Microsoft Access 2010 : DATA ACCESS WITH ADO (part 4) - Working with Data in Recordsets

5. Working with Data in Recordsets

The primary purpose of the Recordset is to work with the data stored within. There are several methods for working with this data, as we discuss in this section.

5.1. Referring to Fields

The ADO Recordset object cursor points to a Record that contains a collection of Field objects (columns). Those fields can be referred to in a variety of ways. The field can be specified by the field name or ordinal index directly from the Recordset object:

rs("myField")
rs(1)
rs!myField

Or, it could be referred to as a member of the Fields collection:

rs.Fields(1)
rs.Fields("myField")
rs.Fields!myField

5.2. Retrieving Data

Gathering the data values from within the Field is quite easy to do, once the correct Record is selected. To get the data from the Field, simply call the Value property, as shown in the following code:

Public Function RetrievingData() As String

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs     As New ADODB.Recordset
    Dim result As String

    ' Open the Recordset
    rs.Open "Contacts", CurrentProject.Connection

    ' Get the data from the Record
    result = rs("ID").Value
    result = result & " - " & rs("First Name").Value & " " & rs("Last Name").Value

    ' Return the data
    RetrievingData = result

End Function

                                                        					  

In ADO, changes are (usually) immediately committed to the Recordset when moving away from the record, depending upon the Recordset lock type, cursor mode, connection mode, and other connections to the Recordset. This is completely opposite of DAO, so be sure not to get the two libraries confused! The Supports method can be used to determine if Update is supported, and if not, the data cannot be modified. The following code illustrates just how easily data can be modified:

Public Sub ModifyData()

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Open the Recordset using adLockOptimistic
    rs.Open "Contacts", CurrentProject.Connection, , adLockOptimistic

    ' Modify the Data
    If rs("Last Name").Value = "Lincoln" Then
        rs("Last Name").Value = "Washington"

Else
        rs("Last Name").Value = "Lincoln"
    End If

    ' Move away from the Record to commit the value
    rs.MoveNext

    ' Clean up
    rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing

End Sub

                                                         

It is important to note that, in this example, it is not required to call the Update method to actually update the data in the data source because it was implicitly called when the Recordset object was destroyed. However, it is a best practice to always explicitly call the Update method when modifying a Record to persist changes to the Recordset. Also, the Close method should always be called after completing all tasks on a Recordset to persist the changes and ensure that the data source objects have been released.

5.4. Creating Batch Updates

ADO allows multiple records to be edited and then committed as a single operation, by calling the UpdateBatch method. To use this feature, the cursor type must be client-side and the lock type must be adLockBatchOptimistic.

Public Sub ModifyDataBatch(CommitChanges As Boolean)

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Open the Recordset using adLockBatchOptimistic
    rs.Open "Contacts", CreateConnection, , adLockBatchOptimistic

    ' Modify the Data as a Batch Operation
    While rs.EOF = False
        If rs("Company").Value = "ABC Corp" Then
            rs("Company").Value = "XYZ Inc"
        Else
            rs("Company").Value = "ABC Corp"
        End If

        ' Move to the Next Record without commiting changes
        rs.MoveNext
    Wend

    ' Commit or Deny the changes as a Batch update
    If CommitChanges Then
        rs.UpdateBatch
    Else

rs.CancelBatch
    End If

    ' Clean up
    rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing

End Sub

                                                         

A benefit to using batch updating is that you can also reverse any changes made to the Recordset by calling CancelUpdate. Always call the Close method to persist all updates to the Recordset and ensure that the data source objects have been released.

5.5. Adding New Data

To add a new Record to a Recordset, the Recordset must support the AddNew method, which can be verified with the Supports method. To add a new Record, simply call the AddNew method with an array of Field names and an array of values for each corresponding field.

Public Sub AddNewRecord()

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs             As New ADODB.Recordset
    Dim fieldsArray(1) As Variant
    Dim valuesArray(1) As Variant

    ' Open the Recordset using adLockOptimistic
    rs.Open "Contacts", CreateConnection, , adLockOptimistic

    ' Add a new record
    fieldsArray(0) = "First Name"
    fieldsArray(1) = "Last Name"
    valuesArray(0) = "John"
    valuesArray(1) = "Adams"
    rs.AddNew fieldsArray, valuesArray

    ' Commit the Record and clean up
    rs.Update
    rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing

End Sub

                                                   

5.6. Deleting Data

To delete a Record from a Recordset, the Recordset must support the Delete method, which can be verified with the Supports method. To delete the Record, simply navigate to it and call the Delete method:

Public Sub DeleteRecord()

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Open the Recordset using adLockOptimistic
    rs.Open "Contacts", CreateConnection, , adLockOptimistic

    ' Move to the last record and delete it
    rs.MoveLast
    rs.Delete

    ' Commit the Record and clean up
    rs.Update
    rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing

End Sub

                                                      

5.7. Closing Recordsets

The Close method of the Recordset object is used to close a recordset once you have finished working with its data. It is always a best practice to close Recordsets once you have finished with them to ensure all changes are persisted to the data source. Also, Update, UpdateBatch, Cancel, or CancelBatch should be called before closing to ensure all changes to the Recordset have been committed or rolled back. If all changes are not committed and the Recordset is closed, an error occurs. The following code illustrates an example of a function to close Recordsets:

Public Sub CloseRecordset(rs As ADODB.Recordset)

    ' Check the Mode to call update
    If rs.LockType = adLockBatchOptimistic Then
        rs.UpdateBatch
    Else
        rs.Update
    End If

    ' Close and clean up

rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing

End Sub

                                                      

ADO also provides methods to save a Recordset to a file on the disk. This means that it can later be reopened at any time, and it will not be connected to any other source, such as the database the data came from. To do this, use the Recordset object's Save method to save the Recordset to a file. The PersistFormat parameter specifies which of the two possible save formats to use: Advanced Data TableGram (ADTG), which is a proprietary Microsoft format, or the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.

Public Sub SaveRecordsetToFile()

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Open the Recordset
    rs.Open "Prices", CreateConnection

    ' Save the Recordset to disk
    rs.Save "C:\temp\MyRecordset.xml", adPersistXML

    ' Clean up
    rs.Close
    Set rs = Nothing

End Sub

                                                  

5.9. Loading Recordset Data from a File

The Recordset.Open method can also reload Recordsets that have been saved to a file. To do this, simply call the Open method with the file path to the data file as the parameter.

Public Function LoadRecordsetFromFile() As ADODB.Recordset

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Open the Recordset from File

rs.CursorLocation = adUseClient
    rs.Open "C:\temp\MyRecordset.xml"

    ' Return the Recordset
    Set LoadRecordsetFromFile = rs

End Function

                                                          

5.10. Disconnected Recordsets

When opening a Recordset from a file, the Recordset is put into a disconnected state and it is not connected to any data source; it is known as a disconnected recordset. As mentioned, they can be used like any other Recordset objects, but the Recordset has no ActiveConnection setting value. This means that persisting changes to the data source is different than normal Recordset objects that have a valid ActiveConnection. But, this fact is not to be confused with persisting changes to the data contained in the Recordset object itself. Remember that the data in a disconnected Recordset can be modified in the same way as with any other Recordset object, in that it is just not persisted to any other data source by default. To manually disconnect a Recordset from the data source, simply set the ActiveConnection property to Nothing:

Public Function DisconnectRecordset() As ADODB.Recordset

    ' Create a new Recordset
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Set a Client side cursor required for disconnection
    rs.CursorLocation = adUseClient

    ' Open the Recordset
    rs.Open "Prices", CurrentProject.Connection

    ' Now disconnect the Recordset
    Set rs.ActiveConnection = Nothing

    ' Return the Recordset
    Set DisconnectRecordset = rs

End Function

                                                      

Public Function ReconnectRecordset() As ADODB.Recordset

    ' Define Variables
    Dim rs As New ADODB.Recordset

    ' Re-open the Recordset from File
    rs.CursorLocation = adUseClient
    rs.Open "C:\temp\MyRecordset.xml", , , adLockOptimistic

    ' Now set the Recordset's ActiveConnection to reconnect to the source
    rs.ActiveConnection = CurrentProject.Connection

    ' Return the Recordset
    Set ReconnectRecordset = rs

End Function