Design-time connectivity between Visual Studio and SQL Server 2008 CTP
If you use Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008 to develop an application, you may be unable to connect to any instances of SQL Server 2008 CTP. This problem is most significant for Visual Basic developers and for Visual C# developers, because this problem blocks the use of any rapid application development (RAD) features.
This connectivity issue is caused by a compatibility problem between the SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) layer that is included in Visual Studio and the SMO support that is provided in SQL Server 2008. Microsoft will release updates for Visual Studio 2005 and for Visual Studio 2008 that will fix this issue.
Runtime connectivity to SQL Server 2008 if the application uses the System.Data.SqlClient namespace
In the operating systems that have the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 installed, applications that use the System.Data.SqlClient namespace to provide data access cannot connect to certain versions of SQL Server 2008 CTP. This problem may occur depending on the .NET Framework version that is installed on the client, and depending on the SQL Server 2008 CTP version that is installed on the server. If you use an incompatible combination of SQL Server 2008 CTP and the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1, the application and the back-end database cannot be connected.
The System.Data.dll file contains the System.Data.SqlClient namespace and is included in the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1. The .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 is included in the following products:
- Visual Studio 2008
- Windows Vista with SP1 Beta
- Windows Server 2008
This problem will be fixed in the RTM version of SQL Server 2008.
The following table identifies whether a connection can be established between managed data access applications that use the System.Data.SqlClient namespace and particular versions of SQL Server 2008.
| Operating system | SQL Server 2008 June CTP | SQL Server 2008 July CTP | SQL Server 2008 November CTP | Notes |
|---|
| Any operating system that has
Visual Studio 2008 RTM
or
the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 RTM redistributable
package | No | No | Yes | Not applicable |
| Any operating system that has
Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2
or
the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 Beta 2 redistributable package (System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0. 50727.1378) | No | Yes | No | Not applicable |
| Windows Vista with SP1 Beta
(System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0.50727.1427)
| No | No | Yes | Not applicable |
| Windows Server 2008 RC0
(System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0.50727.1427)
| No | No | Yes | Not applicable |
| Any operating system that has
Visual Studio 2005 RTM
or
the .NET Framework 2.0 RTM
(System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0.50727.42)
| Yes | Yes | Yes | These connections from the .NET Framework 2.0 RTM use SQL Server 2005 data type compatibility. |
| Any operating system that has
Visual Studio 2005 SP1
(System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0.50727.832)
| Yes | Yes | Yes | These connections from the Visual Studio 2005 SP1 use SQL Server 2005 data type compatibility. |
Feature availability
The following table identifies the SQL Server 2008 features that are supported in different combinations of the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 and SQL Server 2008.
| Combination | SQL Server 2008 July CTP | SQL Server 2008 November CTP | SQL Server 2008 future CTP and RTM | Notes |
|---|
| Any operating system that has
Visual Studio 2008
or
the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 Beta 2 redistributable
package (System.Data.dll,
version 2.0.50727.1378) | Table-valued parameters, and new date and time data types | No connectivity | No connectivity | The SQL Server 2008 July CTP features are not available in managed stored procedures. |
| Any operating system that has
Visual Studio 2008
or
the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 redistributable
package (System.Data.dll,
version 2.0.50727.14xx) | No connectivity | Table-valued parameters, new date and time data types, large user-defined (UDT), and filestream | Table-valued parameters, new date and time data types, large UDT, and filestream
| The SQL Server 2008 November CTP features are not available in managed stored procedures. |
| Windows Vista with SP1 Beta
(System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0.50727.1427)
| No connectivity | Table-valued parameters, new date and time data types, large UDT 1, and filestream | Table-valued parameters, new date and time data types, large UDT, and filestream
| The SQL Server 2008 November CTP features are not available in managed stored procedures. |
| Windows Server 2008 RC0
(System.Data.SqlClient, version 2.0.50727.1427)
| No connectivity | Table-valued parameters, new date and time data types, large UDT, and filestream | Table-valued parameters, new date and time data types, large UDT, and filestream | The SQL Server 2008 November CTP features are not available in managed stored procedures. |
Windows Vista RTM includes the .NET Framework 2.0 RTM. However, Windows Vista RTM does not contain support for any new SQL Server 2008 features that are introduced in the .NET Framework 2.0 SP1.