Editing ActiveX Data Objects (section)

{{Short description|Component Object Model APIs for accessing data sources}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}
In [[computing]], [[Microsoft]]'s '''ActiveX Data Objects''' ('''ADO''') comprises a set of [[Component Object Model]] (COM) [[object (computing)|object]]s for accessing data sources. A part of [[Microsoft Data Access Components|MDAC]] (Microsoft Data Access Components), it provides a [[middleware]] layer between [[programming language]]s and [[OLE DB]] (a means of accessing data stores, whether [[database]]s or not, in a uniform manner). ADO allows a [[software developer|developer]] to write programs that access data without knowing how the database is implemented; developers must be aware of the database for connection only. No knowledge of [[SQL]] is required to access a database when using ADO, although one can use ADO to execute SQL commands directly (with the disadvantage of introducing a dependency upon the type of database used).

Microsoft introduced ADO in October 1996, positioning the software as a successor to Microsoft's earlier object layers for accessing data sources, including [[Remote Data Objects|RDO]] (Remote Data Objects) and [[Jet Data Access Objects|DAO]] (Data Access Objects).

ADO is made up of four collections and twelve objects.