Connecting to MSDE using the SQL Adapter

Question

I am very new to VB .NET and have been up endless nights trying to do the 1st part of my Dummy's guide - 'connecting to an MSDE database. Oh it sounds so easy. My dilema is... The book mentions connecting to the local computer and then to the pubs and Northwind databases. Great! One problem...I find that these databases and the local server are only available using SQL and not available using MSDE. Now I can't use SQL as VB.NET only works with MSDE so... WHAT DO I DO!!! I'm fed up with trying but know that once I get past this 1st stage I will be able to see the light. Somebody please help me with any advice with connecting to a database. Thank you so much in advance. Mooster.

stef.spikker · Answer

Well I find myself replying to my own bloomin' e-mail. Just so that nobody else has to gho through the pain that I have here is the result. You need the 'pubs' and 'Northwind' DB's to run the examples - the DB's mentioned come only with SQL and not MSDE - VB.NET will connect to MSDE and not SQL... ...so... I'm not going to go through the whole process but in your Enterprise Manager you can create a new empty DB called 'pubs' and 'Northwind'. You can then import the data from the SQL DB's to create a duplicate. One word of warning when importing the data select to 'Copy Objects' and then change the options to 'Copy SQL Server Logins'. The rest should be left as default. Voila! At least you'll get an early night - I didn't!