Local Database with Visual Studio 2012

Question

I am creating a application and I want to use a local database stored on the clients local machines. I am debating over if I should use SQLITE or is there something in Visual Studio to help me. The other thing is that I want to create the database programmatically in the users directory when the application is launched.

I am see a few things online but the articles were all about SQL Server stuff and that is not want I want to do with this application. All data will need to be stored on the local machine.

Answer 1

You can use SQL Server Compact , which has tooling in Visual Studio. It's syntax-compatible with SQL Server, but stores its data in a local file, which you can create on the fly (at app startup, for example).

Answer 2

You can create the SQLite database on the fly with the libraries provided from their website. I have used it in many projects for my personal code, as well as it being used in some of the internal architecture of Data Explorer (IBM Product). Some sample C# to create a database file:

        if (!Directory.Exists(Application.StartupPath + "\\data"))
        {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(Application.StartupPath + "\\data");
        }
        SQLiteConnection conGlobal;
        if (!File.Exists(dbGlobal))
        {
            conGlobal = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + dbGlobal + ";New=True;Compress=True;PRAGMA synchronous = 1;PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL");
            conGlobal.SetExtendedResultCodes(true);
            firstRun = true;
        }
        else
        {
            conGlobal = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + dbGlobal + ";Compress=True;PRAGMA synchronous = 1;PRAGMA journal_mode=WAL");
            conGlobal.SetExtendedResultCodes(true);
        }
        try
        {
            conGlobal.Open();
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            //do stuff
        }

Simply initiating a connection to the file will create it if the new=true is passed as the connection string. Then you can query it and get results just like you would any database.

You also have the ability to password protect the database files to prevent access to them from just opening them with an SQLite-Shell or a different SQLite DB viewer.

For more info on the pragma statements that are being passed in the connection string, see the following: http://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html

Answer 3

I'm not sure about programmatically (that's probably what you meant, right?) creating the database, but SQL Server Compact Edition has served me well in the past for simple apps. It's embedded and even runs in medium trust.