Back ActiveX Data Objects Danish ActiveX Data Objects German ActiveX Data Objects Spanish ActiveX Data Objects French ActiveX Data Objects Italian ActiveX Data Objects Japanese 액티브엑스 데이터 오브젝트 Korean ActiveX Data Objects Dutch ActiveX Data Objects Polish ActiveX Data Objects Portuguese
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2013) |
In computing, Microsoft's ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) comprises a set of Component Object Model (COM) objects for accessing data sources. A part of MDAC (Microsoft Data Access Components), it provides a middleware layer between programming languages and OLE DB (a means of accessing data stores, whether databases or not, in a uniform manner). ADO allows a developer to write programs that access data without knowing how the database is implemented; developers must be aware of the database for connection only. No knowledge of SQL is required to access a database when using ADO, although one can use ADO to execute SQL commands directly (with the disadvantage of introducing a dependency upon the type of database used).
Microsoft introduced ADO in October 1996, positioning the software as a successor to Microsoft's earlier object layers for accessing data sources, including RDO (Remote Data Objects) and DAO (Data Access Objects).
ADO is made up of four collections and twelve objects.