How to Fix "Connections to SQL Server files (*.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly."

I have a 64-bit PC with Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2008 with SP1 installed on it. When I tried to add new a SQL Server 2008 express database into the App_Data folder of my Website project I got the following error:

"Connections to SQL Server files (*.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly. Please verify the installation of the component of download from the URL:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=49251"


This problem occurs because Visual Studio 2008 SP1 incorrectly detects some registry keys for a 64-bit installation of SQL Server Express 2008. To fix this issue I had to download a hotfix for Visual Studio 2008 which is available HERE.

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Using LINQ With Strings

LINQ can be used to perform query operations on objects which implement the IEnumerable<T>. Since the String class implements the IEnumerable<char> interface we can perform various string operations using LINQ. In the below example I have used LINQ to extract the common characters in two strings.

Note: For some weired reason Visual Studio doesn't show the LINQ extension methods in the intellisense for string objects.

string str1 = "abc";
 string str2 = "bcd";

Func match = (s,c) => s.Contains(c);

 var chars = from c in str1
             where match(str2, c)
             select c;

 foreach (var c in chars)
  {
    Console.WriteLine(c);
  }
 Console.Read();

Here is the Output:

Output

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