Select Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects x.x Library from the list. Verify that at least the following libraries are also selected: Visual Basic for Applications. Microsoft Access 8.0 Object Library (or later) Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library (or later) Click OK. Creating ADO Objects in Visual Basic.
-->ADO is used in C++ programs to connect to SQL Server. Of course, it also works to connect to Azure SQL Database in the cloud.
Each section in this article describes a component of ADO.
Note
ADO.NET is different than ADO. ADO.NET, and many other SQL connection drivers and their languages, are discussed starting at SQL Server Drivers.
ADO
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) enable your client applications to access and manipulate data from a variety of sources through an OLE DB provider. Its primary benefits are ease of use, high speed, low memory overhead, and a small disk footprint. ADO supports key features for building client/server and Web-based applications.
ADO MD
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (Multidimensional) (ADO MD) provides easy access to multidimensional data from languages such as Microsoft Visual Basic, and Microsoft Visual C++. ADO MD extends Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to include objects specific to multidimensional data, such as the CubeDef and Cellset objects. With ADO MD you can browse multidimensional schema, query a cube, and retrieve the results.
Like ADO, ADO MD uses an underlying OLE DB provider to gain access to data. To work with ADO MD, the provider must be a multidimensional data provider (MDP) as defined by the OLE DB for OLAP specification. MDPs present data in multidimensional views as opposed to tabular data providers (TDPs) that present data in tabular views. Refer to the documentation for your OLAP OLE DB provider for more detailed information about the specific syntax and behaviors supported by your provider.
RDS
Remote Data Service (RDS) is a feature of ADO, with which you can move data from a server to a client application or Web page, manipulate the data on the client, and return updates to the server in a single round trip.
Important
Beginning with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, RDS server components are no longer included in the Windows operating system (see Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Compatibility Cookbook for more detail). RDS client components will be removed in a future version of Windows. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature. Applications that use RDS should migrate to WCF Data Service.
ADOX
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects Extensions for Data Definition Language and Security (ADOX) is an extension to the ADO objects and programming model. ADOX includes objects for schema creation and modification, as well as security. Because it is an object-based approach to schema manipulation, you can write code that will work against various data sources regardless of differences in their native syntaxes.
ADOX is a companion library to the core ADO objects. It exposes additional objects for creating, modifying, and deleting schema objects, such as tables and procedures. It also includes security objects to maintain users and groups and to grant and revoke permissions on objects.
Documentation
An introduction to using ADO, RDS, ADO MD, and ADOX.
This section of the ADO documentation contains topics for each ADO, RDS, ADO MD, and ADOX object, collection, property, dynamic property, method, event, and enumeration.
Support
For free help with ADO issues, try posting to the ADO public newsgroup. This newsgroup is monitored by Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) support professionals who cover ADO, and by other experienced ADO developers.
Further information about support options can be found on the Microsoft Help and Support Web site.
-->Applies to: Access 2013, Office 2013
Microsoft Access provides three object models to use in the creation, maintaining, and managing of your Access databases and their related data by using Visual Basic.
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)
ADO contains the objects needed to create, maintain, and delete records in a given datasource.
Microsoft ADO ext. for DDL and security (ADOX)
ADOX provides the Data Definition Language (DDL) objects needed to create a new database and its contained objects in addition to the objects needed to manage security.
Microsoft Jet and Replication Objects 2.5 library (JRO)
Because ADO objects were designed to work with many databases in addition to Microsoft Jet databases, functionality specific to Jet was broken out into the JRO library.
The following table lists the functionality provided by each compared to DAO.
Functionality | DAO | ADO1 | ADOX2 | JRO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Create Recordsets. | X | X | ||
Edit Startup properties. | X | X** | ||
Support ANSI92 SQL.*** | X | X | ||
Create tables. | X | X | ||
Create new database. | X | X* | ||
Edit existing table properties. | X | X | ||
Create table relationships. | X | X* | ||
Edit security settings. | X | X* | ||
Support for Compression attribute for column data. | X | |||
Edit stored, basic SQL queries or views. | X | X* | ||
Create permanent queries that are accessible only through code. | X* | |||
Create queries accessible through database container/UI and code. | X | |||
Compact/encode database. | X | X4 | ||
Refresh cache. | X | X | ||
Make database replicable. | X | X3 | ||
Make database replicas. | X | X3 | ||
Synchronize replicas. | X | X3 | ||
Edit database properties. | X | |||
Create custom database properties. | X | |||
Edit table column properties. | X |
* Only available when working with Microsoft Access databases. Future versions of the SQL Provider may provide this functionality in Microsoft Access projects (.adp).
** Only available when working with Access projects.
*** Although the Access database engine does support some ANSI 92 SQL, it is not yet fully ANSI92-compliant.
1 Uses Connection object to reference database.
Which Microsoft Activex Data Objects Library
2 Uses Catalog object to reference database.
Microsoft Activex Data Objects Download
3 Uses Replica object to reference database.
4 Uses JetEngine object to reference database.
Note
Unlike DAO, ADO and ADOX objects can perform the marked actions in databases other than Jet as long as the provider for those databases supports that action.