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Part III Databases and ASP

Introduction

At one time, connecting to a database was difficult. Databases

came in a variety of formats, and you had to know a low-level API
(Application Programming Interface) for every database you
wanted to use. There was a push for a universal API that would
work for a wide variety of data stores.
ODBC, or Open Data Base Connectivity, was developed as an
attempt to create this universal API. ODBC provides a common
standard for communicating with a database using SQL. Many
databases conformed to the standard and became known as
ODBC-compliant databases, such as Access, MS-SQL Server,
Oracle, Informix, and so on. ODBC has made life easier for
database developers by creating common standard. However,
ODBC had some faults. It still contained many low-level calls and
was difficult to develop with. Developers still had all focus on low-
level communications with the database. Also another problem
with ODBC is that it was developed with narrow purpose of
working with databases that support SQL. People wanted a way
just to get the data they needed and use it how they saw fit.
Microsoft’s solution was DAO, or Data Access Objects. DAO was
followed by RDO (Remote Data Objects, targeted for distributed
database architecture), and the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects). All
these have shortcomings, however. According to Microsoft, “ODBC

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provides native access to SQL data” and “DAO provides high-level

objects to data.” Even DAO and RDO require the data in a data
store to be in SQL (Structured Query Language) format.
In response to these shortcomings, Microsoft introduced OLEDB, a
COM-based data access object that provides access to all types of
data and even provides access to disconnected data stores.
OLEDB was designed to work with a much wider range of data
sources. For example, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Index Server,
ADSI and so on. OLEDB sort of replaces ODBC. It includes and
ODBC driver so that it is compatible with all the ODBC data
sources. You can see how OLEDB works with your data source in
Figure.

Active Server Page

ActiveX Data Objects

(ADO)

OLEDB

ODBC Access SQL Other Data

Providers

Figure: The hierarchy of data access.

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Working With Connections And Data Sources

The most commonly used Data Sources are: -

1. ADO – The ActiveX Data Objects provides an application-

level interface to data providers such as Microsoft SQL Server

or Microsoft Access. ADO is directly used within Active Server
Pages TO communicate with such databases. To access a
database with an ASP page, ADO has to be used. The ADO
contains the actual collection of objects that are used within
scripts to create a connection to a database and read records
from database table. Thus, ADO enables the retrieval and
storage of data in database.
2. OLEDB – OLEDB is a System-level interface to data providers

such as Microsoft SQL Server of Microsoft Access. For example,

ADO use a set of interfaces provided by OLEDB to
communicate with Microsoft SQL Server. OLEDB is never used
directly within Active Server Pages. Instead ADO is used as a
higher-level interface to OLE DB. The ADO does not
communicate directly with the data source. Instead, the ADO
communicates through an intermediary interface called OLEDB.
After making the connection to a database, OLEDB does all its
work in the background. Accessing OLEDB within an ASP page
directly is not allowed. However, while making the connection
to the database, knowledge of OLEDB driver is a must because
there are choices available to access the database through
different OLEDB providers. There are two ways that an OLEDB

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provider may provide access to a database: either indirectly,

through an ODBC driver, or directly, if it’s a native OLEDB
provider.
3. ODBC – Once upon a time, the Open Data Base
Connectivity Interface was used as the standard for
communicating with databases. Almost all database on the
market today are compatible with ODBC. However, Microsoft is
gradually replacing ODBC with OLEDB. Currently, Microsoft has
OLEDB providers for such databases as Microsoft SQL Server,
Oracle, and Microsoft Jet (MS Access). Microsoft has also
developed an OLEDB provider for ODBC to use with databases
that do not have their own OLEDB provides.
Therefore, there are currently two methods for using the ADO to
create a connection to a database. On one hand, create a
connection using the OLEDB provider for ODBC drivers. This type
of connection will work with any database that has an ODBC
driver. On the other hand, create a connection using only a native
OLEDB provider.

Communicating with a database Using Active

Data Objects (ADO)

ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) comes with ASP and allows your
pages to easily connect to databases. ADO works with any OLEDB
source, which includes ODBC-compliant sources. So it will work
with most databases currently being used. The ADO contains all

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the objects that will be normally used within the Active Server
Pages. The ADO model contains six objects. Here’s a brief
overview of the main objects contained in the ADO:

1.The Connection Object

The Connection object represents all the features of a connection
to the data source. The Connection object connects you to the
data source. Obtaining a connection is the first step to working
with databases. A connection must be opened with the
Connection object before communication with the data source
can happen. Typically, a Connection object is used to
communicate with the databases such as Microsoft SQL Server or
Microsoft Access. However, connections can be opened to other
data sources such as normal text file Microsoft Excel, Microsoft
Exchange, Microsoft Index
2.The Recordset Object
The Recordset object allows you to work with the data in a table.
The Recordset object contains a set of rows from a table. It can
be used to read through the rows of a table, modify the rows of a
table, or collect new data to be added to the table. A Recordset
object represents the rows of data returned from the data source.
For example, a select query is fired on a database, the rows of
data returned from the database are returned as a set of records
represented by the Recoedset object.

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3.The Error Object

The Error object represents and error generated by the data
source. The errors collection is used when a single failed method
call is allowed to generate multiple errors.
4.The Field Object
The Field object represents a single column in the table.
5.The Command Object
The Command object provides another way to create a Recordset
object. It combines the Recordset object and the Connection
object. The Command object represents a command that can be
executed against a data source. Typically, the Command object is
used to execute a SQL stored procedure. The Command object
represents a single column in the table.
6.The Parameter Object
The Parameters collection contains any parameters needed by
the command. The parameters are stored in Parameter object.
You can see a diagram of how these objects relate to each other
in below figure.
Figure: The ADO objects and their relations.

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Parameter Parameter Parameter Parameter

Object Object Object Object

Parameters
Collection

Command
Object

Connection Recordset
Object Object

Errors Fields
Collection Collection

Error Error Error Field Field Field Field

Object Object Object Object Object Object Object

I. Connecting to a DataBase:
First you need to create a new database. Before you can do
anything (e.g. like talking) to the database, you need to get a
connection to it.
 The Connection Object
The Connection objects used to hold information about the data
store you want to access. It is created the same way your other
components have been, using

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Server.CreateObject
Dim objConn
Set objConn = Server.CreateObject(“ADODB. Connection”)
There may be times when you want connections to several data
stores open at once. You might be using multiple Access
databases, or mixing Access, Oracle, SQL, or whatever. In such
cases, you would use multiple instances of the Connection
object.
 Using a System DSN
A System DSN is a file that contains information about the
database such as where it is and what kind of database it is DSN
stands for Data Source Name. Creating a System DSN is easy:
i. Close Access.
ii. In Windows 2000, click Start button; go to Settings, Control
Panel, Administrative Tools, Data Sources (ODBC). Or, go to
Start, Administrative Tools, Data Sources.
iii. Go the System DSN tab. You should see something like
Figure below. There is a listing of the system data source
currently configured. Along the right are three buttons that
allow you to add a new System DSN, remove the selected
one, or change the settings of the currently selected one.
Figure: Viewing the Data Source Administrator System DSN
tab.

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iv. You want to create a new DSN, so click Add.

v. You will see a list of drivers, like in Figure. Choose Microsoft
Access Driver (*.mdb) and click Finish.
Figure: Creating a new System DSN for the Widget World
database.

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vi. Now the setup box pops up. Enter WidgetWorld.dsn for the
Data Source Name. This is the name you will use to
reference the DSN in your ASP pages. You may enter a
description as well. It should be something to remind you
what this database and DSN are for.
vii. Click Select. Now choose the .mdb file for the database. We
named it WidgetWorld.mdb.
viii. Click OK to select the database. Your screen should look
similar to Figure. Click OK again to finish creating the DSN.
You should see the DSN you just created listed under System
Data Sources.
ix. Click OK to exit.

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Now you have a System DSN. You can tell the Connection object
about it like this: ObjConn.ConnectionString =
“DSN=WidgetWorld.dsn”
 Using a DSN-less Connection
There is an alternative to using a System DSN. Instead of putting
the connection information into the DSN, you can put it into the
connection string. You saw an example of this kind of connection
yesterday. Here is the connection string we used:
ObjConn.ConnectionString=”DRIVER={MicrosoftAccessDriver
(*.mdb)};” & “DBQ=C:\My Documents\WidgetWorld.mdb”
The DRIVER=line tells the Connection object what kind of
database it is connecting to. The DBQ=line indicates where on the
server the database resides. This must be a complete physical
path. If you do not know the complete physical path, use
Server.MapPath. You can specify other values in the connection

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string. If you are connecting to a SQL database, you may need a

username and password to access it. You can specify them with
UID and PWD. You would also need to specify DATABASE, DRIVER,
and SERVER information.
There are drawbacks to using DSN-less connections. First of all, it
requires you to figure out all the information you need. Also, if you
use a DSN-less connection, the connection information must be
revalidated every time. With a System DSN, this must only be
done once, when creating the System DSN.
 Opening The Connection
So far, all you have done is create the Connection object and tell
it about your database. You have yet to actually open the
connection. To do this, use the Open method of the Connection
object:
ObjConn.Open
This is the same whether or not you use a System DSN.
So let’s put it all together now:
<%
Dim objConn
Set objConn = Server.CreateObject(“ADODB.Connection”)
objConn.ConnectionString = “DSN=WidgetWorld.dsn”
objConn.Open
%>
This creates the Connection object, sets the connection string,
and opens the connection. This assumes that a System DSN was

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used. If you prefer, you may change the connection string for a
DSN-less connection.
 Closing the Connection
As with any object, you need to free the memory associated with
it when you are finished. However, before you do that, you need
to close the connection. You close a connection and then free the
object like this:
ObjConn.Close
Set objConn=Nothing
Always close and free record sets associated with a connection
before closing and freeing the connection. If you are finished with
one connection but want to open up another, you can reuse the
Connection object you just finished with. Simply close it, set the
connection information appropriately, and reopens it.

II. Reading data from a database

So now you know how to connect to a database. Aside from
looking at all the properties, there is not much you can do with
just the Connection object. To work with the data in the database,
you will need another object. The Recordset object is another of
ADO’s objects.
 The Recordset Object
A recordset is simply a set of records. The Recordset object may
be used to contain a subset of the records in a table, or even all
the records in the table. Often, you will use the Recordset object
to host a specially chosen set of records. For example, in a table

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containing information about users of your product, you might

want to retrieve all the records pertaining to users in the Chicago
area.
First, you need to instantiate the Recordset object. Here is how
you do it:
Dim objRS
Set objRS=Server.CreateObject(“ADODB.Recordset”)
Simply declare the variable that will hold the object and then use
Server.CreateObject. The Recordset object is part of the
ADODB package. Creating the object instance does not fill it with
any data. To do that, you need Open.
 The Open Method
The Recordset object is filled with records by using the Open
method. The Open method can accept many different sets of
arguments and can be used in many different ways. Its general
form is like this:
Recordset.Open source, connection, cursortype,
locktype, commandtype
Source is either a Command object or a string containing a
recognized command.
Connection is either a Connection object or a string containing
the connection information. If the string is used, it must contain
all the information that would go in the ConnectionString
property of the Connection object.
Cursortype indicates the way you want to move through the
recordset. Its default value is the ADO constant

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adOpenForwardOnly, which is the most commonly used cursor

type. adOpenForwardOnly indicates that you can only move
forward through the recordset. The cursor type also controls how
changes other users make to the table affect what you see.
Locktype affects whether you can write to the table, and if so,
how. Because several clients may be accessing the table at once,
you need to be careful how you make changes to it. The default
value of Locktype is the ADO constant adLockReadOnly. This
means that you can only read from the table, not write to it.
Commandtype indicates how the source parameter should be
evaluated. We will use the Ado constant adCmdTable. This
specifies that source should be evaluated as a table name.
Here is an example of a common use of the Open method:
ObjRS.Open “mytable”, objConn, , , adCmdTable
Notice first that the command type is specified as adCmdTable.
This means that the source string should be evaluated as a table
name. So if there is a table named “mytable” with the database
indicated by the Connnection object objConn, that table will be
copied into the Recordset object objRS. The arguments for the
cursor type and lock type are not specified. This means that you
will only be able to move forward through objRs and that you can
only read from the table.
 Reading and Displaying the Contents of a
Database Table

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Now you know how to open a recordset. The next topic is how to
move through it and retrieve values from it. To do this, you will
need a few more methods and properties of the Recordset object.
The Recordset object may contain several records, but you can
only access one at a time. The Recordset object maintains a
pointer to the current record, and you can move that pointer
forward. If you have not set the recordset to forward-only
movement, you can also move pointer backward.
MoveNext advances to the next record in the recordset.
MovePrevious goes back to the previous record in the recordset.
This is not valid if the recordset is set to forward-only movement.
MoveFirst is a method that moves to the first record in the
recordset. MoveFirst may be used even if movement is set to
forward-only movement, but it may result in re-executing the
original Open method.
MoveLast goes directly to the last record in the recordset.
Move number goes to number records from the current one.
Because trying to move to either after the last record or before
the first one causes errors, you need some way of finding out
whether you are at the beginning or end of the recordset. A pair
of properties tells you this.
BOF is a Boolean value that is True while you are still at the
beginning of the recordset.
EOF is a Boolean value that is set to True when you reach the end
of the recordset.
You access data from the current record like this:

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RecordsetObjectName(“FieldName”)
This returns the value of the field specified by FieldName in the
current row of the recordset.

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