Welcome to ADO for Windows CE

Microsoft® ActiveX® Data Objects (ADO) is a strategic, high-level interface to all types of data. ADO provides consistent, high-performance access to data, whether you are creating a front-end database client or a middle-tier business object using an application, tool, language, or Internet browser. ADO is part of the Microsoft Universal Data Access model, along with OLE DB and open database connectivity (ODBC).

The ActiveX Data Objects control for the Microsoft® Windows® CE operating system (ADOCE) provides a subset of ADO for Windows CE. ADOCE enables access to databases stored locally on a device instead of databases stored on other devices. For example, a docked Windows CE-based device cannot use ADOCE to access an SQL Server running on a network. ADOCE includes its own internal database provider.

With an ADOCE control, you can develop applications using the same ADO syntax you have available for programming on a desktop computer. ADOCE is based on ADO 1.0, with an emphasis on ADO recordset (ADO/R) functionality. Most of the new features in ADO 1.5 and later are client/server focused and are not included in ADOCE.

ADOCE requires minimal work to port existing ADO-based code and provides for increased future compatibility. Whenever possible, ADOCE returns the same error values and error strings as ADO, which maintains the separation of errors between OLE DB errors (DB_E_XXX) and native ADO errors (adErrXXX).

This document, The Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects for Windows CE Programmer’s Guide, explains how to use ADOCE. The first part of the Programmer’s Guide contains information on how to perform basic tasks, while the reference sections provide more specific information on syntax and the ADOCE object model.

This document includes the following sections:

Programmer’s Guide

• Moving Databases Between the Desktop and Device
• Listing All ADOCE Tables
• Creating a Table
• Storing and Retrieving Information
• Sorting a Table
• Distributing ADOCE Applications
• System Table Definitions

Reference

• ADO Reference
• SQL Reference
• Error Values

Database Conversion

• Importing Database Tables
• Exporting Database Tables
• Database Conversion Specifics
• Programming Interface

The following table shows sources of additional information on ADO and Universal Data Access.