<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
ActiveX	B-Library
Data	I-Library
Objects	I-Library
(	O
ADO	O
)	O
comprises	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
Component	B-Application
Object	I-Application
Model	I-Application
(	O
COM	O
)	O
objects	O
for	O
accessing	O
data	O
sources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
part	O
of	O
MDAC	B-Library
(	O
Microsoft	B-Library
Data	I-Library
Access	I-Library
Components	I-Library
)	O
,	O
it	O
provides	O
a	O
middleware	B-General_Concept
layer	O
between	O
programming	O
languages	O
and	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
(	O
a	O
means	O
of	O
accessing	O
data	O
stores	O
,	O
whether	O
databases	O
or	O
not	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
uniform	O
manner	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ADO	O
allows	O
a	O
developer	B-Application
to	O
write	O
programs	O
that	O
access	O
data	O
without	O
knowing	O
how	O
the	O
database	O
is	O
implemented	O
;	O
developers	B-Application
must	O
be	O
aware	O
of	O
the	O
database	O
for	O
connection	O
only	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
No	O
knowledge	O
of	O
SQL	B-Language
is	O
required	O
to	O
access	O
a	O
database	O
when	O
using	O
ADO	O
,	O
although	O
one	O
can	O
use	O
ADO	O
to	O
execute	O
SQL	B-Language
commands	O
directly	O
(	O
with	O
the	O
disadvantage	O
of	O
introducing	O
a	O
dependency	O
upon	O
the	O
type	O
of	O
database	O
used	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
introduced	O
ADO	O
in	O
October	O
1996	O
,	O
positioning	O
the	O
software	O
as	O
a	O
successor	O
to	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
earlier	O
object	O
layers	O
for	O
accessing	O
data	O
sources	O
,	O
including	O
RDO	B-Device
(	O
Remote	B-Device
Data	I-Device
Objects	I-Device
)	O
and	O
DAO	B-Library
(	O
Data	B-Library
Access	I-Library
Objects	I-Library
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
Record	O
object	O
,	O
a	O
Field	O
can	O
be	O
an	O
absolute	O
or	O
relative	O
URL	O
that	O
points	O
into	O
a	O
tree-structured	O
namespace	O
(	O
used	O
for	O
semi-structured	B-Application
data	I-Application
providers	O
like	O
the	O
Microsoft	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
Provider	I-Language
for	O
Internet	O
Publishing	O
)	O
or	O
as	O
a	O
reference	O
to	O
the	O
default	O
Stream	O
object	O
associated	O
with	O
that	O
Record	O
object	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
connection	O
object	O
is	O
ADO	O
's	O
connection	O
to	O
a	O
data	O
store	O
via	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
some	O
data	O
stores	O
have	O
different	O
methods	O
of	O
establishing	O
a	O
connection	O
,	O
some	O
methods	O
may	O
not	O
be	O
supported	O
in	O
the	O
connection	O
object	O
for	O
particular	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
an	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
(	O
for	O
example	O
SQLOLEDB	O
)	O
,	O
using	O
the	O
syntax	O
"	O
provider	O
=	O
"	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	O
object	O
can	O
send	O
SQL	B-Language
queries	O
directly	O
to	O
the	O
provider	O
through	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
CommandText	O
property	O
,	O
send	O
a	O
parameterised	O
query	O
or	O
stored	B-General_Concept
procedure	I-General_Concept
through	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
a	O
Parameter	O
object	O
or	O
Parameters	O
collection	O
or	O
run	O
a	O
query	O
and	O
return	O
the	O
results	O
to	O
a	O
dataset	O
object	O
via	O
the	O
Execute	O
method	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Properties	O
collection	O
is	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
Property	O
objects	O
,	O
which	O
defines	O
a	O
particular	O
functionality	O
of	O
an	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
allows	O
it	O
,	O
transactions	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
start	O
the	O
transaction	O
,	O
the	O
programmer	B-Application
invokes	O
the	O
BeginTrans	O
method	O
and	O
does	O
the	O
required	O
updates	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
they	O
are	O
all	O
done	O
,	O
the	O
programmer	B-Application
invokes	O
the	O
CommitTrans	O
method	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
mostly	O
used	O
to	O
save	O
a	O
recordset	O
in	O
an	O
XML	O
format	O
,	O
to	O
send	O
commands	O
to	O
an	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
as	O
an	O
alternative	O
to	O
the	O
CommandText	O
object	O
and	O
to	O
contain	O
the	O
contents	O
of	O
a	O
binary	O
or	O
text	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
parameter	O
is	O
a	O
means	O
of	O
altering	O
the	O
behaviour	O
of	O
a	O
common	O
piece	O
of	O
functionality	O
,	O
for	O
instance	O
a	O
stored	B-General_Concept
procedure	I-General_Concept
might	O
have	O
different	O
parameters	O
passed	O
to	O
it	O
depending	O
on	O
what	O
needs	O
to	O
be	O
done	O
;	O
these	O
are	O
called	O
parameterised	O
commands	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
object	O
is	O
specific	O
to	O
the	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
and	O
defines	O
an	O
ability	O
that	O
the	O
provider	O
has	O
implemented	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
an	O
OLE	B-Language
DB	I-Language
provider	I-Language
error	O
occurs	O
during	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
ADO	O
,	O
an	O
Error	O
object	O
will	O
be	O
created	O
in	O
the	O
Errors	O
collection	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Populate	O
the	O
recordset	O
by	O
opening	O
it	O
and	O
passing	O
the	O
desired	O
table	O
name	O
or	O
SQL	B-Language
statement	O
as	O
a	O
parameter	O
to	O
open	O
function	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Here	O
is	O
an	O
ASP	B-General_Concept
example	O
using	O
ADO	O
to	O
select	O
the	O
"	O
Name	O
"	O
field	O
,	O
from	O
a	O
table	O
called	O
"	O
Phonebook	O
"	O
,	O
where	O
a	O
"	O
PhoneNumber	O
"	O
was	O
equal	O
to	O
"	O
555-5555	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
equivalent	O
to	O
the	O
following	O
ASP	B-General_Concept
code	O
,	O
which	O
uses	O
plain	O
SQL	B-Language
instead	O
of	O
the	O
functionality	O
of	O
the	O
Recordset	O
object	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
languages	O
include	O
ASP	B-General_Concept
,	O
Delphi	B-Language
,	O
PowerBuilder	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
for	I-Language
Applications	I-Language
(	O
VBA	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ADO.NET	B-Device
has	O
replaced	O
ADO	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
that	O
C#	O
/.NET	O
replaced	O
C/Win32	O
as	O
the	O
primary	O
mode	O
for	O
targeting	O
Windows	O
application	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ADO.NET	B-Device
follows	O
the	O
same	O
design	O
pattern	O
as	O
ADO	O
,	O
enabling	O
an	O
ADO	O
developer	B-Application
an	O
easy	O
path	O
forward	O
when	O
moving	O
to	O
the	O
.NET	O
framework	O
.	O
</s>
