Within a scripting environment, ADO allows you to expose data by way of server-side scripting. In this scenario, ADO, the underlying OLE DB provider that it utilizes, and any other components needed to reference a given data store are installed on a server running Internet Information Services (IIS). Using Active Server Pages (ASP), ADO is a component referenced in a script that can generate HTML, for example. This HTML content can be passed via HTTP to a client Web browser. Through the use of scripting, the Web page can send actions back to the server-side script, allowing you to update, traverse, or view specific data.
One notable difference between scripting and non-scripting ADO code is the ODBC Data Source, if used. For non-scripting applications, you can create a User DSN in the ODBC Data Source Administrator. For scripts that are running under IIS, you must create a System DSN; otherwise your scripts won't recognize the data source you created. This applies to any ADO scripting application using the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC through Microsoft IIS.
The following topics contain more specific information about using ADO with scripting languages: