關於 SQL Server Compact 3.5 Beta2 的發布

SQL Server Compact 3.5 Beta2 和 Synchronization Services for ADO.NET 已經包含在上周發布的 Visual Studio 2008 Beta2 中，它們會隨著 Visual Studio 2008 Beta2 安裝到你的電腦上。不過由於進度的原因，Visual Studio 2008 Beta2 並沒有包含它們的聯機叢書，需要單獨下載和安裝：

Server Compact 3.5 Books Online for Orcas Beta 2
Synchronization Services for ADO.NET Books Online Beta 2

今天微軟發布了 SQL Server Compact 3.5 Beta2 的獨立安裝包，分為 Windows Desktop 和 Windows Mobile 兩個版本。

SQL Server Compact 3.5 for Windows Desktop Beta 2
SQL Server Compact 3.5 for Windows Mobile Beta 2
SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication Server Tools

其中 Windows Desktop 版本的安裝包中包含了 Synchronization Services for ADO.NET。很遺憾的是，一直期待的 Windows Mobile 版本的 Synchronization Services for ADO.NET 還沒有出來，而且確切的工作計劃才剛剛確定。根據 Steve Lasker 的回複，SQL Server Compact 3.5 RTM 也不會有 Windows Mobile 版本的 Synchronization Services for ADO.NET。估計要等到 SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1，那時候和 SQL Server 2008 一起發布。

另外，Visual Studio 2005 目前不支援 SQL Server Compact 3.5 的可視化設計，在 Visual Studio 2008 中支援。

SQL Server Compact 3.5 的新特性包括：
·LINQ to SQL enabling developers to integrate data access directly into their code
·Ithe timestamp (rowversion) data type. rowversion is a data type that exposes automatically generated binary numbers, which are guaranteed to be unique in a database. It is used typically as a mechanism for version-stamping table rows.
·Supports local transaction scope on a desktop and Tablet PC.
·Table Designer in Visual Studio 2008 has been enhanced to provide a user interface for creating primary key and foreign key relationships between tables.
·Support for transact-SQL statements has been extended as follows:
··Nested query in SELECT FROM clause
··CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY
··CAST
··TOP
·Supports data replication with SQL Server 2005 by using Microsoft Synchronization Services for ADO.NET. Synchronization Services is available for desktop and Tablet PCs only.
·Can be used for developing SQL Server Compact 3.5 desktop and Tablet PC applications by using Visual C# 2008 Express Edition and Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition.
·Can be installed side-by-side with the previous version on desktop and Tablet PC computers. Using SQL Server Compact 3.5, you can open database files (*.sdf) created in the previous version (3.1). Be aware that when a database file is opened in SQL Server Compact 3.5, the file is updated to 3.5. You will no longer be able to open the database by using the 3.1 version. Databases created by using SQL Server Compact 3.5 cannot be opened by earlier versions of SQL Server Compact 3.5.

參考：
SQL Server Compact 3.5 B2 & Sync Services for ADO.NET Documentation released
SQL Server Compact 3.5 B2 released
SQL Server Compact 3.5 B2 Books Online