What is the difference between ADO and ODBC ?

[ciamack]

Regarding CGI programing:

I am new to DB in Perl and I'm not sure what the difference between these 2 methods below is. I have a MS access mdb file with tables and data on a server. I can't ask my ISP to create a DSN for me. I have used "method2" below and it works fine.

• I wonder if these methods are multi threading?
• If several users access access my DB at the same time it will function properly?

Thank you in advance.

method 1:

use Win32::OLE;

$ConnStr = "DSN=DsnName;UID=UserName;PWD=pass; 
            APP=PerlTest;WSID=MyComp;DATABASE=MyDB";

$Conn = Win32::OLE->new('ADODB.Connection'); 
$Conn->Open($ConnStr);

method 2:

use Win32::ODBC;

$DriverType = "Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)"; 
$DSN = "Win32 ODBC --MAOmaoMAOmaoMAO--"; 
$Dir = "c:\\perl\\cgi-bin"; 
$DBase = "mydb.mdb";

Win32::ODBC::ConfigDSN(ODBC_ADD_DSN, $DriverType, 
    ("DSN=$DSN", "Description=MAO Win32 ODBC Test DSN for perl", 
    "DBQ=$Dir\\$DBase", "DEFAULTDIR=$Dir", "UID=", "PWD=")) 
    or die "ConfigDSN(): Could not add temporary DSN" . 
    Win32::ODBC::Error();

    $db=new Win32::ODBC($DSN) or die "couldn't ODBC $DSN because", 
    Win32::ODBC::Error(), "\n";

Originally posted as a Categorized Question.

[jehuni]

ADO is basically a high-level OO interface to various low-level OLEDB data providers. ODBC is another kind of low-level data provider, and if there is no native OLEDB provider for the type of database you use, but there is an ODBC one, you can always use the OLEDB provider for ODBC to bridge that gap.

IMHO, ADO is a much more flexible option than dealing directly with a data provider like ODBC, unless you really have the need to some sort of low-level optimization. Plus, for an MS database technology like Access, using a native OLEDB provider should be faster.

Since you can't set up a DSN, I believe that something like this will work for you:

use strict;
use Win32::OLE;

my $provider = 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0';
my $dir = 'c:\perl\cgi-bin';
my $dbase = 'mydb.mdb';

my $user = ''; #use if needed
my $password = ''; #use if needed

my $connStr = "Provider=$provider;Data Source=$dir\\$dbase;User ID=$us
+er;Password=$password;";
my $conn = Win32::OLE->new('ADODB.Connection') or die("Could not creat
+e Connection: $!");
$conn->Open($connStr);

-jehuni

[CubicSpline]

While ADO and ODBC are both Microsoft standards, ODBC is a de facto standard across most platforms. ADO is a set of COM objects (read Windows-only) that wrap ODBC functionality into tight little objects. ADO is a quick and easy way to set up database access in a windows environment. If you're programming in Windows, then you're set either way. However it is widely considered that you'll get better performance using straight ODBC rather than using ADO.

As far as your problems connecting to your database, I don't quite understand what you're saying. You are in control of your own DSNs. If you have an Access database sitting on a server, you can create your own DSN using the ODBC Data Source control panel. You choose the ODBC driver, the server that hosts your database, and then choose the path to the database itself.

[Anonymous Monk]

ODBC is alow level engine for accessing DB. It requires dealing with DOBC APIs in order to be able to access a DB, this will make it a little bit tedious but effecient. On the other hand, ADO is a COM component that is based on the ODBC, it provides the functionality offered by the ODBC in an Object Oriented way. ADO is way more easier to deal with than to deal with ODBC, but on the cost of lower effeciency.

[Anonymous Monk]

From experience in writing wrappers for both and profiling both using DevPartner I can actually say that ODBC is a lot faster. You trade of ease against performance when going with ADO. Though this depends on the wrapper you write and the way you use the ODBC calls. Besides ODBC is portable between platforms and you can use it to read flat files, access files, excel files, sql server, oracle, mysql etc.

[inman]

ODBC has been around for a long time. The system is stable and vendor drivers have been updated and bug fixed over many versions. ODBC is a self contained API that can be installed and used on both UNIX and Windows.

ADO is new than ODBC and arguably better designed (esp. in terms of programming interface). Being newer, the ADO drivers have been through fewer bug fix and update cycles. ADO also requires that the COM layer is instantiated. This has something of an ovehead and adds considerably to the total number of things that can go wrong with CGI apps etc. ADO is targeted at Windows.

Not mentioned in the question but a crucial consideration for Perl developers is the DBD/DBI platform. drivers are available for ODBC and ADO data sources. Most drivers use the native database APIs.

[Anonymous Monk]

Bull shit

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.

[Anonymous Monk]

ADO and ODBC are both no good. I created one called FUCKPUSSY. It's the industry standard.

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.

[Anonymous Monk]

difference between ODBC and ADO

Originally posted as a Categorized Answer.