Choosing the ActiveX Access Method
ActiveX is a Microsoft trademark term for Windows OLE (object linking and embedding) custom controls. Originally developed as extensions to the Microsoft Visual Basic language, they were quickly adopted by Microsoft's other language products, as well as other applications such as Internet Explorer.
If you are creating Windows applications using a language or programming environment that supports ActiveX controls, the PSQL ActiveX access method can handle many of the typically difficult or error-prone tasks of data access for you, such as:
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setting up and using file create and extended operations buffers,
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providing data translation and field-level access, and
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maintaining indexed joins between files.
In Microsoft Visual Basic, the controls also provide seamless access to data for Visual Basic text box and list box controls, APEX and Sheridan grid controls, and other data-aware objects.
In addition to Visual Basic, a number of other programming environments such as Microsoft Visual C/C++, Embarcadero Delphi, and C++ Builder also provide support for ActiveX controls. Microsoft Visual Basic data binding is not supported outside of Visual Basic, however. If you plan to use the ActiveX access method in these languages and your application requires user interface objects such as text boxes, list boxes, or grids, you will need to use the PSQL Data Bound Controls provided in the PSQL SDK ActiveX access method or implement the data binding to these within your application code.
When should I consider using the ActiveX Access Method?
The PSQL ActiveX access method may be used as an alternative to ODBC access for applications in which database performance is of greater concern than SQL access or database abstraction. It provides many of the same basic data services, but uses the MicroKernel Engine rather than the Relational Engine.