Much ADO About XML
By Michael Floyd
It's about the data. Moreover, it's always been about the data. When you stop to consider some of the emerging technologies that have influenced computing, everything comes down to data. Relational technology, for example, was about new ways of dealing with data. Object-oriented programming was about combining data with logic and creating objects. Three-tier architecture was about separating the database from the client-server environment. So it shouldn't be a surprise that one of the cornerstones of Web application development is data access. Nor should it be mysterious that a data representation language, XML, is emerging as one of the underpinnings of such development.
This month, I'd like to examine strategies for accessing back-end databases and applying XML to the problem. Because many of you are using Active Server Pages (ASP) to generate XML documents, I'd like to introduce you to ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) and show how you can combine them with ASP and XML to serve XML data.
Programming ADOs in Two Minutes
Like most components or objects, ADOs are simply black boxes. Internally, they encapsulate specialized knowledge that lets you perform some function or task. In this case, they know how to connect to ODBC databases and OLE DB data sources. They also know how to navigate records, perform queries, and update data sources. Externally, they provide interfaces that let you perform all of these functions without needing the specialized knowledge required to perform the operations directly.
