ODBC and MFC

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Important   To use the MFC database classes for targeting a Win32 platform (such as Windows NT), you must have the 32-bit ODBC driver for your data source. Some drivers are included with Visual C++; others can be obtained from Microsoft and other vendors. For more information, see the article ODBC Driver List.

This article introduces the main concepts of the Microsoft Foundation Class Library’s ODBC-based database classes and provides an overview of how the classes work together. (For information about using the MFC DAO classes instead, see the article Database Topics (DAO).) Topics covered in this article include:

• Connecting to a data source
  
  
• Selecting and manipulating records
  
  
• Displaying and manipulating data in a form
  
  
• Working with documents and views
  
  
• Access to ODBC and SQL
  
  
• Further reading about the MFC ODBC classes

The MFC database classes based on ODBC are designed to provide access to any database for which an ODBC driver is available. Because the classes use ODBC, your application can access data in many different data formats and different local/remote configurations. You do not have to write special-case code to handle different database management systems (DBMSs). As long as your users have an appropriate 32-bit ODBC driver for the data they wish to access, they can use your program to manipulate data in tables stored there.