because the SQL Server Engine can only host one version of the CLR.

Answer 2

I don't have hard facts on this, so maybe someone else has a better answer.

But since .NET 4 ships with a new CLR (4.0 as well instead of 2.0), I'm afraid that this will not work out of the box. Maybe you can force SQL Server 2008 to host the V4 CLR, in which case I'd expect it to work, but I suppose that you'll have to wait for a SQL Server 2008 service pack or similar for it to be supported.