Editing OLE DB (section)

{{Short description|Microsoft API for uniform access from heterogeneous data sources}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{primary sources|date=April 2012}}
'''OLE DB''' (''Object Linking and Embedding, Database'', sometimes written as '''OLEDB''' or '''OLE-DB''') is an [[Application programming interface|API]] designed by [[Microsoft]] that allows accessing [[data]] from a variety of sources in a uniform manner.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foxall |first=James D. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/MCSD_in_a_Nutshell/SUDQfzTnctgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=OLE+DB&pg=PA259&printsec=frontcover |title=MCSD in a Nutshell: The Visual Basic Exams |date=2000 |publisher="O'Reilly Media, Inc." |isbn=978-1-56592-752-0 |pages=259 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Agarwal |first=Vidya Vrat |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Beginning_VB_2008_Databases/eUMnCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=OLE+DB&pg=PA154&printsec=frontcover |title=Beginning VB 2008 Databases: From Novice to Professional |last2=Huddleston |first2=James |date=2008-06-17 |publisher=Apress |isbn=978-1-4302-0560-9 |pages=154 |language=en}}</ref> The API provides a set of interfaces implemented using the [[Component Object Model]] (COM); it is otherwise unrelated to [[Object Linking and Embedding|OLE]]. Microsoft originally intended OLE DB as a higher-level replacement for, and successor to, [[ODBC]], extending its feature set to support a wider variety of non-[[relational database]]s, such as [[object database]]s and [[spreadsheet]]s that do not necessarily implement.