Chapter 7 -- Adding Database Support

Chapter 7

About This Chapter

Most applications work with large amounts of data, often shared, that is frequently stored in a relational database management system (RDBMS). An RDBMS is an application that allows you to organize large amounts of data in linked tables. RDBMS applications usually provide you with a query language, which you can use to quickly retrieve data from the database. Examples of an RDBMS include Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. Smaller, single-user applications might use desktop database applications, such as Microsoft Access, to store and retrieve data. Desktop databases generally work with concepts similar to those employed by larger RDBMS applications.

In this chapter, you will learn about a variety of data access interfaces available to Microsoft Visual C++ application developers. These interfaces include features of the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), which provide support for data access, and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), which is Microsoft's standard interface to essentially all forms of external data.

Before You Begin

Before you start this chapter, you should have read Chapters 2 through 6, and completed the exercises in the text.