Nathan Wallace
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By: Wordware Publishing, Inc.
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Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> General
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Databases -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> APIs & Operating Environments -> OLE
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9
Average rating: 1.0 of 5
Rather look at MSDN files 1 out of 5 stars.
30 of 30 people found this review helpful.
The most important section of 'OLE DB Development with Visual C++' is the Table of Contents - it provides the only notion of structure in an otherwise rambling stream of poorly formatted text. The best part of the book is its cover.Chapters 1 to 5 are Primers, on COM, ATL, MFC, OLE BD and ADO (323 pages in total). If only these chapters were primers, then the book might have succeeded. Only the COM chapter comes even close to a primer. The chapters on ATL and MFC merely step you through the VisualStudio wizards (and haven't we been through this enough?). The OLE DB and ADO primers are so poorly disguised rewrites of the online MSDN documentation, that Microsoft might be warranted to consider action. Do yourself a favor and compare these chapters with the corresponding MSDN entries -- it is scary!
Chapters 6 to 9 provide examples on creating OLE DB providers and consumers in ATL and MFC. These examples follow the rote formula of providing a few pages of wizard steps, followed by many pages of source code. The source listings highlight Wallace's code to indicate which code you should add to the wizard's code. The highlighted code is poorly commented, with further cryptic notes like : "Lines 193-239: This code opens the database specified in the Open dialog. It takes care of closing open Recordsets and deleting existing OLE DB consumers first. Notice that it always starts in table display mode." (p490). That's it. That is all you get in this book.
The CD supplied with the book contains the examples contained in Chapters 6 to 9 (no examples in the other chapters). A web interface, including all the (unnecessary) FrontPage files, provides a simple user interface to the example files. The CD also contains VisiBroker (in a COM book?) and a directory filled with various zip files and installation executable files. There is no readme or any other form of explanation on these files.
There is not a single diagram of any kind in the entire book. Figures are all screen captured wizard dialog boxes. The total number of pages devoted to explanation is probably less than fifty. Clearly, this book was put together in great haste and with little thought about exposition, explaining or teaching. The rear cover reads "OLE DB is the ODBC-compliant standard ....", typical of the poor attention to detail evident in the design and presentation of this book.
Only buy this book if you cannot get the ADO and OLE DB reference information from Microsoft MSDN. Don't expect to actually learn anything about OLE DB here, rather visit MSDN for a more detailed and accessible coverage. I have learned my lesson, stick with the well-known authors and major publishers.
Editorial Review:
Learn OLE DB Development with Visual C++ 6.0 presents the basics of the Component Object Model and OLE DB, and assists Visual C++ programmers in creating OLE DB providers and consumers. OLE DB is the ODBC-compliant standard from Microsoft that lets non-record-based data interact with its users via recordset semantics and powerful data controls like ADO and RDO. This book gives you all the basics needed to create your own OLE DB consumers and providers in Visual C++, using the ActiveX Template Library and the Microsoft Foundation Classes. Putting OLE DB components on the Internet is also covered.
