dbGo applications use Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) 2.1 to interact with an OLE DB provider that connects to a data store and accesses its data. One of the items a data store can represent is a database. An ADO-based application requires that ADO 2.1 be installed on the client computer. ADO and OLE DB is supplied by Microsoft and installed with Windows. 

An ADO provider represents one of a number of types of access, from native OLE DB drivers to ODBC drivers. These drivers must be installed on the client computer. OLE DB drivers for various database systems are supplied by the database vendor or by a third-party. If the application uses an SQL database, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, the client software for that database system must also be installed on the client computer. Client software is supplied by the database vendor and installed from the database systems CD (or disk). 

To connect your application with the data store, use an ADO connection component (TADOConnection). Configure the ADO connection component to use one of the available ADO providers. Although TADOConnection is not strictly required, because ADO command and dataset components can establish connections directly using their ConnectionString property, you can use TADOConnection to share a single connection among several ADO components. This can reduce resource consumption, and allows you to create transactions that span multiple datasets. 

Like other database connection components, TADOConnection provides support for

• Controlling connections
• Controlling server login
• Managing transactions
• Working with associated datasets
• Sending commands to the server
• Obtaining metadata

In addition to these features that are common to all database connection components, TADOConnection provides its own support for

• A wide range of options you can use to fine-tune the connection.
• The ability to list the command objects that use the connection.
• Additional events when performing common tasks.