ActiveConnection Property

Indicates to which Connection object the specified Command or Recordset object currently belongs.

Settings and Return Values

Sets or returns a String containing the definition for a connection or a Connection object reference. Default is Null.

Remarks

Use the ActiveConnection property to set or return an open Connection object over which the specified Command object should execute or the specified Recordset should be opened. If you pass a connection string for this argument, ADO opens a new connection using the specified parameters.

Command

For Command objects, the ActiveConnection property is read/write.

If you attempt to call the Execute method on a Command object before setting this property to an open Connection object or valid connection string, an error occurs.

Setting this property to Nothing disassociates the Command object from the current Connection and causes the provider to release any associated resources on the data source. You can then associate the Command object with the same or another Connection object. If the Parameters collection of the Command object contains parameters supplied by the provider, the collection is cleared if you set the ActiveConnection property to Nothing or to another Connection object. If you manually create Parameter objects and use them to fill the Parameters collection of the Command object, setting the ActiveConnection property to Nothing or to another Connection object leaves the Parameters collection intact.

Closing the Connection object with which a Command object is associated sets the ActiveConnection property to Nothing. Setting this property to a closed Connection object generates an error.

Recordset

For open Recordset objects or for Recordset objects whose Source property is set to a valid Command object, the ActiveConnection property is read-only. Otherwise, it is read/write.

You can set this property to a valid Connection object or to a valid connection string. In this case, the provider creates a new Connection object using this definition and opens the connection. Additionally, the provider may set this property to the new Connection object to give you a way to access the Connection object for extended error information or to execute other commands.

If you use the ActiveConnection argument of the Open method to open a Recordset object, the ActiveConnection property will inherit the value of the argument.

If you set the Source property of the Recordset object to a valid Command object variable, the ActiveConnection property of the Recordset inherits the setting of the Command object's ActiveConnection property.

Applies To

Command, Recordset