SQL Server CE 4.0 package did not load correctly

Question

Using Visual Studio 2010, in Server Explorer I'm trying to add a connection by right clicking on Data Connections and selecting "Add Conection...". When I do this I get an error that says

 'Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Providers.SqlCompact.VsPackage, Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Providers.SqlCompact, Version- 4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91' package did not load correctly.
 
After I click the OK button to that message I get another message that says "An unexpected error occurred in the .NET Framework Data Provide for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 4.0. Please contact the provider vendor to resolve this problem.

I cannot open a SQL Server CE 4.0 database in Server Explorer.

I have VS2010 and VS2008 installed. VS2010 was installed first. I have SQL Server CE 4.0 and 3.5 installed. Everything was working fine until a couple days ago. I could access 4.0 databases from VS2010 and 3.5 databases from VS2008. Nothing new has been installed that I am aware of.

I have tried uninstalling SQL Server CE 4.0 and reinstalling but that hasn't changed the results.

I downloaded SQL Compact 4.0 Toolbox from Codeplex but when I run it I get an error message that says "Error getting list of databases from Data Connections, make sure to create one. Only elements allowed. (C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\c4.0.30319\Config\machine.config line 153)

Anyone have any idea what I need to do to get CE 4.0 working again?

Thanks
Terry

Answer 1

Sounds like your machine.config file has errors, could you share the DbProviderFactories section from that file ?

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Answer 2

Hey, looks like that was the problem! Just a matter of knowing where to look. Thanks Erik.

Below is the DbProviderFactories section. I added a couple linefeeds to separate the added providers. Notice the first provider doesn't have an opening bracket (<) and the closing bracket is "&gt".  I deleted this provider and left the other two and now I can access 4.0 and 3.5 databases.

Have you seen this before? Any idea how that happened?

Thanks again. I'll mark your reply as the answer.

<DbProviderFactories>
   add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider 4.0" invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"/&gt;

<add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider" invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.3.5" description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"/>

<add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider 4.0" invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91"/>

</DbProviderFactories>

Answer 3

Thanks, no I have never seen this before...

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