How to delete a row from a SQL Server CE Table with multiple JOINs?

Question

I want to delete a record from a SQL Server CE table.
There are 3 tables scripts, options and results. I would like to remove a record from the results table. The where clause contains dynamic information which retrieved via other queries to different tables in the same database. These queries work fine and deliver
the desired data.
The Compact server is a clone of a remote table created using the sync framework. The same query to the remote table works fine.
The error I get is:
There was an error parsing the query. [ Token line number = 1,Token line offset = 10,Token in error = from ]
The code that throws the exception is as follows:
Dim connLoc As SqlCeConnection = New SqlCeConnection(My.Settings.ConnectionString)connLoc.Open()     Dim strDel As String = "Delete r from ResultsTable r inner join OptionsTable o ON o.TestName=r.TestName inner join ScriptTable c ON r.TestName=c.TestName WHERE r.TestName = '" & ds1Loc.Tables(0).Rows(0)(1) & "' AND [Index] = '" & lstIndex & "'"Dim cmdDel As SqlCeCommand = New SqlCeCommandcmdDel.CommandText = strDelcmdDel.Connection = connLoccmdDel.ExecuteNonQuery()
The values held in ds1Loc.Tables(0).Rows(0)(1) and lstIndex are
correct so should not be the problem.
I also tried using parameterised queries
Dim strDel As String = "Delete r from [ResultsTable] r inner join [OptionsTable] o ON o.TestName=r.TestName inner join [ScriptTable] c ON r.TestName=c.TestName WHERE r.TestName = @TestName AND [Index] = @lstIndex"
Dim cmdDel As SqlCeCommand = New SqlCeCommand        cmdDel.CommandText = strDel       
With cmdDel.Parameters           
.Add(New SqlCeParameter("@TestName", ds1Loc.Tables(0).Rows(0)(1)))           
.Add(New SqlCeParameter("@lstIndex", lstIndex))       
End With 
cmdDel.Connection = connLoc        cmdDel.ExecuteNonQuery()
I have tried replacing the "=" with "IN" in the the WHERE clause but this has not worked.
Is it the join that is causing the problem? I can do a select with the same search criteria and joins from the same database.
Also this query works with SQL Server. Is it perhaps that SQL CE does not support the Delete function the same as SQL Server 2008? I have been looking at this for a while now and cannot find the source of the error. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hello,
In SQL Server Compact, we can use join in FROM clause. The DELETE statement fail may be caused by the FOREIGN KEY constraint.
Please refer to:
DELETE (SQL Server Compact)
FROM Clause (SQL Server Compact)
Regards,
Fanny Liu
Fanny Liu
TechNet Community Support