Appendix A. Database, connection, and data model setup
In several examples in this book, including those in the printing (see chapter 31), MVVM (see chapter 33), and WCF RIA Services (see ebook appendices D, E, and F), you need to work against database data and an entity data model. For this you’ll need SQL Server with the AdventureWorks database loaded.
In this appendix, you’ll install the database, then create the database connection and the entity data model. The entity data model will be added to the ASP.NET web project in your Silverlight solution. The steps are intended to be performed as part of a larger project setup. You’ll be referred to this appendix at a specific point in each of the chapters, by which time you’ll already have a basic solution setup.
If your database installation doesn’t already contain the AdventureWorks database, visit http://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/ to download the latest version for your database version.
The CodePlex database sample site includes a number of database releases for the various editions of SQL Server, up to SQL Server 2010 RC0 as of this writing. My own dedicated database server is running SQL Server 2008, and I have a local SQL Server Express 2008 database instance that came with Visual Studio 2010. The sample databases will install on either one.