.. i need to interact with the microsoft access database, take data from it and store it on an ascci file, using visual C++. the storing part is understandable but the getting data from the database part is killin me, i can't find any references in a book or on the net.any help would be highly welcome ...........thanks

This is just in case you still do not have an answer (which I actually doubt a little) or if anybody else comes by...
You will need to create an OleDbDataAdapter and OleDbConnection. For the connection, when creating a new one, you will first select a "provider type", in this case (Microsoft Access) you will need "Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider". You will then select your connection by selecting a database + its username & password (if any). This is all you basically need.

For the Data Adapter, you will simply need to select your connection, create your query and a select, insert & delete command will automatically be created.

All you need then is to read the data and store it somewhere. You could create a datagrid to hold the data, then set its DataSource property to a DataSet, which in turn will be filled by the DataAdapter, as such:

 dataAdapter->Fill(dataSet);
 dataGrid->DataSource = dataSet->Tables->Item[0]->DefaultView;

You can find the DataGrid, Dataset, OleDbDataAdapter and OleDbConnection in your toolbox.
Hope this helps all who come 'round.