what are the differences between OLEDB and ODBC?

Question

Currently I can connect to a local .mdb with an Oledb connection. I am able to query, add, update and delete the database with correct results.

How would connecting to an ODBC database differ in terms of c# usage from an Oledb database?

Answer 1

The connection would likely only differ in connection string (and possibly setting up an ODBC connection in Control Panel), but the .NET classes for connection all implement IDbConnection/Command/Transaction etc so are very similar. In C# you have OleDbConnection and OdbcConnection, I believe - but again both implement the base interfaces.

A short overview can be found here:

http://database.ittoolbox.com/documents/odbc-vs-oledb-18150

Most database vendors support ODBC as it was designed to be a sort of shared connection mechanism, but again most vendors supply or prefer another (Oracle ADO.NET Provider, MySQL Provider, etc).

Either go generic, or if its only a small application, go for the one most suited to the target database.

Answer 2

See the following link ..its more clear

http://www.maxi-pedia.com/What+is+the+difference+between+ODBC+and+OLEDB