I am using Perl to extract data from a database using COM functions.

COM functions are all very good, in their place. But unless there is no alternative, there place is not in Perl code. Perl has a very extensive set of database access moethods which have been well and truly tested under fire, which handle an amazing range of databases and offer a consistent interface as you do it. Right from the lowly DBI, through to some pretty impressive ORM tools like Class::DBI, DBIx::Class and Rose::DB. As you are talking about ADO, then it is probable that you are using Microsoft Access and for that I would suggest DBD::ODBC would be a far more Perlish way of attacking the beast. Of course, you should look at the Tutorials section of the monastery to get a significant injection of wise counsel and good knowledge.

jdtoronto

The basic reason is that these are functions provided by
the software supplier. Therefore they provide a
robust and seucre way of doing what I want
The database is from Symantics and therefore not
Access.

Here is code I've used in the past to get you started, YMMV with newer versions of ADO.

use Win32 qw( in );

my $ConnStr = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Se
+curity Info=False;Data Source=server;Initial Catalog=database;";
my $AdoConn = new Win32::OLE("ADODB.Connection");

$AdoConn->Open($ConnStr);

my $AdoRs = new Win32::OLE("ADODB.Recordset");

my $sql = "select * from table";
$AdoRs->Open($sql, $AdoConn);

ROW: while (!$AdoRs->{EOF}) {
    my @col;
    for my $field ( in $AdoRs->Fields ) {
      push @col, $field->{Value};
    }
    # ...

} continue {
    $AdoRs->MoveNext();
}

$AdoRs->Close();
[download]

Many thanks for the information sources and the
'starter' code.

Cheers,

Brent

Yes I have to since these are the only functions that are provided
by the software supplier and therefore have
some gaurantees of doing the work without any errors.