Application Component

An application using ODBC performs the following tasks:

Requests a session (connection) with a data source.
Sends SQL requests to the data source.
Defines storage areas and data formats for the results of the SQL requests.
Requests the results of the defined query.
Processes errors.
Requests commit or rollback operations for transaction control.
Terminates the session with the data source.

Any program that accesses a DBMS, such as a spreadsheet, a mail server, or a report generator, can be designed to use ODBC.