HOWTO: Use Bound Controls with an ADO Recordset

If you want to use a bound ListBox, ComboBox, or Grid control with an ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) recordset, then use the DataList, DataCombo, or DataGrid control instead of the DBList, DBCombo, or DBGrid control. If you try to use DBList, DBCombo, or DBGrid, you get the following error message when trying to set the RowSource for either the DBList or the DBCombo, or the DataSource for the DBGrid:

The complex binding that ADO and the ADO Data Control use is IRowset based, but the complex binding behavior that the DBList, DBCombo, and DBGrid use is ICursor-based.

The following example uses the ADO Data Control to create the ADO recordset.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Open a Standard EXE project in Visual Basic.
2. Click Components on the Project menu and select the following: Microsoft ADO Data Control 6.0 Microsoft Data Bound List Controls 6.0 Microsoft DataList Controls 6.0 (OLEDB)
3. Add an ADO Data Control to the form.
4. Set the following properties on the ADO Data Control:
   ConnectionString: dsn=<yourdsn>
   
   -or-
   
   Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Persist Security Info=False;User ID=sa; Initial Catalog=pubs;Data Source=<yourserver>
5. To create each of the preceding samples, click the ellipsis (...) and complete the dialog boxes:
   RecordSource: select * from authors
6. Add a DBList and a DataList control to the form.
7. Set the following properties on the DataList control:
   RowSource: ADODC1
   Listfield: au_lname
8. Run the form and the DataList displays a list of names.
9. Set the RowSource property of the DBList and the error message appears.