Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Part II: Programming Microsoft Access

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The Object Browser is easy to use. Select a library (ADODB, for example) from the drop-down list

in the upper-left corner; then scroll through the object list on the left side of the browser to find an

object of interest. Selecting an object fills the right-side list with the object’s properties, methods,

and events (if applicable). Clicking on a property, method, or event reveals the item’s syntax in the

area below the lists.

Although the Object Browser doesn’t show specific code examples, very often seeing the syntax

associated with property, method, or event may be enough to get you started writing VBA code, or

to clarify the object’s details.

Understanding ADO Objects

I’ll begin my explanation of the ActiveX Data Objects by examining the ADO object model, and

describing the purpose of each object. Then I’ll look at a number of code examples that use the

ADO objects to perform common database tasks.

The ADO object model is shown in Figure 13.8. As you can see, the ADO object model is quite

simple and includes only a few types of objects. Notice that the ADO object model is not hierarchi-

cal. Each object stands alone and is not subordinate to another object in the model.

FIGURE 13.8

The ADO object model

Connection

Recordset

Command

Properties

Properties

Fields Properties

Parameters

Using ADO objects requires a reference to the ADO library. Figure 13.9 shows the References dia-

log box (opened by choosing Tools ➪ References in the VBA editor window) with the ADO library

(Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects) selected. The exact version of the ADO library installed on your

machine may vary, and, in fact, there may be more than one ADO library in the References dialog

box. Select the highest-numbered library to make sure you have the latest version available to

Access.