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Access 97 Developer's Handbook
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Author: Ken Getz, Mike Gilbert, Paul Microsoft Access 95 Developer's Handbook Litwin
List Price: $59.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0782119417
Publisher: Sybex (January, 1997)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 1,443
Average Customer Rating: 4.68 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 4 out of 5
Good Reference Book
Warning this book is not for the faint-hearted! More than 1000 pages of pure reference material for the intermediate/advanced Access user. It's a great book but not one that you can read through from the beginning to the end (and it's not written like that).Don't buy this book if you're a beginner. However, if you're into major Access coding and want to know the deep deep stuff of how to make Access obey you, then this is a fantastic reference book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Excellent source material
I've been using this book for over a year, and continually keep going back to it for refreshers, and to look for solutions to new problems. I find this book to be very easy to understand, and my personal Bible for Access '97.
Rating: 5 out of 5
THE Bible
As a God-fearing Christian (sans Bible-thumping), I generally object to the label "bible" being applied to software books that are either excessively comprehensive or simply weigh a lot. But when you are looking for a comprehensive guide for programming Access applications, the Access Developer's Handbooks are the best place to start. This, the third edition of the series for Access 97, continues the fine reputation that the authors have earned for their work.
Let me say up front that I don't much like programming in Access. I was born and bred with Visual Basic and find that programming in Access is unnecessarily restrictive. (But I'd give up my first-born to have the Access report writer available to VB.) Give me a good database application in VB any day. Nonetheless, I frequently find myself having to create or modify Access applications. When I do and hit a stumbling block, the Handbook is the first reference I reach for. And it rarely lets me down.
With close to 1,500 pages the range of topics, particularly relating to using Office 97 with Access, is impressive. Part 1 gives an overview of Access 97, highlighting the new features, and covering the Access event model and VBA class modules. The next part covers manipulating data; relatively little is new here for database programmers. Part 3 gets into presenting data, covering form and report design, and discussing the use of shared Office components such as the Office Assistant. Part 4 starts getting into the fun stuff: multiuser applications, replication, security, and client-server. The next part covers error handling and application optimization. Part 6 moves your focus to the world outside your application, describing how to use DLLs and the Windows API, using some of the features of the Access wizards that aren't otherwise available in Access (a way cool chapter), and using ActiveX automation. The last part adds some finishing touches: building add-ins, web-enabling your applications, and using the source code control features. Two appendices, absent from the book but included on the CD, cover naming conventions and database startup properties.
My only problem with the books is that it frequently lacks depth. But with the range of topics and the limitations of book binding, that's to be expected. I've rarely found a situation where I didn't find enough in the book about my current problem to at least get me started in the right direction.
The authors are some of the true gurus of Access programming, and I don't use that word lightly. If you program in Access, get this book. And if you ever have the opportunity to hear any of them speak, grab a first row seat. You'll learn a lot.
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