Two types of COM objects are necessary for consumers to connect to providers: data source objects and session objects.

To connect to an OLE DB provider, a consumer must first create and initialize an instance of the provider's data source object. This data source object can then be used to create a session object, which in turn acts as a factory for transactions, commands, and rowsets. The primary function of a session is to define a transaction. A transaction is a mechanism used to define persistent units of work within a provider and to define how the different units relate to one another in a system with parallel activities.

This section contains the following topics:

• Data Source Objects (OLE DB)

• Session Objects (OLE DB)