D

DAO: See Data Access Objects.
Data Access Objects (DAO): A programming interface to access and manipulate database objects. DAO includes the full functionality of the Microsoft® Jet database engine for local data management.
data binding: A characteristic of ActiveX® controls that associates a property of a control with a specific field in a database.
data file: A file that stores SQL Server data and objects, such as tables, triggers, and stored procedures. Databases can span multiple data files. See also primary data file and secondary data file.
data services: The functionality provided by the data-services tier of a Windows DNA application. These services include the ability to define, maintain, access, and update data. Data services manage and satisfy requests for data generated by business services, and are often implemented as stored procedures or COM components. For more information, see Data Services Described.
data source name (DSN): An ODBC term for the collection of information used to connect your application to a particular ODBC database. The ODBC Driver Manager uses this information to create a connection to the database. A DSN can be stored in a file (a file DSN) or in the Windows® registry (a machine DSN).
Data Source Object (DSO): Provides data to an HTML page. The data is embedded using data binding. Users can then sort and filter the data as they would a database, without needing to return to the server. DSOs supply data asynchronously to the page, similar to the way GIF images are displayed incrementally as they are transmitted. The DSO is part of the MSXML.DLL component.
database diagram: A graphical representation of tables in a SQL Server™ database. A database diagram displays columns contained within tables, relationships between tables, and indexes and constraints attached to tables.
DCOM: See distributed Component Object Model.
default: A named default definition that has a default value attribute. The DEFAULT object can be associated with table columns or user-defined data types.
design-time control: A tool whose user interface is visible only at development time. Developers use it to input settings that define the behavior of run-time script that the control generates. Only this generated script, and not the control's user interface, is present at run time.
DHCP: See Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
DHTML: See dynamic HTML.
directory: (Microsoft Exchange Server) A Microsoft Exchange Server component that serves as the central repository of user information and Microsoft Exchange Server information for an organization. The directory for Microsoft Exchange Server consists of the directory information tree (DIT) and the directory schema.
distributed Component Object Model (DCOM): An object protocol that enables ActiveX components to communicate directly with each other across a network. DCOM is language-neutral, so any language that produces ActiveX components can also produce DCOM applications.
DNA: See Microsoft Windows Distributed interNet Applications Architecture.
DNS: See Domain Name System.
document element: The top-level element of an XML document; only one top-level element is allowed. The document element is a child of the document root.
Document Object Model: (HTML) The representation of dynamic HTML documents that allows programmers direct access to the individual components of their Web documents. This access, combined with the event model, allows the browser to react to user input, execute scripts on the fly, and display the new content without downloading additional documents from a server.
(XML) The standard maintained by the W3C that specifies how the content, structure, and appearance of Web documents can be updated programmatically with scripts or other programs. The proposed object model for XML matches the Document Object Model for HTML so that script writers can easily learn XML programming. The XML DOM will provide a simple means of reading and writing data to and from an XML tree structure.
document root: The top-level node of an XML document; its descendants branch out from it to form the XML tree for that document. The document root contains the document element and can also contain a set of processing instructions and comments.
document type declaration: XML structural construct. A production within an XML document that contains or points to markup declarations that provide a grammar for a class of documents. This grammar is known as a Document Type Definition (DTD). The document type declaration can point to an external subset (a special kind of external entity) containing markup declarations, or can contain the markup declarations directly in an internal subset, or both. The DTD for a document consists of both subsets taken together. The syntax of the document type declaration is <!DOCTYPE content >.
Document Type Definition (DTD): The markup declarations that describe a grammar for a class of documents. The DTD is declared within the document type declaration production of the XML file. The markup declarations can be in an external subset (a special kind of external entity), in an internal subset directly within the XML file, or both. The DTD for a document consists of both subsets taken together. See also schema.
DOM: See Document Object Model.
Domain Name System (DNS): A protocol that provides an Internet-wide database of host and domain names. For example, DNS is used to find the IP address of a host name written as, for example, microsoft.com. Domain Name Service (also called DNS) implements the Domain Name System.
DSN: See data source name.
DSO: See Data Source Object.
DTC: See Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator.
DTD: See Document Type Definition.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP): A protocol for assigning IP addresses to computers and other devices on a TCP/IP network. Dynamic addressing permits a computer to have a different address each time it logs on to a network. Internet service providers (ISPs) often use dynamic addressing for users who connect to the Internet with a modem.
dynamic HTML (DHTML): A feature included in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and later that gives Web developers the ability to create interactive Web pages that can feature multimedia effects. Using the scripting language of your choice, you can create, move, and modify all the elements of a Web page—tags, attributes, images, objects, text, and CSS. Dynamic HTML also provides full support for keyboard, mouse, and focus events on all page elements.
dynamic load balancing: A feature of a system or network that designates a server to constantly monitor the workload of participating network resources and to pass client requests to the most appropriate server. Dynamic load balancing is implemented in COM+.
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