When to use ADO.NET instead of ADO?

Introduction

While we plan to develop any database-oriented application, we must finalize some related points before starting development. Like we need to finalize which database we will use during the development process, and along with the database, we also need to finalize the database-connectivity approach we need to use. In the case of the .Net Framework, we can use any data connectivity technique, either ADO or ADO.NET. However, Microsoft introduced ADO in 1996, providing an alternative to the existing data source like DAO (Data Access Objects) and RDO (Remote Data Objects). Compared to the ADO, ADO.Net is quite the latest data technology provided by Microsoft. ADO.Net was introduced in the year of 2008.

After the release, it became one of the code data access platforms for the .Net Framework provided by Microsoft. Also, We can use the ADO.Net to operate the data in different ways, like connected and disconnected modes. The corresponding method always deals with the live data from the database, whereas the disconnected mode fetches the data from the data store. So here, we will discuss the basic overview of both ADO and ADO.Net and when and why we need to use ADO.Net in place of ADO in our applications. 

What is ADO?

ADO or ActiveX Data Object helps the developer establish a connection with a relational or nonrelational database to perform different database-orientated operations. We can connect both Microsoft-provided databases and other database providers through ADO. ADO acts as an object-oriented programming API or application program interface model. Also, ADO mainly depends on the universal data access strategy by Microsoft. However, As per the strategy, Microsoft always tries to find an option to establish connections with different universal type databases like Oracle, DB2, and other databases. Also, This way, we got an intermediate layer or bridge between Microsoft’s OLDDB interface and the databases to perform different data-related operations. ADO depends on the OLEDB layer service.

ADO represents a collection of COM objects mainly characterized by an interface to the OLDDB layer. The ADO Object model always contains four collections, i.e., fields, parameters, properties, and errors.

Nine different objects:

Every collection includes nine different objects as below – 

1. Connection Object – The connection object is always used to establish a relation between the Application and the Database system.
2. Command Object – Also, The command object is used to execute some SQL query to the database level to retrieve or insert/update data into the database.
3. Recordset Object – Resultset object is used to return the output as a result of the command object’s query execution. Also, It may contain a batch of records or rows along with multiple fields or columns.
4. Record Object – Record objects always return a single row of data. This data can be fetched directly from a Recordset object or the data source.
5. Stream Object – A stream Object is mainly used to return the stream of binary or text formatted data. This object type is beneficial when we try to read data from an XML document that needs to be loaded as a stream object for the input of the command objects. Also, some data providers return the data in an XML format after executing the command objects. 
6. Parameter Object – The parameter object is used to pass the input value as a parameter or argument related to the Command object. Its required when we try to execute some parameterized query or stored procedure with the help of Command objects.
7. Field Object – The field object always represents a column’s data with a specified data type returned by the Recordset object. Also, Every field object is always linked with the column in the Recordset.
8. Property Object – Property object is one of the critical characteristics of the ADO object model, which the data provider defines. Also, ADO objects model supports two types of properties – built-in property and dynamic property. Built-in properties are the pre-implemented properties of the ADO object model, which are automatically available when we create new objects using ADO. Property objects act as a container of the data provider-defined dynamic properties.
9. Error Object – The error object is mainly used to maintain the error log related to the data operation. This object can store all the details of the data access layer-related error information that occurred with the data provider during the data operation.

four collections :

Except for these nine objects, the ADO object model also contains the below-mentioned four collections –

1. Fields Collection – Fields Collection acts as a container of all the Field objects related to result-related objects like Recordset objects, Record objects, etc.
2. Properties Collection – Properties Collection act as a container for all the property objects related to any instance of the ADO object model.
3. Parameters Collection – Parameters Collection act as a container of all the Parameter objects related to the command object of ADO.
4. Errors Collection – Errors collection contains all the error objects raised during the data operation with the data source due to any failure operation.

What is ADO.NET?

In 2008, Microsoft introduced a new data access technology called ADO.NET as an extended part of the .NET Framework. Also, Using this data access technology, we can perform any data-related operation against any data source. However, ADO.Net represents a collection of object-oriented classes with the help of which we can create a high-performance based, scalable, and reliable database application for any client-server Application. This Application can be considered for either internet or intranet environments.

Conceptually, ADO.NET is quite different from the ADO as ADO always represents the data access layer in a connected state mode. It means the database’s connection is always open for the ADO environment. But in the case of ADO.NET, it only establishes a relationship with the data source when we need to access the data from the data source. Once data operation is done, the connection closes automatically. It is becoming one of the essential features of ADO.NET for any Application; if we open the connection all the time, it consumes a high volume of resources. Also, ADO.Net supports all types of SQL queries and stored procedures to perform the data operation related to reading or any data modification in the data source.

Execute the SQL queries :

We can execute the SQL queries with the help of ADO.NET command objects. As an output of this execution, it returns the data or result as a DataSet or DataReader object. Once the data operation is completed, the connection will close automatically. After that, we can use these DataSet objects for any data-related operation. Finally, we need to connect the database again when we require to update the data into the database. Also, DataSet simply acts as a collection of DataTable objects, and we can establish the relationship between multiple data tables within a dataset object. DataSet represents the data in a disconnected mode stored in our local machine. We can perform any changes in the dataset until we connect the database to update the final changes. 

In the case of ADO.NET, XML plays a vital role in data operations. Also, The ADO.NET data model stored data using the XML format for caching and transferring the data between the data source and the Application. Also, DataSet objects depend upon the XML schemas to keep data. We can use the XML data file directly as a data source in any Application. So, we can use this data in all types of Applications as XML is an industry-standard format, and we can transfer the XML formatted data via many protocols like HTTP. HTTPS, as, after all, XML contains the data in a text-based format.

Some of the critical features of the ADO Data model are as below – 

• ADO is based on the COM (Component Object Modelling).
• It works only as a connected data source model.
• ADO supports the locking feature in the data source part.
• Here data is stored in a binary format.
• We can create client-side cursors only in the case of ADO.

 Benefits of using ADO.NET

While we discuss the ADO.NET, it provides several advantages compared to the other Microsoft Data access technologies along with ADO. In the below section, we discussed related to the key benefits of the ADO.NET – 

Single Object-Based API –

In ADO.NET, we can get the advantages of a single object-based process. In ADO.NET, we can use different databases, but the programming structure or the model will work the same way for all the data sources. So, for example, if we know how to work with SQL data sources, we can quickly develop the Application using the other data sources. Because, for different data sources, we need to change the class name related to that data source and connection string-related attribute values. 

Managed Code –

All the ADO.NET data object model classes mainly managed. With the help of these classes, we can use the advantages of the .NET CLR, such as automatic resource allocation management and language independency. Also, The main benefit of ADO.Net is that we do not need to consider the memory allocation and clear it as the CLR will be taken care of automatically. 

XML Support –

Currently, XML is one of the best industry-supported formats used widely in different applications across the Internet to share data. As we discussed in an earlier section also, that, ADO.Net is used XML format data for caching and transferring data purposes.

Scalability and Performance –

In the case of any web-based application, the significant factors are always scalability and performance. As in the case of the web application, we always transfer data from the data source to the Application and vice-versa, so this process is constantly costly as it depends on the bandwidth limitation of the internet connection and also due to increased network traffic. So, in this scenario, if we use the disconnect, the cached data model, which XML takes care of in ADO.Net, will automatically handle the problems mentioned earlier.

Connected and Disconnected Data –

While we use ADO.NET for any web-based application, we used some vital connections. Also, The rest of the operation we performed with the help of disconnected data. Theoretically, both ADO and ADO.NET support the disconnected data model. But the RecordSet object in the ADO model not adequately designed to handle the disconnected data. That’s why we always face performance issues in the case of ADO. At the same time, ADO.NET designed and developed to handle the disconnected data operation. In ADO.NET, we can use the dataset object as a local copy of the database data. Then, we can store the local data into the dataset objects, and finally, we can connect the data source to update that data into the data source. 

LINQ to Dataset –

In the case of ADO.NET, we can use the benefits of LINQ. We can perform queries on the dataset object with the help of LINQ to Dataset API. The LINQ queries are mainly written by using the C# languages. 

ADO.NET Entity Framework –

With the help of ADO.NET Entity Framework, we can develop data-access applications using the programming and application model. However, For this, we do not need to use programming directly a relational storage schema. Also, The main objective is to reduce the volume of code and maintenance work required for any data-oriented applications.

Comparison between ADO & ADO.NET

So, in the above area, we discussed the basic concept of ADO and ADO.NET. Now, when we try to use any of them in any application development, we need to understand which one is better and why that data access technique we need to use. So, in this section, we will discuss the head-to-head difference between the ADO and ADO.NET.

Key Points	ADO	ADO.NET
Data Read	ADO Supports only data read sequentially.	In ADO.Net, data can be read in both sequential and non-sequential manner.
Data Representation	In ADO,  we can fetch data in a Recordset object at a time by using only one data source.	In ADO.Net, the dataset object can fetch the data from different data sources, manipulate the same data, and then update one or multiple data sources from the dataset objects.
Disconnected Access	In ADO, we first make a call to an OLEDB provider, which mainly supports the connected access only.	In ADO.NET, we can use the calls like DataSetCommand object to establish communication with a database and with the OLEDB provider.
Locking	ADO supports the locking features.	The locking feature is not used in ADO.NET
Data Storage	ADO data model stored data in a binary format.	ADO.NET data model stored data in XML format.
Communication	Here objects communicate with each other in a binary mode.	Here objects are communicated to each other in XML format.
Connection Model	It supports only one type of connection, i.e., Connection-Oriented Data Access Architecture type.	It supports two connection models – The connected Data Model and Disconnected Data Model.
Environment	ADO Support two-tiered architecture.	ADO.NET support multi-tiered architecture.
Metadata	ADO can populate data automatically at runtime, depending upon the metadata.	ADO.NET can populate data at the design time based on metadata to provide better runtime performance.
Transaction	In ADO, we can not perform multiple transactions in a single connection with the data source.	In ADO.NET, we can perform multiple transactions in a Single Connection with the data source.
Security	ADO is much less secured.	ADO.NET is much more secure compared to the ADO.
Based On	ADO data model technology is based on the component object modeling concept.	ADO.Net data model technology-based on CLR or Common  Language Runtime based library.
Scalability	ADO technology is less scalable.	ADO.NET is much more scalable with the help of a locking mechanism.
Resource Utilization	ADO can use more resources compared to the ADO.NET	ADO.Net always consumes fewer resources.
Performance	ADO always has a poor performance	ADO.NET provided much better performance compared to ADO.

Conclusion

So, in the above section, we discussed different aspects of ADO and ADO.NET. Also, we discussed it related to the critical difference between these two data process technology. So, in any .NET Application, ADO.Net always provides a set of standard APIs which can used in different applications like Windows Forms, Web Services, or Asp.Net Pages. ADO.Net mainly acts as a toolbox along with multiple objects designed so that with the help of this, programmers can build a robust application very quickly. As a developer, it is always better to use the ADO.Net due to different benefits like performance, disconnected mode, security, communication, etc.