- What Is a Database?
- Getting Data Out of Databases
- Kinds of Databases
- ODBC
- Database Structure
- Using ADO.NET
- Adding Rows to Database Tables Using ADO.NET
- Building the Façade Classes
- Making the ADO.NET Façade
- Creating Classes for Each Table
- Building the Price Table
- Loading the Database Tables
- The Final Application
ODBC
It would be nice if we could somehow write code that was independent of the particular vendor's database that would allow us to get the same results from any of these databases without changing our calling program. If we could only write some wrappers for all of these databases so that they all appeared to have similar programming interfaces, this would be quite easy to accomplish.
Microsoft first attempted this feat in 1992 when it released a specification called Object Database Connectivity. It was supposed to be the answer for connection to all databases under Windows. Like all first software versions, it suffered some growing pains, and another version was released in 1994 that was somewhat faster as well as more stable. It also was the first 32-bit version. In addition, ODBC began to move to platforms other than Windows and has by now become quite pervasive in the PC and Workstation world. Nearly every major database vendor provides ODBC drivers.