OLE DB Provider for Visual FoxPro

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The Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider makes it possible for application developers to access Visual FoxPro data from other languages and applications, as well as from Visual FoxPro when appropriate. The Visual FoxPro provider exposes OLE DB interfaces to consumers wanting access to data on one or more Visual FoxPro databases. You can use it as part of an OLE DB consumer for Visual FoxPro databases.

The Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider, vfpoledb.dll, is supported by OLE DB System Components, as provided by MDAC 2.6 or later. The requirements to run the provider are the same as for this version of Visual FoxPro.

In the Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider, you will find an improved threading model for better scalability and all the functionality of the Visual FoxPro ODBC driver of earlier versions of FoxPro.

With the Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider, you can do the following:

  • Create non-Visual FoxPro applications that access Visual FoxPro data.
  • Create nTier thin and fat clients that access legacy Visual FoxPro data.
  • Use the data-centric capabilities and functionality of the Xbase language and Visual FoxPro database stored procedures.
  • Create and maintain database containers (DBCs) through extended Data Manipulation Language (DML) functionality and ADOX enhancements to ADO.

The Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider supports new Visual FoxPro features, such as DBC Events, access to stored procedures, and the ability to create, modify, and delete functions and procedures in the DBC stored procedure module.

The OLE DB Provider functionality supports the ability to execute stored procedure code independent of any Referential Integrity (RI) events, defaults, or validation rules. The stored procedures return results in rowsets, and are able to accept parameters. The provider implements the ICommandPersist interface to create, modify, and delete stored procedure code and modules.

In addition, the provider supports the following Schema Rowsets: Table, Column, Provider Types, Indexes, Primary Keys, Procedures, Foreign Keys, Views, Table Constraints, Check Constraints, and Referential Constraints.

The only user interface provided for OLE DB providers is the Data Links dialog box, or various development tools.

See Also

Using the Visual FoxPro OLE DB Provider to Access Data | Accessing a Visual FoxPro Data Source | Accessing a Visual FoxPro Data Source from Office Components | Language Reference for OLE DB Development | Registry Entries | International Support in the OLE DB Provider | Visual FoxPro as a Data Source