PRB: ADO's Field ATTRIBUTE Property and adFldRowID

• ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), version 1.5

SYMPTOMS

ADO's field Attribute property will not return "adFldRowID" when checked against any data sources being accessed via the OLEDB Provider for ODBC.

CAUSE

The OLEDB Provider for ODBC, which is used by default, cannot access this information because it is not available through ODBC.

RESOLUTION

Use a native OLEDB Provider specific to the data source being used. The data source must also support a field type that maps to OLE DB's definition of a row identifier to be able to return a value of "adFldRowID".

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

The "adFldRowID" Attribute maps to OLEDB's DBCOLUMNFLAGS_ISROWID flag. A row that has this flag "contains a persistent row identifier that cannot be written to and has no meaningful value except to identify the row".

Using the description above, no column in SQL Server falls into this category. Thus, even when using a native OLEDB Provider for SQL Server, the "adFldRowID" would not be returned via the field's Attribute property.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Start Visual Basic.

2. Add a Reference to the "Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 1.5 Library".

3. Add a command button to the form and add the following code to it's Click method:

         Private Sub Command2_Click()
            Dim Cn As New Connection
            Dim rs As New Recordset
            Dim SQL As String
   
            Cn.Open "DRIVER={SQL Server};SERVER=<server_name>;UID=;PWD=;"
            SQL = "select * from pubs..jobs"
            rs.Open SQL, Cn
            MsgBox "Name: " & rs.Fields(0).Name & vbCrLf & "Attribs: " & _
               rs.Fields(0).Attributes
   
            rs.Close
            Cn.Close
         End Sub
   
   

REFERENCES

For more information, refer to the SDK documentation.

Keywords          : adoall
Version           : WINDOWS:1.5
Platform          : WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb