Python Programming On Win32

Connecting with ADO

ADO looks almost identical to DAO at this level of detail; Microsoft simplified the object model considerably but kept the essentials the same. The big differences are that (a) data providers other than ODBC are permitted, and (b) all the Access specifics, including direct access to tables and relationships, have been dropped. The data provider can be specified either in a connection string or in a Provider property of the Connection object, before the connection is opened. Microsoft has data providers for the following applications at present:

• ODBC

• Microsoft Index Server

• Active Directory Services

• Jet engine (via DAO)

So, despite all the hype, you’re still going to use either ODBC or DAO under the hood somewhere. We’ll use our ODBC alias again:

>>> import win32com.client
>>> adoConn = win32com.client.Dispatch('ADODB.Connection')
>>> adoConn.Open('PYDBDEMOS')  # use our ODBC alias again
>>> (adoRS, success) = adoConn.Execute('SELECT * FROM Clients')
>>> adoRS.MoveFirst()
>>> adoRS.Fields("CompanyName").Value
'MegaWad Investments'
>>>

Adding, editing, and using GetRows() is identical to DAO. We won’t go into the advanced capabilities of ADO here; numerous references are available.

You should use ADO if you know it’s installed on client machines, because it’s the COM API of the future. However, at the time of writing, you can count on DAO being present on all machines with a copy of Office, and ADO is not yet so widespread. If you stick to basic SQL statements, porting ...