Lifetime of Storage Objects

The consumer releases a storage object created by the provider by calling Release on that object. If a provider supports DBPROP_MULTIPLESTORAGEOBJECTS = VT_FALSE, then the consumer must always call Release on the storage object to guarantee that a new storage object on any row can be opened. In addition, the storage object may enter a zombie state if one of the following events occurs:

• The consumer calls Release to release the rowset containing the row.
  
  
• The consumer calls IRowset::ReleaseRows to release the row containing the storage object.
  
  
• The consumer calls ITransaction::Commit or ITransaction::Abort and the retaining flag is set so that the rowset enters a zombie state.
  
  
• The consumer deletes the row containing the storage object and transmits the deletion to the data source.

When a storage object enters a zombie state, it is not automatically released. Instead, if the consumer calls any method on the storage object except Release, that method returns E_UNEXPECTED. It is the consumer's responsibility to release the storage object, even if it is in a zombie state.