Please Help: Is WCF Best Way To Update Client "Compact 3.5" db from "Sql Server"???

Question

Hello,

I'm new to this, so I hope someone can help me out...

We have an "in-house" application that we have developed in WPF reading a SQL Server 2008 Database. We are able to deploy this to the various clients via ClickOnce.

The question is, some of this data on the SQL Server 2008 Database can change. We want a good reliable way to have this data downloaded to the client "Sql Server Compact 3.5" Databases.

Is WCF the way to go? Do I need to create routines to create an xml file from the "SQL Server" data, then upload it into the "Sql Server Compact 3.5" Database?

Can anyone give me some advice on how to proceed? Are there good tutorials or articles out there?

Thanks
Jason

Daniel Krainas · Answer

You could use SQL Server's Replication service. Your SQL Server 2008 would need the replication service installed, I don't think it's selected in a default installation. After that, it's just a matter of setting your SQL Server 2008 to be a data publisher and all compact servers to be subscribers. Here is some information on it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172447(SQL.100).aspx My only question really is why not have the client applications read straight from the SQL Server instead of the compact? I've built an application in a very similar environment and that was the route I went. In my case, all data the client requests is considered volatile and usually short-lived. In the event of a row update, the DAL selects a fresh copy, applies the changes, sets LastUpdated if applicable and commits the changes. It's worked out very well.

Please Help: Is WCF Best Way To Update Client "Compact 3.5" db from "Sql Server"???

Johnny GC