Database abstraction layers for (Visual) C++

Question

What options exist for accessing different databases from C++? Put differently, what alternatives are there to ADO? What are the pros and cons?

Answer 1

1. Microsoft ODBC.
2. The MFC ODBC classes such as CDatabase.
3. OleDB (via COM).
4. And you can always go through the per-RDBMS native libraries (for example, the SQL Server native library)
5. DAO (don't).
6. 3rd party ORM providers.

I would recommend going through ODBC or OleDB by default. Native libraries really restrict you, DAO is no fun, there aren't a lot of great 3rd-party ORM for C++/Windows.