ADO OVERVIEW

For many years, Microsoft has implemented and supported a database programming architecture called ADO (ActiveX Data Objects), which is an object-based programming model that allows programmers in many Microsoft programming languages such as Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual Basic, ASP.NET (Active Server Pages), and of course VBA to access and manage data sources. ADO has become Microsoft’s most important and reliable method for data source connectivity, retrieval, and management.

Data sources can be as simple as text files, or they can be more sophisticated relational data sources such as Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, or even non-Microsoft databases like Oracle’s RDBMS. Specifically, ADO enables you to connect to data sources that support open database connectivity (ODBC). ADO also allows you to leverage the power of structured query language (SQL) for those data sources that support it.