Creating SDF on desktop

I have read all posts in this forum, but the answers for the main questions are still not completely clear for me. My scenario is smilar than other described cases.

I would like to send a large amount of data to a Windows CE device which runs SQL Server Mobile Edition 2005. Replication is not possible, cause the desktop size of software sometimes uses Oracle or earlier versions of MSSQL Server (for e.g. MSSQL 7.0).

For syncrhonizing data we have two possibilities:

1. sending the data in some format (csv, xml, etc...) to the Windows CE device, parse this file and insert the data into a database, the speed of this is unacceptable, so if it is possible I wouldn't like to use this method

2. Create the SDF file on desktop side, it would be very fast, because it makes unnecessary the post processing on a slow Windows CE device. So please give me a short (YES / NO is completely enough) answer to this: is there any *LEGAL* way to create an SDF file for SQL Server Mobile Edition without buying VS2005 or MSSQL2005 licenses for the desktop computer?

Thx for any help in advance. If the question was answered clear earlier, sorry for wasting time. I think a lot of us struggling with this problem.

Your answer is YES: just download the SQL Compact Edition RC1 from Microsoft's website. You will get all the desktop bits that will allow you to create SDF files on the desktop although you will not be able to use it from within an IIS process.

Importing text files on the device is not a bad option per se, but using the Compact Framework to do it... My experience with OLE DB allows me to insert 150,000 rows in a fully indexed table in 7 minutes. This sometimes is the best approach because when updating a very large SDF file you have to factor in the tranfer times (desktop SDF generation time + time to transfer to device).

|||It is possible to use CE under IIS - see here in Steve Lasker's Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/stevelasker/

I am surprised it takes as long as 7 minutes - this was the code we used to install 10,000 rows in 2 seconds

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=926404&SiteID=1|||The IIS stuff is good news. I will take a look at Steve's blog - thanks for the heads up. The 7 minutes involves converting data on the device from a zipped text file. The target table has 6 indexes, a PK and an FK and the target database resides on a CF card (on an iPAQ 2210).|||Hi, I think you are the same person who wrote me answers to the Primeworks Forum (http://www.primeworks-mobile.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=349) :-)) So thx once again your support, my problem is solved, and all I can say for everyone who would like to use SDF files on desktop size, use the Primeworks DesktopSqlCe component. It is worth to pay the price for this, you will gain a lot of time with avoid unnecessary research, investigation and finding/testing the good solution.