Almost all applications require some form of data access. For standalone desktop applications, local data access is typically easy to implement with little or no programming effort. For enterprise applications, data access is considerably more complex, often involving remote data sources with different data formats and storage mechanisms.
Developers often ask the question: "Which data access technology should I use to build this enterprise application?" To answer this question, you need to keep two critical points in mind: the importance of code reuse and developers' ability to implement the chosen interface. Often developers implement an exotic data access solution in a quest for better performance or more control, only to create an application that is an expensive maintenance burden. The newer data access technologies typically reduce development time, simplify code, and yet still provide high performance while exposing all of the required functionality.
You can effectively use virtually all of the Microsoft data access technologies in most situations. Nevertheless, each data access technology has its relative strengths. If your application requires data access, you'll want to understand the unique data access implementation and usage issues specific to each data access method.
The following sections will help you choose the right data access technology for your enterprise application.
| Section | Description |
| Making Data Access Easier | Explains how OLE DB and ADO can provide data access to all types of data everywhere. |
| Data Access Using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) | Describes the ADO data access technology, its object model, and when to use it. |
| Data Access Using Remote Data Objects (RDO) | Describes the RDO data access technology, its object model, and when to use it. |
| Data Access Using ODBCDirect | Describes the ODBCDirect data access technology, its object model, and when to use it. |
| Data Access Using Data Access Objects (DAO) | Describes the DAO data access technology, its object model, and when to use it. |
| Data Access Using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) | Describes the ODBC data access technology, its architecture, and when to use it. |
| Choosing a Data Access Strategy | Recommends some useful strategies for the data access requirements of your enterprise application. |
For More Information For more information on using Microsoft data access technologies in distributed application architectures, see Assembling Enterprise Technologies in Chapter 3 of this book. For more information on third-party data access products, search for "Third-Party Component Products and Services for Microsoft Development Tools" in MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0. For current information on Microsoft data access technologies, see http://www.microsoft.com/data.