The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

February 2000

ADO Quickstart (Con’t from page 6)

ProgID: ADODB.Connection

The purpose of the Connection object is to provide access to a

data store. To illustrate, the following code creates an ADO

Connection object:

oConnection = CreateObject(”adodb.connection”)

Once an ADO Connection object has been created, you can

access its data store. An active connection can be established

by providing a few pieces of key information and invoking the

Open() method of the Connection object. The following code

opens a connection to the Visual FoxPro TasTrade database:

oConnection.Open(”TasTrade”)

Alternatively, the following code accesses the SQL Server

Northwind database:

oConnection.Open("Northwind", "sa","")

These two examples work with the OLE DB Provider for ODBC

drivers. Different OLE DB providers can be used as well. The

following example sets some common properties of the Connec-

tion object and uses the OLE DB Provider for SQL Server:

With oconnection

.Provider = “SQLOLEDB.1”

.ConnectlonString = “Persist Security Info=False;User

1D=sa;Initial Catalog=Northwind;Data Source=JVP”

Open

EndWith

Using and creating data link files

The syntax of the ConnectionStnng property appears compli-

cated. Fortunately, you don’t have to code this by hand. When

you install the Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC),

you can create a data link file.

To create a data link file:

1.Right-click your desktop and choose New\Microsoft Data Link

from the pop-up menu.

2.Specify a name for the file.

3.Right-click and select Properties to modify the file properties.

4.ln the Properties dialog box, click the Provider tab, and

choose a provider. The OLE DB Provider for ODBC is the

default choice. For this example, select the OLE DB Provider for

SQL Server.

5.Click the Connection tab.

6.Specify the name of the server, your user name and pass-

word, and the name of the database you wish to connect to.

7.Open the UDL file in Notepad.

Now, it is just a matter of copying and pasting the information.

Alternatively, you can use the file itself:

oConnection.Open(”File Name=c:\temp\test.udl”)

ADO recognizes four arguments in the ConnectionString:

+ File Name: Specifies the name of a UDL file to use.

+ Provider: Specifies the name of an OLE DB provider to use.

+ Remote Provider: Specifies the name of a provider to use with

Remote Data Services (RDS).

+ Remote Server: Specifies the server on which data resides

(Con’t, page 8)

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