Can't use OA Samples Kit without local SQL Server?

[Emiliano]

Hi, I've downloaded the OA Samples Kit and installed them successfully. Problem is I can't open any of its solutions because it says I need SQL Server, which I do have, but not in the same machine I have VS (but in the same network).

I'd thought that the Samples Kit will just ask me for a SQL Server connection and use that.

Am I missing something here?

Thanks

[Emiliano]

Well, I've installed SQL Server 2010 Express LocalDB and it doesn't support it either.

What a shame considering Telerik OpenAccess is a tool for developers. Why do we need a full blown SQL Server instance to use it? Which, by the way, I do have, just not in the same machine...

[Emiliano]

Well, what a surprise, if I manually run Telerik.Sdk.DatabaseToolUi.exe I get the dialog and I can connect to (localdb)\v11.0 perfectly so please just remove that check for SqlServer and let us just point to the instance we want to use with the sql connection dialog.

Thanks...

[Kristian Nikolov]

Hi Emiliano,

Our Samples Kit Browser requires a local instance of Microsoft SQL Server in order to deploy and or run the samples. Unfortunately this is a limitation that we currently have.To resolve the situation you can either install SQL Server Express on your machine, or install the Samples Kit on a machine which has a local instance of SQL Server.

A possible workaround may be to install OpenAccess ORM on your machine and run the samples directly from the installation folder of the Samples Kit. You can do so by following these steps:

1. Navigate to the installation directory of the Samples Kit. An example path would be systemdrive:\Program Files\Telerik\OpenAccess ORM\ProductSdk.
2. The Samples directory contains all of the samples. Chose a sample you wish to run. Open it with Visual Studio and check the required database in the connections strings located in the .config files.
3. The different databases which are needed for the samples are located in the DatabaseData folder in the directory where the Samples Kit is installed. Deploy the database which the chosen sample uses to your server.
4. Modify the connection string of the sample which you wish to run as needed. Note that the connection string is contained in the .config files of both the project containing the OpenAccess Model and the project consuming the model. The connection string should be modified in both files.
5. You should now be able to run the sample.

If you wish to make modifications to the samples but still keep the originals, copy the Samples and Common folders (located in the installation directory of the Samples Kit) to another new folder somewhere on your machine. You can run and modify the samples from there.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Kristian Nikolov
Telerik

[Emiliano]

Yes, that's what I ended up doing.

Still I don't understand why do you have such limitation. In all my years of work, having a valid and accessible connection string to a SQL server (no matter if it's local, same network or even external) is enough.

I can live without support for non-local instances, but you should definitely work to support LocalDB (which is the new SQLExpress that MS is trying to promote for local development).

Thanks

[Kristian Nikolov]

Hello Emiliano,

Thank you for your feedback.

We recognize the requirement of a local Microsoft SQL Server instance as a shortcoming of our Samples Kit and we are considering adding support for LocalDB in a future release. Please excuse us for the caused inconvenience.

In case you have any additional questions, feel free to post at our forums again.

Regards,
Kristian Nikolov
Telerik