Query Interfaces

There are three types of ADSI interfaces used to perform directory searches. The application environment and other requirements may indicate which interface you use.

• IDirectorySearch. IDirectorySearch is a basic COM interface only available to C/C++ programmers. For more information, see Searching With the IDirectorySearch Interface.
• ADO. The ActiveX Data Object (ADO) interfaces are OLE Automation interfaces that utilize OLE DB. Use ADO for queries within applications that rely on OLE Automation. These include Visual Basic applications, Active Server Pages, and so on. For more information, see Searching with ActiveX Data Objects.
• OLE DB. OLE DB is a set of C/C++ interfaces used to query databases. By supporting these interfaces, ADSI providers can implement advanced OLE DB features, such as distributed queries with other OLE DB providers. For more information, see Searching with OLE DB.

The following search preferences can be set for each interface:

• Asynchronous operation
• Time limit for a search
• Whether the server should return the names of empty attributes
• Base, One-Level, or Sub-Tree depth to the search
• Size limit for a result set
• Time limit for the server to process a result set
• Page size for the result set
• Timeout for generating a page in a result set
• Whether or not to chase referrals
• Whether or not to sort the result set