Connecting to SQL Server CE
SQL Server CE (previously called SQL Mobile and SQL Everywhere) is a very lightweight SQL server that can run everywhere hance the name "SQL Everywhere". It is targeted to replace the XML data files in a lot of smart client apps.
It's realy, realy, realy great, but the problem is that a lot of tools do not (yet) support the data provider, witch makes it harder to use it. Like active reports. Somehow the provider does not get registered in the GAC as supposed to the documentation states (RC1 documentation). So, it seems I now have to find out where the providers get registered to sort out the problem.
The problem is that the provider resides in the System.Data.SQLClientCE namspace in stead of the System.Data.SQLClient namespace and that namespace is not commonly supported yet by the tools. The namespace is quit old actually, but up until recently it was not interesting to implement (other than om mobile app tooling)
I am contacting DataDynamics about it. Maybe i am not the first and the questing did not make the FAQ or KB yet. (You never know right?)
Maybe i can find another way to connect the ActiveReport to the dataset from the SQL Server CE. There is an option to use unbound fields and at runtime assign values to it. But they are all called Field1, Field2, Field3, etc. I simply refuse to use it. I just won't!
Another option I will look into, is to look for an XSD Dataprovider or somethomg. A dataprovider witch can read the XML schema into a dataset and implements the DataProvider interface so i can consume it from third-party tools.