OLE DB provides support for both traditional relational data sources and
non-relational data stores. OLE DB implicitly uses UNICODE strings. With
version 3.5, ODBC now offers UNICODE support.
The 1.1 version of the OLE DB Provider for ODBC was written to specific
UNICODE specifications within ODBC 3.0. Because these specifications have
changed in ODBC 3.5, you must have version 1.5 of the OLE DB Provider for
ODBC when using ODBC 3.5. The OLE DB Provider for ODBC version in later releases should match the MDAC release they shipped with, for example, 2.1 with MDAC 2.1. The OLE DB Provider for ODBC should not be changed from the version which shipped with it's parent MDAC package, since the entire package is tested as a suite, and mismatched components may cause unpredictable behavior.
If you install or redistribute ODBC 3.5 onto a computer with OLE DB 1.1 and
ODBC 3.0, you will have problems with any OLE DB application on that
computer that uses the OLE DB Provider for ODBC, unless you also install
the OLE DB Provider for ODBC, version 1.5. Version 1.1 of the ODBC Provider
will not work with ODBC 3.5 because it relies on ODBC 3.0 code that is no
longer present in ODBC 3.5.
While applications based on ODBC 3.5 can run without the presence of the
OLE DB Provider for ODBC, distributing ODBC 3.5 without including the
provider means installation of your application could cause problems with
pre-existing OLE-DB-based applications that use that provider.
This article deals with redistribution of Microsoft Data Access Components
(MDAC), which includes ODBC, OLE DB, ADO, RDS, the MDAC Standalone, MDAC
Redistribution and the Data Access SDK. The "Redistributing Microsoft Data
Access Components" whitepaper presents a comprehensive overview of this
subject, including referencing the content in this article. This whitepaper
is located at: