How do the ODBC driver and ActiveX controls compare in terms of efficiency and simplicity?
There is often a direct tradeoff between efficiency (speed, overhead, and control) and simplicity (usage or programming requirements). The Btrieve API is a low level interface that goes directly to the MKDE, and offers the greatest speed, control, and flexibility. To get this speed and flexibility, the programmer must take on the responsibility of understanding the data layout and how data is accessed, and include business rules as part of the application. ActiveX is a native Microsoft method that can be used to make programming in Microsoft environments easier without giving up the speed of Btrieve access. ActiveX is a very thin access layer that utilizes direct Btrieve calls, so you still get the performance and a large amount of the control you need. On the other hand, ODBC allows you to deal with a standard SQL abstraction of your physical data and the relationships between portions of the database. You can access the data through standard SQL, and incorporate some of your business
