ADO vs DAO

DAO is older than ADO.

DAO was developped for Access. ADO's goal is to have a unique programming interface to a variety of databases (Oracle, MS-SQL ...). So, when using Access, DAO seems to be the preferred technology.

Objects

DAO	ADO
`DBEngine`	n/a
`Workspace`	n/a
`Database`	`Connection`
`Recordset`	`Recordset`
Dynaset-type	Keyset	Retrieves a set of pointers to the records in the recordset.
Snapshot-type	Static	Both retrieve full records, but a Static recordset can be updated.
Table-type	Keyset with `adCmdTableDirect` option.
`Field`	`Field`

Opening a recordset and editing a recordset

DAO

dim db as database
dim rs as dao.recordset
set db = currentDB()
set rs = db.openRecordset("tab")
…
rs.edit
rs("fld") = "changed value"
rs.update

ADO

dim rs as new adodb.Recordset
rs.open "tab", currentProject.connection, adOpenKeySet, adLockOptimistic
…
rs("fld") = "changed value"
rs.update

ADO vs DAO

Objects

Opening a recordset and editing a recordset

DAO

ADO

See also