OLE DB Properties: Introduction

Properties are characteristics of an OLE DB object. Data sources, sessions, and rowsets all have associated properties. Every property has a description, a value, and a type, and can be read-only or writable. Properties also have related methods that can be used to set object properties and retrieve object property information.

Properties are contained within sets that are contained within groups. A property set is a closely related collection of properties associated with one OLE DB object (for example, rowsets), or associated with one type of functionality (for example, initializing the data source component). A property group is a loosely knit group of property sets that are associated with a particular object or type of functionality. Every property belongs to a property set and, by virtue of its set, a property group.

Each property group name corresponds to an object name (like Rowset) or type of functionality (like Initialization). Property names and property set names can be used to determine whether a property is one of the OLE DB standard properties or a customized property specific to SAS.

You can also view properties sorted by group and set, provider, and ADO name.

The following table lists the major property groups. The local, SAS/SHARE, IOM, and Base SAS providers support these groups; however, not all property sets within the groups are supported by all providers (see Supported Property Sets).

The following table lists the property sets (by their global unique identifiers (GUIDs)), associated groups, descriptions, and which providers support them.

OLE DB consumers use property-related methods to set properties on objects in order to force them to act in a certain way. For example, a consumer can set a property to enable an OLE DB rowset to support bookmarks. Consumers also use property-related methods to retrieve an OLE DB object's properties to find out what that object can do. For example, a consumer can get the value of a property that will reveal whether an OLE DB data source is read-only or writable.

The following table lists of OLE DB objects with their property-related methods. All five SAS providers for OLE DB support these methods. For more information about these methods, see the OLE DB documentation.