Hi Martin,

Yes, its on purpose.  There are conflicts with the licensing agreement for VistaDB. I don't know the full details of the conflict, but it is mentioned in Umbraco's blog post on the 4.0.4 release.

http://umbraco.org/blog/2010/5/21/version-4041-is-out

Cheers, Lee.

Damn it! It was SO easy for a newb like myself.

So i guess the sql2008 express is the way to then?

Hi Martin, all is not lost... have a read over this wiki article:

http://our.umbraco.org/wiki/install-and-setup/using-umbraco-with-embeded-sql-database-(sqlexpress-user-instance)

ergh, the rich-text editor doesn't link up URLs with brackets in them.

Using umbraco with embeded SQL database (SQLExpress user instance)

Hmm...

I don't even know what this means:

1. Create empty userinstance database (.mdf file)
  1.1 Open VS, Create new website project called EmptyDBForUmbraco

Where and with what do i create the mdf file. Just like an empty notepad file?

What's VS ?

Isn't the 2008 sql express fine for a new umbraco project or?

VS means Visual Studio.  If you are not familiar with it, don't worry ... I've taken the liberty of creating an empty database for you.

You can download a ZIP of the App_Data folder here: http://senduit.com/01cce2

(The download for that link will expire in 1 week from now - a restriction of the senduit.com service).

Follow the rest of the instructions on the wiki article.  I can't guarantee that it's going to work straight-away, but it's worth trying.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers, Lee.

Sorry Martin, yes - you can use SQL2008 Express - no problem there.  I thought you wanted an embeddable database solution? (easier for XCOPY deployments, etc.)

Oh, but an embedded feature like this would be awesome too for smaller procjects.

Only one problem:

Database connection initialisation failed. The installer cannot connect to the database.

Conn. string:

Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\UmbracoDB.mdf;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;Database=UmbracoDB

I need express installed for this right?

Zing: * SQL Express must be installed

uhm.. i'm lost :/

I have both Microsoft SQL server 2008 and Microsoft SQL server 2008 RC2 installed. Then why does it fail ?

Database connection succeeded. Next step is adding umbraco tables

Wee - let's have a look if it works all the way through

Oh Sweet mother of Jesus

Lee.... U the man.

So this is just as easy as vistaDB to upload to host server when content has been set up?

Excellent, glad it worked Martin!  For deployment, you need to make sure that the connection to the database is closed.  In the wiki article, there's a note about using the AppOffline.htm file, (which basically unloads your web-app and drops the SQL connection).

Once the connection is closed, it should be a case of copying (XCOPY, ZIP, whatever), the entire site/folder and restore on the target web-server.

Cheers, Lee.

I can't get my hands down! :))

I don't see a refence to an actual file on the wikipage, so i presume i just make a blank one myself? And where to put it exactly?

The App_Offline.htm is one way to unload your web-app (and dropping database connections).  It can be an empty HTML file, or it you can put whatever you like in it too.  More details:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/10/06/426755.aspx

http://www.15seconds.com/issue/061207.htm

Other ways to do this could be...

• Touching the Web.config (which will reload your site, but that might kick in a connection to the database again - so not so good option)
• Stopping the website in IIS ... and/or recycle the associated application pool.

App_Offline.htm is probably the easiest option.

Cheers, Lee

Basically, if you place a file with this  name in the root of a web application directory, ASP.NET 2.0 will shut-down the application, unload the application domain from the 
server, and stop processing any new incoming requests for that application.  ASP.NET will also then respond to 
all requests for dynamic pages in the application by sending back the content of the app_offline.htm file (for example: you might want to have
 a “site under construction” or “down for maintenance” message).

Ok, this makes alot more sense now :-)

I'm totally new to umbraco and asp.net, so that's why i'm a little confused.

I want to thank you for all your time and your patience. This database solution is running SO MUCH better than that awful slow vistaDB solution, although it was easy.

What a difference!

Lee, again.... you're the man! ;-)

Hi Martin,

No problem at all, glad that its worked out well for you.  I can't take credit for the SQL user-instance database, Petr Snobelt wrote the wiki article.

As always, feel free to ask any questions about Umbraco/ASP.net - some one is always here to help - but you already knew that! :-)

Cheers, Lee.

Hi again Lee

I'm so happy with this work around, so i thought i might ask if it is possible to convert the VistaDB from my first umbraco project to a mdf database?

The performance boost is insane compared to vistaDB

Hi Martin,

I was about to recommend the VistaDB To SQL Server application - but the download has been removed due to (unknown) legal reasons.

Personally, I'd be looking for a way to script out all the table data from VistaDB, either via their Data Builder (if that's possible? and/or still available for download?), or Microsoft's Database Publishing Wizard.

Then you can run that script against SQL Server Express to import the data, (once you've got your standalone MDF open in there!).

Good luck, Lee.

Hmm i think it'll be equally fast for me, building the structure of the site from scratch and copy/paste the html.

Oh well, can't win them all :-)

Thanks for your reply anyway

Ok, one more time

I've added the app_offline.htm which made the connection close and the content of the app_offline.htm to be displayed.

I then uploaded my site, tested the adress and got the content from the app_offline. Then i renamed the app_offline, and now i get the following:

Server Error in '/' Application.


            
 Runtime Error 

            

             Description: An application error occurred on the 
server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent 
the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for 
security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on 
the local server machine.
            



            Details: To enable the details of this specific error
 message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a 
<customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file 
located in the root directory of the current web application. This 
<customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to 
"Off".



            

               

                  

                      
<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>






            


            Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be 
replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" 
attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to
 point to a custom error page URL.



            




<!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

I guess i need to change this string or?:

<sessionState mode="InProc" stateConnectionString="tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424" sqlConnectionString="data source=127.0.0.1;Trusted_Connection=yes" cookieless="false" timeout="20" />

Talked to my serverhost today and we're going to extract the data and move it to SQL as they don't have express installed on their server and probably are reluctant too.

Anyway, i think we'll figure it out. :-)

Hi Martin, not sure where you are with this now, hopefully your web-hosts have helped solved the problem.  As mentioned before, SQL Server needs to be installed for the user-instance (standalone) version to work, (Express edition is fine) - but if they don't have it (or want to install it), there's not much you can do about it.

As for the error/exception - difficult to know what caused that (probably that Umbraco couldn't connect to the database!).

Good luck, Lee.

Hi Lee

Well my hosting company is looking at the database as i type this. But i'm not sure that they know about the user instance setup, because afaik they DO have SQL server installed!?

Anyway, they're generally very helpful, so i hope for the best ;-)

Thanks for all your kind help!

Hi Martin, if you get the error again, then disable custom errors in your Web.config - so you can see the full exception and stack trace:

<customErrors mode="Off"/>

That will tell us what the problem is (hopefully).

Cheers, Lee.

Will do!

cheers

Hi again Lee

We got it to work, no problems :-)

The database got transfered to t-sql (what they said) and everything runs smoothly. Althouhg they did ask if i could use SQL solutions from now on ;-)

thanks again for your help

is working on a reply...