Microsoft Access: ADO Programming Code Examples

Provided by Allen Browne, March 2007. Updated May 2009.

ADO Programming Code Examples

This page is a reference for developers, demonstrating how to use the ADO library to list and
manipulate the objects in Access.
ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) is more generic than DAO (the one designed to handle the objects in
Access), so supports features of databases other than Access. In the wider world beyond Access, ADO
has largely been replaced by the quite different ADO.NET library.
In general, DAO is preferred over ADO, but there are some operations that work under ADO only. In
general, these work in code only. They will not work if you try them in the Query window, since Access
itself uses DAO. They also require JET 4 (Access 2000 or later.)
ADO provides only limited ways to manipulate the data structure (typically via DDL query statements),
unless you also use the ADOX library which provides the extensions to get to the database catalog.
To use the ADO Library, choose References on the Tools menu in the code window, and check the box
beside:
Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.x Library
There is no explanation of the code beyond in-line comments, and no error handling in most examples.
Index of Functions

Description

ShowSchema()

List the tables

AdoRecordsetExample()

Open a recordset

CreateViewAdo()

Create a new query

ModifyViewAdo()

Modify a query

ShowBand()

Illustrate the BAND operator with literals. (ADO only.)

TestBnot()

Illustrate BNOT (binary NOT) operator (ADO only.)

TestBand()

Illustrate BAND (binary AND) operator. (ADO only.)

ShowUserRosterMultipleUsers(
List the users currently connected to the database.
)
UserCount()

Count the number of distinct users connected to the database.

ExecuteADO()

Execute an action query with ADO, and know how many records were
inserted/deleted/changed.

Option Compare Database

Option Explicit

Function ShowSchema()
'Purpose:
List the tables, using ADO.
Dim cn As ADODB.Connection
Dim rs As ADODB.Recordset
Dim i As Integer
Set cn = CurrentProject.Connection
Set rs = cn.OpenSchema(adSchemaTables, Array(Empty, Empty, Empty,
"TABLE"))
'
For i = 0 To rs.Fields.Count - 1
'
Debug.Print rs.Fields(i).Name
'
Next
Do While Not rs.EOF
Debug.Print rs.Fields("TABLE_NAME").Value
rs.MoveNext
Loop
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
Set cn = Nothing
End Function
Function AdoRecordsetExample()
'Purpose:
Open a recordset using ADO.
Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset
Dim strSql As String
strSql = "SELECT MyField FROM MyTable;"
rs.Open strSql, CurrentProject.Connection
Do While Not rs.EOF
Debug.Print rs!MyField
rs.MoveNext
Loop
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
End Function
Function CreateViewAdo()
'Purpose:
Create a new query using ADO.
Dim cn As ADODB.Connection
Dim strSql As String
strSql = "CREATE VIEW MyTableView AS SELECT MyTable.* FROM MyTable;"
Set cn = CurrentProject.Connection
cn.Execute strSql
Debug.Print "MyTableView created"
Set cn = Nothing
End Function
Function ModifyViewAdo()
'Purpose:
Modify a query using ADO.
Dim cn As ADODB.Connection

Dim strSql As String

strSql = "ALTER TABLE Query1 AS SELECT MyTable.* FROM MyTable;"
Set cn = CurrentProject.Connection
cn.Execute strSql
Debug.Print "MyTableView modified"
Set cn = Nothing
End Function
Function ShowBand()
Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset
rs.Open "SELECT (2 BAND 4) AS Result;", CurrentProject.Connection
ShowBand = rs!Result
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
End Function
Function TestBnot()
'Purpose:
Illustrate BNOT (binary NOT) operator (ADO only.)
Dim cn As ADODB.Connection
Dim strSql As String
Dim lngKt As Long
Set cn = CurrentProject.Connection
strSql = "UPDATE MyTable SET MyIntFlip = BNOT MyInt WHERE MyIntFlip Is Not
Null;"
cn.Execute strSql, lngKt
Set cn = Nothing
TestBnot = lngKt
End Function
Function TestBand()
'Purpose:
Illustrate BAND (binary AND) operator. (ADO only.)
Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset
Dim strSql As String
strSql = "SELECT MyBitField, (MyBitField BAND 2) <> 0 As MyResult FROM
MyTable;"
rs.Open strSql, CurrentProject.Connection
Do While Not rs.EOF
Debug.Print rs!MyBitfield, rs!MyResult
rs.MoveNext
Loop
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
End Function
Function ShowUserRosterMultipleUsers()
'Source: kb 198755.
Dim cn As New ADODB.Connection
'Dim cn2 As New ADODB.Connection
Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

Dim i, j As Long
cn.Provider = "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"
cn.Open "Data Source=C:\Data\Northwind2003.mdb"
'cn2.Open "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;" & "Data
Source=C:\Data\Northwind2003.mdb"
'
'
'
'

The user roster is exposed as a provider-specific schema rowset

in the Jet 4 OLE DB provider. You have to use a GUID to
reference the schema, as provider-specific schemas are not
listed in ADO's type library for schema rowsets

Set rs = cn.OpenSchema(adSchemaProviderSpecific, , "{947bb102-5d43-11d1bdbf-00c04fb92675}")

'Output the list of all users in the current database.
Debug.Print rs.Fields(0).Name, "", rs.Fields(1).Name, "",
rs.Fields(2).Name, rs.Fields(3).Name
While Not rs.EOF
Debug.Print rs.Fields(0), rs.Fields(1), rs.Fields(2), rs.Fields(3)
rs.MoveNext
Wend
End Function
Function UserCount() As Long
Dim cnLocal As ADODB.Connection
Dim cnBackEnd As New ADODB.Connection
database.
Dim rsBEUserRoster As New ADODB.Recordset
database.
Dim rsTarget As New ADODB.Recordset
and de-dupe.
Dim strPath As String
Dim strSql As String
Dim lngKt As Long
Dim dtEnteredOn As Date

'Current project connection.

'Connection to back end
'JET User Roster for back end
'Temp table to record users
'Full path to back end.
'SQL string.
'Loop controller.
'Current date and time.

'Set this to the full path of your back end database.

strPath = "C:\Data\Northwind2003.mdb"
'Open the JET User Roster for the back end.
cnBackEnd.Provider = "Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0"
cnBackEnd.Open "Data Source=" & strPath
Set rsBEUserRoster = cnBackEnd.OpenSchema(adSchemaProviderSpecific, , _
"{947bb102-5d43-11d1-bdbf-00c04fb92675}")
'Clear temp table, and copy the user roster in.
dtEnteredOn = Now()
Set cnLocal = CurrentProject.Connection
cnLocal.Execute "DELETE FROM tzJetUserRoster;"
rsTarget.Open "tzJetUserRoster", cnLocal, adOpenDynamic, adLockOptimistic
Do While Not rsBEUserRoster.EOF
rsTarget.AddNew

For lngKt = 0 To 3
rsTarget(lngKt) = rsBEUserRoster(lngKt)
rsTarget!EnteredOn = dtEnteredOn
Next
rsTarget.Update
rsBEUserRoster.MoveNext
Loop
rsTarget.Close
rsBEUserRoster.Close
cnBackEnd.Close
'Get the count of the number of distinct users who are connected.
strSql = "SELECT DISTINCT Computer_Name FROM tzJetUserRoster WHERE
Connected = True;"
Set rsTarget = New ADODB.Recordset
rsTarget.Open strSql, cnLocal, adOpenKeyset
If Not (rsTarget.BOF And rsTarget.EOF) Then
rsTarget.MoveLast
UserCount = rsTarget.RecordCount
End If
rsTarget.Close
'Dereference objects
Set rsTarget = Nothing
Set rsBEUserRoster = Nothing
Set cnLocal = Nothing
Set cnBackEnd = Nothing
End Function
Function ExecuteADO() As Long
'Purpose:
How to execute an action query with ADO.
'Return:
Number of records affected by action query.
Dim strSql As String
Dim lngKt As Long
strSql = "INSERT INTO tblClient (Surname, FirstName ) " & _
"SELECT 'Smith' AS Surname, 'Jim' AS FirstName;"
CurrentProject.Connection.Execute strSql, lngKt
ExecuteADO = lngKt
End Function

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