In native C++, how does one use a SqlCe .sdf database?

Is there a simple way, without .NET?

I've found some libraries but none for SqlCe 3.5. There is http://sqlcehelper.codeplex.com/ but it's far from done, since a major feature like using a password is not yet implemented. I've looked at the source and it uses OLEdb to handle the database.

The official Microsoft Northwind example (that is shipped with SQL Compact 3.1, but not with 3.5) also doesn't work, I've tried setting it up with no success.

Actually I don't have a sample working code. Was anyone able to set it up paired with a passworded .sdf? Wha开发者_开发知识库t are the alternatives? Thanks.

Several months ago, I compared certain database implementations for our desktop application. Using SqlCE with native C++ code is awful. If I remember right, some of native examples contains "goto" type jumps, hard to bind data and so on. If you have a choice then use SQLite.