Article
10/01/2010

Migrating From ADO MD To ADOMD.NET

The ADOMD.NET library is similar to the ActiveX Data Objects Multidimensional (ADO MD) library, an extension of the ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) library that is used to access multidimensional data in Component Object Model (COM)–based client applications. ADO MD provides easy access to multidimensional data from unmanaged languages such as C++ and Microsoft Visual Basic. ADOMD.NET provides easy access to analytical (both multidimensional and data mining) data from managed languages such as Microsoft C# and Microsoft Visual Basic .NET. Additionally, ADOMD.NET provides an enhanced metadata object model.

Migrating existing client applications from ADO MD to ADOMD.NET is easy, but there are several important differences regarding migration:

To provide connectivity and data access to client applications

ADO MD

ADOMD.NET

Requires references to both Adodb.dll and Adomd.dll.

Requires a single reference to Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AdomdClient.dll.

The AdomdConnection class provides connectivity support, in addition to access to metadata.
To retrieve metadata for multidimensional objects

ADO MD

ADOMD.NET

Use the Catalog class.

Use the Cubes property of the AdomdConnection.
To run queries and return cellset objects

ADO MD

ADOMD.NET

Use the CellSet class.

Use the AdomdCommand class.
To access the metadata that is used to display a cellset

ADO MD

ADOMD.NET

Use the Position class.

Use the Set and Tuple objects.

Note

The Position class is supported for backward compatibility.

ADO MD	ADOMD.NET
Requires references to both Adodb.dll and Adomd.dll.	Requires a single reference to Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AdomdClient.dll.

ADO MD	ADOMD.NET
Use the Catalog class.	Use the Cubes property of the AdomdConnection.

ADO MD	ADOMD.NET
Use the CellSet class.	Use the AdomdCommand class.

ADO MD	ADOMD.NET
Use the Position class.	Use the Set and Tuple objects.

To retrieve mining model metadata

ADO MD	ADOMD.NET
No class available.	Use one of the data mining collections: The MiningModelCollection contains a list of every mining model in the data source. The MiningServiceCollection provides information about the available mining algorithms. The MiningStructureCollection exposes information about the mining structures on the server.

No class available.

Use one of the data mining collections:

The MiningModelCollection contains a list of every mining model in the data source.
The MiningServiceCollection provides information about the available mining algorithms.
The MiningStructureCollection exposes information about the mining structures on the server.

To highlight these differences the following migration example compares an existing ADO MD application to an equivalent ADOMD.NET application.

Looking at a Migration Example

Both the existing ADO MD and equivalent ADOMD.NET code examples shown in this section perform the same set of actions: creating a connection, running a Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) statement, and retrieving metadata and data. However, these two sets of code do not use the same objects to perform those tasks.

Existing ADO MD Code

The following code example, drawn from ADO MD 2.8 documentation, is written in Microsoft Visual Basic® 6.0 and uses ADO MD to demonstrate how to connect to and query a Microsoft SQL Server data source. This ADO MD example uses the following objects:

Creates a connection from a Catalog object.
Runs the Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) statement using the Cellset object.
Retrieves the metadata and data from the Position object, retrieved from the Cellset object.

Private Sub cmdCellSettoDebugWindow_Click()
Dim cat As New ADOMD.Catalog
Dim cst As New ADOMD.Cellset
Dim i As Integer
Dim j As Integer
Dim k As Integer
Dim strServer As String
Dim strSource As String
Dim strColumnHeader As String
Dim strRowText As String

On Error GoTo Error_cmdCellSettoDebugWindow_Click
Screen.MousePointer = vbHourglass
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Set server to local host.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    strServer = "LOCALHOST"

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Set MDX query string source.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    strSource = strSource & "SELECT "
    strSource = strSource & "{[Measures].members} ON COLUMNS,"
    strSource = strSource & _
        "NON EMPTY [Store].[Store City].members ON ROWS"
    strSource = strSource & " FROM Sales"

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Set active connection.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
        cat.ActiveConnection = "Data Source=" & strServer & _
            ";Provider=msolap;"

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Set cellset source to MDX query string.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
        cst.Source = strSource

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Set cellset active connection to current connection
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Set cst.ActiveConnection = cat.ActiveConnection

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Open cellset.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    cst.Open

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Allow space for row header text.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
strColumnHeader = vbTab & vbTab & vbTab & vbTab & vbTab & vbTab

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Loop through column headers.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
       For i = 0 To cst.Axes(0).Positions.Count - 1
            strColumnHeader = strColumnHeader & _
                cst.Axes(0).Positions(i).Members(0).Caption & vbTab & _
                    vbTab & vbTab & vbTab
       Next
       Debug.Print vbTab & strColumnHeader & vbCrLf

'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
'* Loop through row headers and provide data for each row.
'*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
        strRowText = ""
        For j = 0 To cst.Axes(1).Positions.Count - 1
            strRowText = strRowText & _
                cst.Axes(1).Positions(j).Members(0).Caption & vbTab & _
                    vbTab & vbTab & vbTab
            For k = 0 To cst.Axes(0).Positions.Count - 1
                strRowText = strRowText & cst(k, j).FormattedValue & _
                    vbTab & vbTab & vbTab & vbTab
            Next
            Debug.Print strRowText & vbCrLf
            strRowText = ""
        Next

    Screen.MousePointer = vbDefault
Exit Sub

Error_cmdCellSettoDebugWindow_Click:
   Beep
   Screen.MousePointer = vbDefault
   MsgBox "The following error has occurred:" & vbCrLf & _
      Err.Description, vbCritical, " Error!"
   Exit Sub
End Sub

Equivalent ADOMD.NET Code

The following example, written in Visual Basic .NET and using ADOMD.NET, demonstrates how to perform the same actions as the previous Visual Basic 6.0 example. The major difference between the following example and the ADO MD example shown earlier is the objects that are used to perform the actions. The ADOMD.NET example uses the following objects:

Creates a connection with an AdomdConnection object.
Runs the MDX statement using an AdomdCommand object.
Retrieves the metadata and data from the Set object, retrieved from the Cellset object.

Private Sub DisplayCellSetInOutputWindow()
    Dim conn As AdomdConnection
    Dim cmd As AdomdCommand
    Dim cst As CellSet
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim j As Integer
    Dim k As Integer
    Dim strServer As String = "LOCALHOST"
    Dim strSource As String = "SELECT [Measures].members ON COLUMNS, " & _
        "NON EMPTY [Store].[Store City].members ON ROWS FROM SALES"
    Dim strOutput As New System.IO.StringWriter

    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    '* Open connection.
    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Try
        ' Create a new AdomdConnection object, providing the connection
        ' string.
        conn = New AdomdConnection("Data Source=" & strServer & _
        ";Provider=msolap;")
        ' Open the connection.
        conn.Open()
    Catch ex As Exception
        Throw New ApplicationException( _
            "An error occurred while connecting.")
    End Try

    Try
    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    '* Open cellset.
    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
        ' Create a new AdomdCommand object, providing the MDX query string.
        cmd = New AdomdCommand(strSource, conn)
        ' Run the command and return a CellSet object.
        cst = cmd.ExecuteCellSet()

    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    '* Concatenate output.
    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    ' Include spacing to account for row headers.
    strOutput.Write(vbTab, 6)

    ' Iterate through the first axis of the CellSet object and
    ' retrieve column headers.
    For i = 0 To cst.Axes(0).Set.Tuples.Count - 1
        strOutput.Write(cst.Axes(0).Set.Tuples(i).Members(0).Caption)
        strOutput.Write(vbTab, 4)
    Next
    strOutput.WriteLine()

    ' Iterate through the second axis of the CellSet object and
    ' retrieve row headers and cell data.
    For j = 0 To cst.Axes(1).Set.Tuples.Count - 1
        ' Append the row header.
        strOutput.Write(cst.Axes(1).Set.Tuples(j).Members(0).Caption)
        strOutput.Write(vbTab, 4)

        ' Append the cell data for that row.
        For k = 0 To cst.Axes(0).Set.Tuples.Count - 1
            strOutput.Write(cst.Cells(k, j).FormattedValue)
            strOutput.Write(vbTab, 4)
        Next
        strOutput.WriteLine()
    Next

    ' Display the output.
    Debug.WriteLine(strOutput.ToString)

    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
    '* Release resources.
    '*-----------------------------------------------------------------------
        conn.Close()
    Catch ex As Exception
        ' Ignore or handle errors.
    Finally
        cst = Nothing
        cmd = Nothing
        conn = Nothing
    End Try
End Sub

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Migrating From ADO MD To ADOMD.NET

Looking at a Migration Example

Existing ADO MD Code

Equivalent ADOMD.NET Code

See Also

Concepts

Additional resources