Office® XP Development with VBA

Data Access Technologies

Data access under the Windows operating system is somewhat more complex than the model used by other Office applications. With Word and Excel, for example, there is a straightforward relationship between program and data: Word provides the tools for working with document files, and Excel provides the tools for working with spreadsheet files.

When dealing with the Access application and database technologies, things are not so simple. The direct manipulation and modification of a database is done by a database engine and not directly by Access or whatever database application is being used. One reason for this approach is the variety of database file formats that are commonly in use. The database engine can be thought ...