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SqlClient Support for LocalDB

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This article discusses how to connect to a LocalDB database. LocalDB is a lightweight version of SQL Server.

Remarks

To summarize what you can do with LocalDB:

  • Create and start LocalDB instances with sqllocaldb.exe or your app.config file.

  • Use sqlcmd.exe to add and modify databases in a LocalDB instance. For example, sqlcmd -S (localdb)\myinst.

  • Use the AttachDBFilename connection string keyword to add a database to your LocalDB instance. When using AttachDBFilename, if you do not specify the name of the database with the Database connection string keyword, the database will be removed from the LocalDB instance when the application closes.

  • Specify a LocalDB instance in your connection string. For example, your instance name is myInstance, the connection string would include:

    server=(localdb)\\myInstance

User Instance=True is not allowed when connecting to a LocalDB database.

For information about installing LocalDB, see SQL Server Express LocalDB.

Programmatically Create a Named Instance

An application can create a named instance and specify a database as follows:

  • Specify the LocalDB instances to create in the app.config file, as follows. The version number of the instance should be the same as the version number of your LocalDB installation.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>  
<configuration>  
  <configSections>  
    <section  
    name="system.data.localdb"  
    type="System.Data.LocalDBConfigurationSection,System.Data,Version=4.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"/>  
  </configSections>  
  <system.data.localdb>  
    <localdbinstances>  
      <add name="myInstance" version="11.0" />  
    </localdbinstances>  
  </system.data.localdb>  
</configuration>

  • Specify the name of the instance using the server connection string keyword. The instance name specified in the server connection string keyword must match the name specified in the app.config file.

  • Use the AttachDBFilename connection string keyword to specify the .MDF file.

See also