How to use SQL Server CE with C# 3.5 – The absolute basics

I’m writing this article because a small project I’ve been working on required me to look for information on using SQL Server CE with C# 3.5. I couldn’t find very many useful articles on the topic so I’ve decided to write my own and summarise some of the useful bits I found....

How to perform an unattended installation of SQL Server 2008 Express

A while ago I wrote an article called “How to perform an unattended installation of SQL Server 2005 Express“. With the release of SQL Server 2008 it’s time to write another one about how to do the same but for SQL Server 2008 Express. So, let’s get started …...

SQLCMD.EXE on SQL 2008 doesn’t work – HResult 0×2, Level 16, State 1

I’ve built one of my test servers with SQL Server Express 2008 w/ Advanced Services. On a whole load of our servers I use SQL Express for local installations and SQLCMD.EXE works well as a good way to run scheduled backups. It’s done this way because SQL Express doesn’t support SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services), the component required for scheduled tasks. I wrote an article about this a...

MS Access and C# – Syntax error in INSERT INTO statement

Recently I was working on a small application that required writing to a local Microsoft Access database. This was done using Microsoft C# .NET 3.5 (SP1) but every time I clicked the submit button on the relevant form I received an error message saying there was a syntax error in the INSERT INTO statement. Here’s how to fix this error …...

SQL Server 2005 Express Unattended Install – Further Info

Recently I posted an article about how to perform an unattended installation of SQL Server 2005 Express. A comment was posted asking how to set some specific options during the installation – here’s how....