Does SQL Server 2012 work with Visual Studio 2008 applications?

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xpda picture xpda · Nov 22, 2012 · Viewed 7.5k times · Source

Does SQL Server 2012 or SQL Server Express 2012 work with Visual Studio 2008 applications?

Answer

marc_s picture marc_s · Nov 22, 2012

As long as your "old" VS 2008 app doesn't use any of the (few) deprecated features of SQL Server 2012 - then yes - I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work.

The key is the use of ADO.NET - it's really more about which database access technology (and which version of the .NET framework) you're using - rather than what Visual Studio version your app was written in. To the app, it's just a server you connect to - using ADO.NET and a connection string - and then you fire off SQL queries against it.

ADO.NET is the preferred way to connect to SQL Server from any .NET application, and it should support any version of SQL Server - from 2000 through 2012 and any edition (Express, Web, Standard, Enterprise, DataCenter - you name it).

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