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Title: Special Edition Using Microsoft Access 2000 by Roger Jennings ISBN: 0789716062 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 09 April, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.29
Rating: 4
Summary: A Surprisingly Good "VBA-Lite" Access Reference
Comment: I was looking for a good "intermediate level" Access book ... IMHO they are hard to find. In this 1200-page book, the author relegates the subject of VBA to the last 200 pages. To some this may be a "negative", but it permits the author to cover the "non-VBA" aspects of Access in greater detail.
While it is true that almost any good Access application will require some VBA, it is also important to understand "how the code (Access) works". I my own case, once I learned a little VBA, I had a tendency to use it for everything. Unfortunately, many times I was trying to "reinvent" things that, as I found out later, Access could do automatically. But how would you know unless you understand "how the code works"?
Based on recent "disappointing" experiences with QUE books (ie, filled with mistakes), I was skeptical about purchasing this book. Fortunately the number of typos is tolerable. And after reading many of the chapters, I am glad that I purchased this book. I have learned more about the non-VBA aspects of Access from this book than from any other Access book (and I have quite a few Access books).
This book is rated "Intermediate/Advanced", but since the author states in the Introduction that "each major topic begins with the assumption that you have no prior experience with the subject" and the fact that the book is "VBA-Lite", I'd rate it Beginner/Intermediate ... just what I was looking for.
My recommendations ...
If you are new to Access, first get a copy of Microsoft Press "Access Step By Step" book then purchase Jenning's "Using Access 2000. If you are new to Access VBA, first get a copy of Microsoft Press "Access/VBA Step By Step" book then get Barker's "Microsoft Access 2000 Power Programming"
Rating: 3
Summary: A disappointment
Comment: For such a big book, I expected more. I have a decent amount of computer experience, although I had none with Access. The book starts out doing a fairly good job of introducing the reader to the more mundane uses of the program. But I soon realized that if I wanted to put together some more creative applications, I would need to combine Access with structured query language (SQL) and some Visual Basic (VBA) programming.
For instance, I wanted to put together a custom data base for keeping track of my expenditures, and summarize the data in a specific format. I've programmed before - back in the ancient days of mainframes - and looked forward to the challenge of learning something new. And this book contains chapters on SQL and VBA - which is one of the reasons I bought it. But they turned out to be virtually useless. For instance, the book gives you examples of how to use SQL to write very specific kinds of queries, and how to use VBA for very specific programming routines. But there's no explanation of the logic or the programming "grammar" behind the examples, so you can't generalize to create your own queries or routines. Unless your needs happen to coincide with the examples Jennings sees fit to give you, you're fresh out of luck. Oh, yes, he does give you lots of tables of functions and expressions and god-all-knows what else. But they are virtually useless out of context. It's like giving someone a dictionary of the English language, but no grammar book, and then expecting them to learn how to converse.
The sample data base also got a little old after a while. Every example in the book is based on it. I can appreciate that, for the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other types, it might be a teaching technique that works well. But personally, I don't want to spend a lot of time working with someone else's data base; I want to do my own.
This book has been helpful in the sense that it made me realize how much there is to learn to use Access' full potential -- and that I'd better start looking for a much better book to do it with!
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best software books I own
Comment: I had used Access 97 in two previous jobs, and had to build a small database in one of them. I knew, however, that I could do much more with it, and since I had Office 2000 at home I bought this book to improve my skills in Access 2000. I sought a good, thorough, one volume reference work and found it! As the author discusses early on, the first fifteen chapters walk you through a solid understanding of the basics of Access 2000 (e.g. building an application, tables, queries, forms, and reports). Each chapter has exercises that make use of the sample database that comes with Access, and I strongly recommend that you do these exercises (I only wish Excel had something comparable).
I am now interested enough in Access 2000 to go ahead and want to learn SQL and perhaps even VBA. Later chapters of this book contain introductions to those topics, as well as a good chapter on relational database design. I have not used the CD-ROM that comes with the book as much as I had expected, but it contains much material that supplements what is in the book (e.g. an additional database to practice with). My only caution is that this may not be the best book for those who are totally, completely new to Access (you can get the Dummies title for that). However, if you want a well rounded one volume reference book on Access, I strongly recommend this title!
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Title: Special Edition Using Microsoft Excel 2000 by Patrick Blattner, Laurie Ulrich, Ken Cook, Timothy Dyck ISBN: 0789717298 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Special Edition Using Microsoft Word 2000 by Bill Camarda, Bill Ray, Michael Larson ISBN: 0789718529 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 08 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Special Edition Using Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 by Patrice-Anne Rutledge, Robert Fuller, Timothy Dyck, Tom Mucciolo ISBN: 0789719045 Publisher: MacMillan Publishing Company Pub. Date: 05 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Special Edition Using Microsoft Outlook 2000 (Special Edition Using) by Gordon Padwick ISBN: 0789719096 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Microsoft Access 2000 Bible by Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin ISBN: 0764532863 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $49.99 |
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