In November 1992, Microsoft released its first desktop database product for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Access version 1.0. This product was singular in its ability to provide database functionality to a broad spectrum of Windows users — from complete beginners to seasoned developers — and quickly became the top-selling database for Windows. Powerful form and report engines accompanied by wizards helped Microsoft Access redefine the balance between ease of use and power. But hidden behind this new user interface was a piece of software every bit as powerful: the Microsoft Jet database engine.
A database engine is the component of an application that provides the link between an application and its data. Microsoft Jet is a powerful, application-independent, advanced database engine that can be used with a variety of programs from Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel to Microsoft Visual C++.
Database programs such as Microsoft Access consist of a number of important components, one of which is the database engine. The application’s user interface provides a means by which a user can interact with the database application. The database engine provides a means by which the application can interact with and manipulate data. Typically, users view and manipulate data through the application’s user interface. However, the Data Access Objects (DAO) of Microsoft Jet provide a means by which a programmer can manipulate the capabilities of the database engine directly. DAO is also an ActiveX component that supports Automation (formerly known as OLE Automation), and other applications that support Automation can access the Jet database engine programmatically by using DAO.
The Microsoft Jet database engine version 3.5 handles database processing for Microsoft Office 97 applications, Microsoft Visual Basic version 5.0, and Microsoft Visual C++ version 5.0. Microsoft Jet also exposes its services through Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) by using version 3.5 of the Microsoft Jet ODBC driver. Microsoft Jet exposes a rich and expanded set of features through DAO, which now includes a new client/server connection mode called ODBCDirect. In addition to data manipulation, Microsoft Jet services include support for data definition, multiuser services, advanced workgroup security, engine-level referential integrity, database replication and replication over the Internet or an intranet, query processing and updatable recordsets, query optimization (by using the Rushmore™ technology), transaction processing, and remote data access. The Jet database engine can read and write data stored in other database formats as well as data stored in spreadsheets, text files, HTML tables and lists, ODBC databases, and Microsoft Exchange folders and address books.