[2005] Should I be using COM ADO in VB.Net?

[paulg4ije]

I've had little time to learn VB.Net and am struggling with the new methods of connecting to databases. I have just found that if I include a reference to the "Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.8 Library" COM object - just as I would have done in VB6 - I can use a lot of my old VB6 code with just minor changes.

The question is: Am I handicapping myself by doing things this way? Are these old COM objects still supported in VB2008?

Here's an example of my standard db connection module, modified very slightly to work in VB2005:

Module Module1

    Public GcnCon As ADODB.Connection
    Public GrsRec As ADODB.Recordset
    Public GsDBpath As String

    Sub Open_DB(ByVal SQL As String)

        Try

            GcnCon = New ADODB.Connection
            GcnCon.ConnectionString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0; Data Source=" & GsDBpath
            GcnCon.Open()

            GrsRec = New ADODB.Recordset
            GrsRec.CursorLocation = ADODB.CursorLocationEnum.adUseClient

            GrsRec.Open(SQL, GcnCon, ADODB.CursorTypeEnum.adOpenKeyset, ADODB.LockTypeEnum.adLockPessimistic)

        Catch ex As Exception

            MsgBox(ex.Message)

        End Try

    End Sub

    Sub Close_ADO()
        Try
            System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(GcnCon)
            System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.ReleaseComObject(GrsRec)
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.Message)
        End Try
    End Sub

End Module

I then call this sub with something like:

GsDBpath = "n:\mydata.mdb"
Call Open_db("Select * from tblCustomers")
and then
Call Close_ADO
when I'm finished with the db.

Any reason why I shouldn't do this in VB.Net?

[Shaggy Hiker]

You may not be handicapping your program, but you are handicapping yourself. I don't know whether COM ADO is faster or slower than ADO.NET, but it is fairly certain that eventually it will go away. I can understand wanting to leverage past understanding, but doesn't that ultimately limit you?

[jmcilhinney]

Using COM in .NET apps is always going to introduce an overhead. If you know ADO and not ADO.NET and you need to get something out right now then I'd say use ADO. Otherwise, why are you using VB.NET at all if you're just going to write VB6 code anyway? If you're going to use .NET then you should use .NET.