Heterogeneous Joins and Linked Tables Support

You can link a table in a different data source to a Microsoft Access database. The table cannot be linked programmatically through the Microsoft Access Desktop Database Driver, however. It must be linked from within Microsoft Access or through Data Access Objects (DAO).

After a table has been linked, you can access its data through the Microsoft Access driver. You can use the linked table in a join with other tables, including other linked tables, in the Microsoft Access database. So it’s possible, for example, to join a table in a Microsoft Access database with another table in a FoxPro database. Such a join between tables created in different DBMSs is called a heterogeneous join. It’s also possible to create a heterogeneous join in a stored query by using the Microsoft Access user interface. Such a stored query can be accessed as a view in a SELECT statement. Microsoft Jet provides transparent access to the linked table, regardless of the data’s location or format. As a result, a linked table, or a heterogeneous join, looks just like any other Microsoft Access table.