ADO.SBR – SQL Database Access XCALL Example
The ADO.SBR code sample is an example of how a Visual Basic XCALL may be used to provide access to an industry standard RDBMS for AlphaBASIC applications. A sample AlphaBASIC application, ADOTST, is also provided which makes use of the ADO.SBR routine to provide a simple AlphaBASIC interface to a simple products table maintained under Microsoft SQLServer.
Developing client-server applications using SQL is a very different proposition from the kind of ISAM or Search/Sort applications which are traditionally developed with AlphaBASIC, and is a topic in its own right. In order to fully understand the ADOTST application, and the ADO.SBR routine, it is suggested that the user be familiar with ADO-based programming, ideally against Microsoft SQLServer.
The ADO.SBR routine indicates just one means of accessing a SQL database, by implementing a low level interface directly to the Microsoft ADO object model. This is not the only, or necessarily best, way of accessing such data from AlphaBASIC. It may well be that higher level routines are appropriate which construct and execute SQL directly in Visual BASIC, and pass only specific business values to an from the AlphaBASIC program.
