Visual C++ 6 Unleashed

By MICKEY WILLIAMS and David Bennett

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Authors
  • About the Contributors
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • How to Use This Book
  • What You Need to Use This Book
  • What's New in Visual C++ 6.0
  • Contacting the Main Author
  • Part I: Introduction
  • Chapter 1. The Visual C++ 6.0 Environment
  • Part II: MFC Programming
  • Chapter 2. MFC Class Library Overview
  • Chapter 3. MFC Message Handling Mechanism
  • Chapter 4. The Document View Architecture
  • Chapter 5. Creating and Using Dialog Boxes
  • Chapter 6. Working with Device Contexts and GDI Objects
  • Chapter 7. Creating and Using Property Sheets
  • Chapter 8. Working with the File System
  • Chapter 9. Using Serialization with File and Archive Objects
  • Part III: Internet Programming with MFC
  • Chapter 10. MFC and the Internet Server API (ISAPI)
  • Chapter 11. The WinInet API
  • Chapter 12. MFC HTML Support
  • Part IV: Advanced Programming Topics
  • Chapter 13. Using the Standard C++ Library
  • Chapter 14. Error Detection and Exception Handling Techniques
  • Chapter 15. Debugging and Profiling Strategies
  • Chapter 16. Multithreading
  • Chapter 17. Using Scripting and Other Tools to Automate the Visual C++ IDE
  • Part V: Database Programming
  • Chapter 18. Creating Custom AppWizards
  • Chapter 19. Database Overview
    • ODBC 4.0
    • OLE DB and ATL's Database Classes
    • ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)
    • MFC's Database Classes
    • Structured Query Language
    • Data Definition Language
    • Data Control Language
    • Data Manipulation Language
    • Summary
  • Chapter 20. ODBC Programming
  • Chapter 21. MFC Database Classes
  • Chapter 22. Using OLE DB
  • Chapter 23. Programming with ADO
  • Part VI: MFC Support for COM and ActiveX
  • Chapter 24. Overview of COM and Active Technologies
  • Chapter 25. Active Documents
  • Chapter 26. Active Containers
  • Chapter 27. Active Servers
  • Chapter 28. ActiveX Controls
  • Part VII: Using the Active Template Library
  • Chapter 29. ATL Architecture
  • Chapter 30. Creating COM Objects Using ATL
  • Chapter 31. Creating ActiveX Controls Using ATL
  • Chapter 32. Using ATL to Create MTS and COM+ Components
  • Part VIII: Finishing Touches
  • Chapter 33. Adding Windows Help
  • Part IX: Appendix

OLE DB and ATL's Database Classes

OLE DB is Microsoft's new database interface based on the Component Object Model (COM). This interface provides a great deal of flexibility, allowing you to access a wide range of different types of data sources, including just about any sort of data that can be represented in a tabular form, from Excel spreadsheets to special data acquisition hardware. OLE DB also provides the mechanisms that allow you to create OLE DB data source providers to meet the needs of your particular application. In addition to ODBC drivers, many databases, such as Oracle, Informix, and Microsoft SQL Server, either provide their own OLE DB drivers or have OLE DB drivers available from some other source.

Version 6 of Visual C++ allows the developer to use wizards to quickly develop OLE DB applications. Rather than being forced into using numerous COM interfaces and difficult coding, OLE DB development in Version 6 is quite simplified and should soon become the standard for Visual C++ database applications. MFC has added classes that allow easy OLE DB access. Furthermore, the ActiveX Template Libraries (ATL) use OLE DB to generate quick database applications that are smaller and run faster than equivalent MFC applications.

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