dbDAO Classes

The dbDAO classes expose the same DAO functionality as Visual Basic and use similar syntax. By handling such tasks as managing object instance lifetimes, these classes make programming in C++ as convenient as programming in Visual Basic. The dbDAO classes are available in the DAO SDK.

For the DAO programmer familiar with Visual Basic, programming with the DAO interfaces requires acquiring additional knowledge about COM. Using the dbDAO classes has these advantages:

• Requires limited COM knowledge. The dbDAO classes handle reference counting (using the AddRef and Release methods), support dynamic allocation and deallocation of objects, and provide full collection support. They also use native C++ data types where possible, or standard OLE variants.
  
  
• Requires limited C++ knowledge. The syntax of the C++ calls is very similar to Visual Basic.
  
  
• Supports bulk fetches directly into an application-defined data structure.

With the addition of a 190-K DLL, the dbDAO classes enable you to write more concise code without needing to track object lifetimes. Conveniences, such as classes that handle variants (often the required type used by DAO properties and methods), make programming much easier. Rather than filling out the VARIANT structure, you can simply cast the variable to the appropriate class.

Like the DAO interfaces, the dbDAO classes expose the full functionality of DAO properties and methods. The dbDAO classes were designed to be nearly as efficient as programming directly to the Automation object. They are part of the DAO SDK.