ServerVersion = 'conn.ServerVersion' threw an exception of type 'System.InvalidOperationException'
<p>I've seen this error answered for other people, but I can't seem to get it to work.  I'm trying to connect to a SQL Server Database project locally.</p>

<p>I'm getting this error thrown on Open() when I do the follow:</p>

<pre><code>SqlConnection conn = null;
conn = new SqlConnection(connection)
conn.Open()
</code></pre>

<p>Where connection is a connection string passed from my webconfig.  I've found examples online and tried these three connection strings and I get the same error every time:</p>

<pre><code>&lt;add name="TICKETING_CONNECTION" connectionString="Server=(local); DataBase=Ticketing_DB; Integrated Security=SSPI"/&gt;

&lt;add name="CONN"
connectionString="Data Source=localhost; Integrated Security=SSPI;Initial Catalog=Ticketing_DB"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" /&gt;

&lt;add name="CONN2"
connectionString="Data Source=(local);Initial Catalog=Ticketing_DB;"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"
/&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>Could the problem be stemming from the path of where the database is located on my machine?  I've tried copying the c:\ path but didn't have any luck.  I've seen some examples online use a .mdf file, but my project does not have this file either.</p>

<p>This is my first time trying to connect to a database project, so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated</p>