Making a connection

Applies to: Access 2013, Office 2013

To connect to a data source, you must specify a connection string, the parameters of which might differ for each provider and data source. For more information, see Creating the Connection String.

ADO most commonly opens a connection by using the Connection object Open method. The syntax for the Open method is shown here:

Dim connection as New ADODB.Connection 
connection.Open ConnectionString, UserID, Password, OpenOptions

Alternatively, you can invoke a shortcut technique, Recordset.Open, to open an implicit connection and issue a command over that connection in one operation. Do this by passing in a valid connection string as the ActiveConnection argument to the Open method. Here is the syntax for each method in Visual Basic:

Dim recordset as ADODB.Recordset 
Set recordset = New ADODB.Recordset 
recordset.Open Source, ActiveConnection, CursorType, LockType, Options

Note

When should you use a Connection object vs. the Recordset.Open shortcut? Use the Connection object if you plan to open more than one Recordset, or when executing multiple commands. A connection is still created by ADO implicitly when you use the Recordset.Open shortcut.