Visual Studio 2010: Can't create new connection to SQL Server Compact 4.0

Question

I have just installed SQL Server Compact Edition 4.0 on my Windows 7 machine. (Note that I already had SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 on the machine).

However, in my Visual Studio 2010 project, I am unable to create a new connection to a SQL Server Compact Edition 4.0 database... i.e. - by doing the following:

• In Server Explorer, right click "Data Connections"
• "Add Connection"
• "Change Data Source" - Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0 not an option (only version 3.5)

How can I make Visual Studio 2010 know about my already installed copy of Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0?

Answer 1

See

• SQL Server Compact 4.0 Tooling Support in Visual Studio 2010 SP1 and Visual Web Developer Express 2010 SP1

and

• Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 with support for SQL Server Compact 4.0 released

Do you have VS2010 SP1 installed?

If not - download it from here