Connections from ADO

ADO is an object-oriented programming interface. In ADO, the Connection object represents a unique session with a data source.

You can use the following Connection object features to initiate a connection:

The Provider property that holds the name of the provider. If you do not supply a Provider name, ADO uses the MSDASQL provider.
The ConnectionString property that holds a connection string. This property holds a RLV connection string, which is used in just the same way as the ODBC driver. You can supply ODBC data source names, or explicit UserID, Password, DatabaseName, and other parameters, just as in other connection strings.
The Open method initiates a connection.

Sample code for connecting to a database:

Private Sub cmdTestConnection_Click( _
        ByVal eventSender As System.Object, _
        ByVal eventArgs As System.EventArgs) _
        Handles cmdTestConnection.Click
 
    ' Declare variables
    Dim myConn As New ADODB.Connection
    Dim myCommand As New ADODB.Command
    Dim cAffected As Integer

    On Error GoTo HandleError

    ' Establish the connection
    myConn.Provider = "IQOLEDB"
    myConn.ConnectionString = _
        "Data Source=Sybase IQ Demo"
    myConn.Open()
    MsgBox("Connection succeeded")
    myConn.Close()
    Exit Sub

HandleError:
    MsgBox(ErrorToString(Err.Number))
    Exit Sub
End Sub