The "Programmer's Guide" for Microsoft's latest edition of SQL Server 2005--the Compact Edition". This book fills in the gaps developers familiar with the SqlClient namespace will find when they try to use this new reincarnation of SQL Mobile or SQL CE. Here's where I show you where the SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition is designed to be used, how to best leverage its features and avoid its issues. Over 80 pages long, this is the most complete work on the subject available anywhere. Included with the book are over a dozen code examples as illustrated in the book.   

EBooks 

All EBooks are provided in "view-only" form and cannot be printed.

EBooks are our way to help get current information out to our readers in a more timely fashion and at a dramatically reduced cost. In addition, by not printing the book (even on recycled paper) we can help protect the environment. The PDF we distribute is locked so you won't be able to print it, copy it to the clipboard or redistribute it. If you defeat these protections, you have violated the licesense we grant for its use.  Thanks for doing your part to help preserve the environment. However, some people have trouble working with electronic media so let us know if you would like a printed copy. While not currently available, if the demand is great enough, we might be able to provide the content in print.

Foreword 

Bill has written the first EBook capturing the spirit of the problems we’re looking to solve with Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition.  Bill writes with his critical, yet funny style to proactively inform developers where the speed bumps exist while explaining the value of the differences.  But more importantly, Bill gets it.  His critical comments are accurate, and most of the things he’s pointed out are things we’re either working on for the next release or the release after that.  Bill elegantly puts a perspective on why we’re not looking to add stored procedures or other server features.  Just as you work differently at home compared to work, just as you might ride your motorcycle different then you’d drive a car, Bill’s eBook does a great job explaining the differences you expect from a local database compared to a data service.  I’m sure you’ll find this eBook helpful to get you started with enabling your users with apps that continue to work even when the network doesn’t.
Steve Lasker
Program Manager / Technical Lead
Microsoft UiFX & Services Team
http://blogs.MSDN.com/SteveLasker 

Excerpt 

This latest release of the Compact Edition was preceded by SQL Server 2005 Everywhere Edition which lived only for a number of weeks during the beta and CTP releases. These editions were based on the SQL Server Mobile 3.0 Edition, which was targeted (by license) for use on Windows Smartphones, Pocket PC PDAs, and Windows Tablet PC systems—but not on other platforms like Windows XP or Vista. The SQL Mobile version was also missing some of the features that Windows desktop (and laptop) developers needed and needed to be better integrated into the Visual Studio and SQL Server tools and wizards. Microsoft previewed this release over a year ago at an authors’ summit where I gave this new version my full support. Having worked with the Compact Edition and the SqlCE namespace for several months, I still endorse it. I can see any number of interesting and important ways to leverage this tiny DBMS—and I’ll get to these later. Over the last year or so, I worked with the Product/Program Managers at Microsoft to help refine this “new and improved” version of SQL CE so it could be better suited for the jobs we all have in mind. This book is intended to answer most of the questions you’ll no doubt have as you try to decide if Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition is right for your lighter applications—there’s a good chance it is.