Implementing Customized User Interfaces in OLE DB Providers

OLE DB Programmer's Reference

To implement customized Data Link property sheets, the provider must do the following:

• Implement pages for both the Connection and Advanced tabs of the user interface. This requirement is for consistency between providers and to simplify the implementation within the Data Link user interface. The provider can choose to leave the Advanced property page blank if it is unused. Microsoft Windows 2000 requires that these pages be implemented for Unicode support as well.
• Register CLSIDs for the provider pages. The extensibility mechanism requires that the extension pages have their own CLSIDs. The provider will be responsible for registering these CLSIDs and handing them to the Data Link core component when requested.
• Implement code to load and save changes to the user interface by using the interfaces described in the section Interfaces Implemented by the Provider. The provider relays property information to the Data Link core component via the IPropertyBag and IPropertyPage interfaces. When a new page is selected, the Data Link core component will call into the provider to determine whether there were changes and, if so, it then calls into the provider to have the changes committed.

  Note   While the provider will have access to the data source object for getting information from the provider, the provider should not do anything to change the state of the IDBProperties associated with that data source object.

• Localize all strings and error messages in the property sheets. The provider is responsible for localizing all information on the property pages, including the tab headings. See Localization for more information.
• Implement the interfaces specified in the section Interfaces Implemented by the Provider. These interfaces allow the provider to communicate with the Data Link user interface.

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