Setting the ActiveConnection property to a valid, open connection "opens" the catalog. From an open catalog, you can access the schema objects contained within that catalog.
// BeginActiveConnectionCpp #import "c:\Program Files\Common Files\system\ado\msado15.dll" #import "c:\Program Files\Common Files\system\ado\msadox.dll" \ no_namespace #include "iostream.h" #include "stdio.h" #include "conio.h" // Function declarations inline void TESTHR(HRESULT x) {if FAILED(x) _com_issue_error(x);}; void OpenConnectionX(void); void OpenConnectionWithStringX(void); ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // // // Main Function // // // ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// void main() { if(FAILED(::CoInitialize(NULL))) return; OpenConnectionX(); OpenConnectionWithStringX(); ::CoUninitialize(); } ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // // // OpenConnectionX Function // // // ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// void OpenConnectionX(void) { HRESULT hr = S_OK; // Define ADOX object pointers. // Initialize pointers on define. // These are in the ADOX:: namespace. _CatalogPtr m_pCatalog = NULL; //Define ADODB object pointers ADODB::_ConnectionPtr m_pCnn = NULL; // Define string variables. _bstr_t strcnn("Provider='Microsoft.JET.OLEDB.4.0';" "Data source = 'c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\" "Office\\Samples\\Northwind.mdb';"); try { TESTHR(hr = m_pCnn.CreateInstance(__uuidof(ADODB::Connection))); TESTHR(hr = m_pCatalog.CreateInstance(__uuidof (Catalog))); m_pCnn->Open(strcnn,"","",NULL); m_pCatalog->PutActiveConnection(_variant_t((IDispatch *) m_pCnn)); _variant_t vIndex = (short) 0; cout<<m_pCatalog->Tables->GetItem(vIndex)->Type<<endl; } catch(_com_error &e) { // Notify the user of errors if any. _bstr_t bstrSource(e.Source()); _bstr_t bstrDescription(e.Description()); printf("\n\tSource : %s \n\tdescription : %s \n ", (LPCSTR)bstrSource,(LPCSTR)bstrDescription); } catch(...) { cout << "Error occured in OpenConnectionX...."<< endl; } if (m_pCnn) if (m_pCnn->State == 1) m_pCnn->Close(); } ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // // // OpenConnectionWithStringX Function // // // ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// void OpenConnectionWithStringX(void) { HRESULT hr = S_OK; // Define ADOX object pointers. // Initialize pointers on define. // These are in the ADOX:: namespace. _CatalogPtr m_pCatalog = NULL; // Define string variables. _bstr_t strcnn("Provider='Microsoft.JET.OLEDB.4.0';" "Data source = 'c:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\" "Office\\Samples\\Northwind.mdb';"); try { TESTHR(hr = m_pCatalog.CreateInstance(__uuidof (Catalog))); m_pCatalog->PutActiveConnection(strcnn); _variant_t vIndex = (short) 0; cout<<m_pCatalog->Tables->GetItem(vIndex)->Type<<endl; } catch(_com_error &e) { // Notify the user of errors if any. _bstr_t bstrSource(e.Source()); _bstr_t bstrDescription(e.Description()); printf("\n\tSource : %s \n\tdescription : %s \n ", (LPCSTR)bstrSource,(LPCSTR)bstrDescription); } catch(...) { cout << "Error occured in OpenConnectionWithStringX...."<< endl; } } // EndActiveConnectionCpp