Fast, consistent, and highly productive, ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) is the best of Microsoft's many data access programming models. This comprehensive tutorial will give any experienced VB developer true mastery over ADO. Filled with examples, tips, and solved problems from cover to cover, this is the comprehensive ADO guide for experienced Visual Basic developers. Master the ADO object model from start to finish -- database tools, creating data objects, Remote Data Service, data shaping, using the ADO control in Visual Basic applications, and ADO integration with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Learn how to use ADO to get high-performance access to data, whether you're creating a front-end database client or middle-tier business object, using an application, tool, language, or even an Internet browser. For every Visual Basic programmer who needs to access information stored in databases.

Table of Contents:
1. Visual Basic Database Programming. What Are Databases? Flat and Relational Databases. Multi-Tiered Database Architecture. Using Databases in Visual Basic. Using Data Controls. Using Database Object Libraries. DAO. The DAO Data Control. RDO. The RDO Data Control. ADO. Connection Objects. Command Objects. Parameter Objects. Recordset Objects. Field Objects. Error Objects. Property Objects. The ADO Data Control. Getting Started with the ADO Data Control. Adding an ADO Data Control to a Form. Creating a Connection String. Getting Records from a Database. Binding Controls to the ADO Data Control. What's New in Recent Versions of ADO? New in ADO 2.0. New in ADO 2.1. Writing Bulletproof Database Programs by Validating User Data. Data Validation Using the CausesValidation Property and Validate Event. Disabling and Hiding Controls. Form-Level Data Validation. Some Basic SQL. The SELECT Statement. Selecting Specific Fields. The WHERE Clause. The BETWEEN Clause. The LIKE Clause. The IN Clause. Logical Operations. The DISTINCT Clause. The Order BY Clause. The AS Clause. COUNT, SUM, MIN, MAX, and AVG. The GROUP BY Clause. The HAVING Clause. The DELETE Statement. The UPDATE Statement. Joining Tables. 2. Visual Basic Database Tools. The Visual Data Manager. Creating a New Database. Creating a New Table. Creating Fields in a Table. Adding Data to a Table. Editing a Database. Using the Query Builder. The Data Form Wizard. Data Environments. Data Environments at Design-Time. Data Environments at Run-Time. Creating a Data Environment. Data Views. Database Diagrams and the Database Designer. Tables. Views and the Query Designer. Stored Procedures. Triggers. Data Report Designer. Data Projects. Modeling Multi-Tier Database Architectures. The Microsoft Transaction Server. 3. Using the ADO Data Control. ADO Data Control Overview. Properties of the ADO Data Control. Align. Appearance. BackColor, ForeColor. BOFAction. CacheSize. Caption. CausesValidation. CommandTimeout. CommandType. ConnectionString. ConnectionTimeout. Container. CursorLocation. CursorType. DragIcon. DragMode. Enabled. EOFAction. Font. Height, Width. Index. Left, Top. LockType. MaxRecords. Mode. Negotiate. Orientation. Password. Recordset. RecordSource. Tag. ToolTipText. UserName. Visible. WhatsThisHelpID. Methods of the ADO Data Control. Drag. Move. Refresh. SetFocus. ShowWhatsThis. Zorder. Events of the ADO Data Control. Data Validation with the ADO Data Control. DragDrop. DragOver. EndOfRecordset. Error. FieldChangeComplete. MouseDown. MouseMove. MouseUp. MoveComplete. RecordChangeComplete. RecordsetChangeComplete. WillChangeField. WillChangeRecord. WillChangeRecordset. WillMove. Using the ADO Data Control. Adding an ADO Data Control to a Form. Connecting an ADO Data Control to a Data Source. Setting the Record Source. Binding to Text Boxes. Binding Controls from Code. Using the ADO Data Control's Recordset Object. Moving to the Next Record. Moving to the Previous Record. Moving to the First Record. Moving to the Last Record. Adding Records. Deleting Records. Refreshing the ADO Data Control. Updating a Database. 4. Using Data-Bound Controls. Data Binding Overview. Data Binding Properties. Text Boxes, RichTextBoxes, Masked Edit Controls, and Labels. Check Boxes. Picture Boxes, Image Controls, and OLE Controls. List Boxes and Combo Boxes. DateTimePickers and MonthViews. DataRepeaters. Charts. DBLists and DBCombos. Hierarchical FlexGrids. DataLists and DataCombos. DataGrids. Using Standard Data Binding. Using ADO Data Binding. Using the DataCombo Control. Using the DataList Control. Using the DataGrid Control. Using the Hierarchical FlexGrid Control. Binding to a Data Environment. Data Binding at Run-Time. 5. Connecting to Databases. Connecting with an ADO Data Control. Connecting with a Data Environment. Connecting with a Connection Object. Connection Object Properties. Attributes. CommandTimeout. ConnectionString. ConnectionTimeout. CursorLocation. DefaultDatabase. IsolationLevel. Mode. Provider. State. Connection Object Methods. BeginTrans. Cancel. Close. CommitTrans. Execute. Open. OpenSchema. RollbackTrans. Connection Object Events. BeginTransComplete. CommitTransComplete. ConnectComplete. Disconnect. ExecuteComplete. InfoMessage. RollbackTransComplete. WillConnect. WillExecute. Connection Object Collections. Creating Connection Strings. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Index Server. Connection String Parameters for OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Jet. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server. Programming with the ADO Library in Code. Opening ADO Connections. Opening a Connection Asynchronously. Setting Cursor Location. Closing Connections. Opening Recordsets with Connections. Using the Connection Object's Execute Method. Using Transactions. Connection Pooling. 6. Using ADO Commands. Using Commands in ADO Data Controls. Using Commands in Data Environments. Using ADO Command Objects. Command Object Properties. ActiveConnection. CommandText. CommandTimeout. CommandType. Prepared. State. Command Object Methods. Cancel. CreateParameter. Execute. Command Object Collections. Parameters. Properties. Parameter Objects. Parameter Object Properties. Attributes. Direction. Name. NumericScale. Precision. Size. Type. Value. Parameter Object Methods. AppendChunk. Parameter Object Collections. Properties. Command Text By OLE DB Provider. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Index Server. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Active Directory Service. OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Jet. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server. Executing Commands. Opening Tables. Executing SQL. Commands as Connection Methods. Using Parameters. Using Parameters with Commands as Connection Methods. Using Stored Procedures. Using Stored Procedures as Connection Methods. Adding Images to Parameters. Command Object Return Values. 7. The ADO Recordset Object. Using ADO Recordsets in ADO Data Controls. Using ADO Recordsets in Data Environments. ADO Recordset Objects. Recordset Properties. AbsolutePage. AbsolutePosition. ActiveCommand. ActiveConnection. BOF. Bookmark. CacheSize. CursorLocation. CursorType. DataMember. DataSource. EditMode. EOF. Filter. LockType. MarshalOptions. MaxRecords. PageCount. PageSize. RecordCount. Sort. Source. State. Status. StayInSync. Recordset Methods. AddNew. Cancel. CancelBatch. CancelUpdate. Clone. Close. CompareBookmarks. Delete. Find. GetRows. GetString. Move. MoveFirst. MoveLast. MoveNext. MovePrevious. NextRecordset. Open. Requery. Resync. Save. Supports. Update. UpdateBatch. Recordset Events. EndOfRecordset. FetchComplete. FetchProgress. FieldChangeComplete. MoveComplete. RecordChangeComplete. RecordsetChange Complete. WillChangeField. WillChangeRecord. WillChangeRecordset. WillMove. Recordset Collections. Fields. Properties. Recordset Properties and Methods by OLE DB Provider. Microsoft ODBC OLE DB Provider. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Index Server. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Active Directory Service. OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Jet. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server. ADO Field Objects. Field Properties. ActualSize. Attributes. DataFormat. DefinedSize. Name. NumericScale. OriginalValue. Precision. Type. UnderlyingValue. Value. Field Methods. AppendChunk. GetChunk. Field Collections. Properties. 8. Using Recordsets in Code. Opening Recordsets. Connection Execute. Recordset Open. Command Execute. Using Parameters. Working with Recordsets Asynchronously. Closing Recordsets. Navigating in a Recordset. Using Bookmarks for Navigation. Modifying Field Data. Binding Controls to a Recordset in Code. Editing Fields in Code. Updating Databases. Batch Updating. Deleting Records. Adding New Records. Using Recordset Events. Validating Data. Searching a Recordset. Using the Optimize Property. Sorting a Recordset. Filtering a Recordset. Server Synchronization. Using Disconnected Recordsets. Persisting Recordsets. Creating an ADO Recordset in Code. Exporting Recordsets. Exporting to CSV Format. Exporting to Microsoft Excel. 9. DO Collections. The ADO Collections in Overview. The Parameters Collection. The Fields Collection. The Errors Collection. The Properties Collection. The Parameters Collection. Parameters Collection Property. Count. Parameters Collection Methods. Append. Delete. Item. Refresh. The Fields Collection. Fields Collection Property. Count. Fields Collection Methods. Append. Delete. Item. Refresh. The Error Object. Error Object Properties. Description. HelpContext. HelpFile. NativeError. Number. Source. SQLState. The Errors Collection. Errors Collection Property. Count. Errors Collection Methods. Clear. Item. Using the Errors Collection. ADO Dynamic Properties. The Property Object. Attributes. Type. Name. Value. The Properties Collection. Properties Collection Property. Count. Properties Collection Methods. Item. Refresh. Connection Object Dynamic Properties. Recordset Object Dynamic Properties. Field Object Dynamic Properties. Dynamic Property Enumeration Values. Dynamic Properties by Provider. Microsoft Jet Dynamic Properties. SQL Server Dynamic Properties. Using Dynamic Properties. 10. Creating Data-Aware Objects and ActiveX Controls. ActiveX Control Overview. Lifetime of an ActiveX Control. The Ambient and Extender Properties. Asynchronous Reading. The Initialize, InitializeProperties, and Terminate Events. Persisting Properties. Design-Time and Run-Time. Creating an ActiveX Control. Designing a User-Drawn ActiveX Control. Testing an ActiveX Control. Testing a Control in a Web Page. Testing a Control In-Process. Testing a Control Out-of-Process. Basing ActiveX Controls on Existing Controls. Constituent Controls in ActiveX Controls. Creating ActiveX Control Properties. Server Side. Client Side. Creating Read-Only Properties. Creating ActiveX Control Methods. Server Side. Client Side. Creating ActiveX Control Events. Server Side. Client Side. Creating Persistent Properties. Using InitProperties to Set Defaults. Using the ActiveX Control Interface Wizard. Creating and Supporting Property Pages. Customizing Property Pages. How Property Pages Work. Making an ActiveX Control into a Data-Bound Control. Creating the Control. Using the CanPropertyChange Method. Creating the Client. The DataBindings Collection. Creating an ActiveX Control that is a Data Source. Creating the Control. Creating the Client. Creating Invisible Data Controls, Control Containers, and Enumerated Properties. Creating and Using Data Objects. 11. ADO and the Internet. HTML-Bound Tags. The MSHTML Data Source Control. Navigating with the MSHTML Control. Creating Tables with the MSHTML Control. The Tabular Data Control. Navigating with the TDC. Creating Tables with the TDC. The XML Data Source Control. Navigating with the XML Data Source Control. Creating Tables with the XML Data Source Control. JDBC Data Source Applet. Handling Hierarchical Data in XML. Using Recordsets in Web Page Code. ADO and Dynamic HTML. Using Dynamic HTML. Overwriting Elements and Using GetString. 12. Remote Data Service and Active Server Pages. Web Server Requirements. The Remote Data Services (RDS). The RDS DataControl. The RDS DataControl Properties. Connect. ExecuteOptions. FetchOptions. FilterColumn. FilterCriterion. FilterValue. InternetTimeout. ReadyState. Recordset and SourceRecordset. Server. SortColumn. SortDirection. SQL. The RDS DataControl Methods. Cancel. CancelUpdate. CreateRecordset. MoveFirst, MoveLast, MoveNext, and MovePrevious Methods. Refresh. Reset. SubmitChanges. The RDS DataControl Events. onDataAvailable. onDatasetChanged. onDatasetComplete. onError. onReadyStateChange. onRowEnter. onRowExit. Navigating with the RDS DataControl. Creating Tables with the RDS DataControl. The DataFactory Object. The DataFactory Object Methods. ConvertToString. CreateRecordset. Query. SubmitChanges. The DataSpace Object. The DataSpace Object Property. InternetTimeout. The DataSpace Object Method. CreateObject. Using the DataFactory and DataSpace Objects. Custom Business Objects. Creating Recordsets. ADO and Active Server Pages. 13. Data Shaping and ADOX. Data Shaping. The OLE DB Provider for Data Shaping. The Shape Language. The Shape APPEND Command. Aggregate Functions, the CALC Function, and the NEW Keyword. The Shape COMPUTE Command. Using Hierarchical Recordsets. Displaying Hierarchical Recordsets. Accessing Records in Hierarchical Recordsets. Multiple Children and Grandchildren. Creating Shape Commands with Data Environments. ADO Extensions: ADOX. The ADOX Objects. The ADOX Collections. The ADOX Properties. The ADOX Methods. Putting ADOX to Work. Index.