How to connect to SqlExpress for Entity Framework using Visual Studio 2010 Express?

Question

I\'m trying to use the Visual Studio 2010 Express editions to set up an ASP.NET MVC 2 Web Application using SqlExpress + Entity Framework as the data access. I have both th

Answer 1

You should be able to select SQL Server Database File, then change the connection string to connect to SqlExpress.

Answer 2

I just ran into this same problem. Visual Studio C# Express 2010 SP1 only offers me Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 and Microsoft SQL Server Database File when creating or updating ADO.NET Entity Data Model (*.edmx) files.

However my copy of Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 Express SP1 is allowing me to add and update ADO.NET Entity Data Model (*.edmx) files in existing solutions and is allowing me to choose the Microsoft SQL Server option when building connection strings.

So the workaround for me is to simply switch between C# & Web Developer when messing with connection strings. Not sure if that's out-of-the-box for everybody or whether I've installed something else that switched the Microsoft SQL Server option on in Web Developer.