When you are bound the control to a data-source you can automatically loads/saves the items, tasks and links of the host. The following properties are used together to provide data-source for the control:

• DataSource property, specifies the data-source for the host.
• DataMember property, specifies the query or the name of the table from the DataSource that's bounded with a specified part of the host. This property should be used if the DataSource property refers a file, else the property is ignored
• DataField property, associates a data field to a property of the object of the host.
• DataTechnology property specifies the host's data technology, like XML, ADO or/and DAO to be used.

Based on the DataTechnology and DataSource properties, the control can use any of the following technologies:

• XML (Extensible Markup Language), if the DataTechnology property includes the "MSXML.DOMDocument" and the DataSource property points to a XML file, or the DataSource property refers to an object of MSXML.DOMDocument type.
• ADO (ActiveX Data Objects), if the DataTechnology property includes the "ADODB.Recordset" or "ADOR.Recordset" and the DataSource property points to a ACCDB / MDB / DBF file, or the DataSource property refers to an object of ADODB.Recordset or ADOR.Recordset type.
• DAO (Data Access Object), if the DataTechnology property includes the "DAO.DBEngine.120" or "DAO.DBEngine.36" and the DataSource property points to a ACCDB / MDB, or the DataSource property refers to an object of DAO.DBEngine.36 or DAO.DBEngine.120.

to bound the host to a data-source.

If using the XML (Extensible Markup Language) technology, only following properties are required: 

• DataSource property, specifies the data-source for the host. It could be the XML file, or an object of MSXML.DOMDocument type
• DataField(exItemsDataSource) property, which specifies the name of the data-source to be bounded with the control.

The following sample bounds the control XML (Extensible Markup Language) way:

With G2Host1
    .DataSource("Items") = "C:\Program Files\Exontrol\ExG2Host\Sample\sample.xml"
    .DataField(exItemsDataSource) = "Items"
End With

When using the XML (Extensible Markup Language) technology the control uses the Host's LoadXML and SaveXML to perform savings.

When using the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object)  technology, the following properties are required ( items/columns section ):

• DataSource property, specifies the data-source for the host. It could be the ACCDB/MDB/DBF file, or an object of ADODB.Recordset or ADOR.Recordset type
• DataMember property, specifies the query or the table definition to be bounded with the items section of the host, if the DataSource property is of string type, else it is ignored.
• DataField(exItemsDataSource) property, which specifies the name of the data-source / data-member which bounds the items of the host to the data-source

The following sample bounds the items ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object) way:

With G2Host1
    .DataSource("Items") = "C:\Program Files\Exontrol\ExG2Host\Sample\sample.accdb"
    .DataMember("Items") = "Employees"
    .DataField(exItemsDataSource) = "Items"
End With

A) When using the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object), the tasks can be loaded/saved to the same data-source as items, and so only one task is possible per item, so in this case the following properties are required ( chart/tasks section ):

• DataField(exTasksDataSource) property must be the same as DataField(exItemsDataSource) property
• DataField(exTasksStart) property, specifies the name of the field from the tasks data source, that specifies the start date-time of the task.
• DataField(exTasksEnd) property, specifies the name of the field from the tasks data source, that specifies the end date-time of the task.

The following sample bounds the items and tasks (same table ) ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object) way:

With G2Host1
    .DataSource("Items") = "C:\Program Files\Exontrol\ExG2Host\Sample\sample.accdb"
    .DataMember("Items") = "Employees"
    .DataField(exItemsDataSource) = "Items"
    .DataField(exTasksDataSource) = .DataField(exItemsDataSource)
    .DataField(exTasksStart) = "BirthDate"
    .DataField(exTasksEnd) = "HireDate"
End With

B) When using the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object), the tasks can be loaded/saved from a different data-source, the following properties are required ( chart/tasks section ):

• DataSource property, specifies the data-source for the host. It could be the ACCDB/MDB/DBF file, or an object of ADODB.Recordset or ADOR.Recordset type
• DataMember property, specifies the query or the table definition to be bounded with the chart/tasks section of the host, if the DataSource property is of string type, else it is ignored.
• DataField(exTasksDataSource) property, which specifies the name of the data-source / data-member which bounds the chart/tasks of the host to the data-source
• DataField(exTasksItemID) property, specifies the name of the field from the tasks data source, that specifies the index/identifier of the row/item.
• DataField(exTasksStart) property, specifies the name of the field from the tasks data source, that specifies the start date-time of the task.
• DataField(exTasksEnd) property, specifies the name of the field from the tasks data source, that specifies the end date-time of the task.

in addition for items/columns section, the following is required too:

• DataField(exItemsID) property, specifies the name of the field from the items data source, that specifies the index/identifier of the row/item.

The following sample bounds the items and tasks (different tables ) ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object) way:

With G2Host1
    .DataSource("Items") = "C:\Program Files\Exontrol\ExG2Host\Sample\sample.accdb"
    .DataMember("Items") = "Employees"
    .DataField(exItemsDataSource) = "Items"
    .DataField(exItemsID) = "EmployeeID"
    .DataSource("Tasks") = .DataSource("Items")
    .DataMember("Tasks") = "EmployeeDetails"
    .DataField(exTasksDataSource) = "Tasks"
    .DataField(exTasksItemID) = "EmployeeID"
    .DataField(exTasksStart) = "DateStart"
    .DataField(exTasksEnd) = "DateEnd"
End With

When using the ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object), the links can be loaded/saved from a different data-source, so the following properties are required ( chart/links section ):

• DataSource property, specifies the data-source for the host. It could be the ACCDB/MDB/DBF file, or an object of ADODB.Recordset or ADOR.Recordset type
• DataMember property, specifies the query or the table definition to be bounded with the chart/links section of the host, if the DataSource property is of string type, else it is ignored.
• DataField(exLinksDataSource) property, which specifies the name of the data-source / data-member which bounds the links of the host to the data-source
• DataField(exLinksStart) property, specifies the name of the field from the links data source, that specifies the start of the link.
• DataField(exLinksEnd) property, specifies the name of the field from the links data source, that specifies the end of the link.

in addition for chart/tasks section, the following is required too:

• DataField(exTasksID) property, Specifies the name of the field from the tasks data source, that specifies the unique key/identifier of bar inside the row/item.

The following sample bounds the items, tasks and links (different tables ) ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) or DAO (Data Access Object) way:

With G2Host1
    .DataSource("Items") = "C:\Program Files\Exontrol\ExG2Host\Sample\sample.accdb"
    .DataMember("Items") = "Employees"
    .DataField(exItemsDataSource) = "Items"
    .DataField(exItemsID) = "EmployeeID"
    .DataSource("Tasks") = .DataSource("Items")
    .DataMember("Tasks") = "EmployeeDetails"
    .DataField(exTasksDataSource) = "Tasks"
    .DataField(exTasksItemID) = "EmployeeID"
    .DataField(exTasksStart) = "DateStart"
    .DataField(exTasksEnd) = "DateEnd"
    .DataField(exTasksID) = "TaskID"
    .DataSource("Links") = .DataSource("Items")
    .DataMember("Links") = "EmployeeLinks"
    .DataField(exLinksDataSource) = "Links"
    .DataField(exLinksStart) = "Start"
    .DataField(exLinksEnd) = "End"
End With