OLE DB Database Interface

OLE DB provides an open data access and uses a standard set of COM interfaces for accessing and manipulating many types of data. OLE DB interfaces can access simple data or relational databases. This provides access to data that cannot be accessed through the current ODBC technology.

The following is a list of supported OLE DB providers:

Supported OLE DB providers
Microsoft Jet 3.51 OLE DB Provider
Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider
Oracle Provider for OLE DB
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server

Note: While Microsoft also supplies an OLE DB provider for Oracle, Bentley recommends the use of the provider supplied by Oracle.

The following databases are supported with an OLE DB connection:

Databases supported with an OLE DB connection
Access 97
Access 2000
Oracle 9i
Oracle 10g
Oracle 11g
SQL Server 2000

SQL Server table does table level locking. This can put the database and MicroStation into a Dead Lock situation. This can occur under the following scenario:

Auto commit mode is set to off (SESSION AUTOCOMMIT OFF)
A record is inserted into a database table using the SQL Window
A query is made to the same table using VSQL or another MDL Database application

These conditions will lock MicroStation because it will be waiting for a return from the database. SQL Server will also be dead locked waiting for a commit for the insert statement.

To resolve this problem, a dirty or uncommited read of the table can be done. This allows the database to read uncommitted records from the database. However, these records could be deleted if the original transaction is rolled back. Setting the MS_OLEDBUNCOMMITTEDREAD will prevent the dead lock situation but does come with the risk of lost records.