Access Cookbook, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Ken Getz (Author), Paul Litwin (Author), Andy Baron (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596006780 | ISBN-13: 978-0596006785 | Publication Date: March 1, 2004 | Edition: 2nd

Not a reference book, and not a tutorial either, the new second edition of the highly regarded Access Cookbook is an uncommonly useful collection of solutions to problems that Access users and developers are likely to face as they attempt to build increasingly complex applications.

Although using any single "recipe" in the book will more than pay back the cost of the book in terms of both hours saved and frustration thwarted, Access Cookbook, Second Edition is much more than a handy assortment of cut-and-paste code.

Each of the "recipes" examine a particular problem--problems that commonly occur when you push the upper limits of Access, or ones that are likely to trip up a developer attempting to design a more elegant Access application--even some things you never knew Access could do. The authors then, in a clear, accessible, step-by-step style, present the problems' solution. Following each "recipe" are insights on how Access works, potential pitfalls, interesting programming techniques that are used in the solution, and how and why the solution works, so you can adapt the problem-solving techniques to other similar situations.

Fully updated for Access 2003, Access Cookbook, Second Edition is also one of the first books to thoroughly explore new support for .NET managed code and XML. All of the practical, real-world examples have been tested for compatibility with Access 2003, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. This updated new edition also covers Access and SharePoint, Access and SmartTags, Access and .NET; and Access and XML.

Access power users and programmers at all levels, from the relatively inexperienced to the most sophisticated, will rely on the Access Cookbook for quick solutions to gnarly problems. With a dog-eared copy of Access Cookbook at your side, you can spend your time and energy where it matters most: working on the interesting facets of your Access application, not just the time-consuming ones.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ken Getz is a senior consultant with MCW Technologies and splits his time between programming, writing, and training. He specializes in tools and applications written in Visual Studio .NET and Visual Basic. Ken is co-author of best-selling several books, including Access 2002 Developer's Handbooks with Paul Litwin and Mike Gunderloy, Visual Basic Language Developer's Handbook with Mike Gilbert, and VBA Developer's Handbook with Mike Gilbert (Sybex). He co-wrote several training courses for Application Developer's Training Company (www.appdev.com), including VB.NET, ASP.NET, Access 2000 and 97, Visual Basic 6, and Visual Basic 5 seminars.He has also recorded video training for AppDev covering VB.NET, ASP.NET, VB6, Access 2000, and Access 97. Ken is a frequent speaker at technical conferences and spoken often at Microsoft's Tech-Ed conference. Ken's also a technical editor for Access-VB-SQL Advisor magazine and a columnist for Informant Publications' asp.netPRO magazine.

Paul Litwin is the president of Litwin Consulting, providing development, mentoring, and training in ASP, ASP.NET, Visual Basic, SQL Server, XML, Microsoft Access, and related technologies. Paul was the founding editor of the Smart Access Newsletter and recently became the editor-in-chief of asp.netPRO Magazine(www.aspnetpro.com). He is the author of a number of books, articles, and training materials on Access, VBA, Web development, ASP, and ASP.NET. Paul is one of the founders of Deep Training, a developer-owned training company providing training on Microsoft.NET (www.deeptraining.com). He is the conference chair of Microsoft ASP.NET Connections (www.asp-connections.com) and Office Developer Connections (www.msofficeconnections.com) and speaks regularly at other industry events, including Microsoft TechEd and Microsoft Office Deployment and Development Conference.

Andy Baron is a senior consultant at MCW Technologies, a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) since 1995, and a contributing editor for Advisor Media and Pinnacle Publications. Andy is co-author of the Microsoft Access Developers Guide to SQL Server (Sams), and he writes and presents courseware for Application Developers Training Co.

Product Details

• Paperback: 840 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 2nd edition (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596006780
• ISBN-13: 978-0596006785
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Applications > Office 2000
  • #90 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Development > SQL Server

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well, it's about damn time!, June 9, 2002

By 

C. J. Elder (Santa Maria, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Access Cookbook (O'Reilly Windows) (Paperback)

This is the book that the Access programming community has needed for years! It uses a Problem - Solution - Discussion format instead of the usual academic "let's disect Access's capabilities, throw them at you in little bits, and let you figure out the WHY later" format. Even the table of contents is much more readable and understandable. You know the reason for reading the chapter right from the start, not at the end.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing the multitudes of other Access reference type books, it's just that we finally have a book that fills a BIG gap. Once you read this book, you'll have more use for the others. This book and the others complement each other nicely.

The format of this book is not exactly new, however. Rob Krumm's programming for dummies books have used this format for years (albeit not as explicitly), which is why I enjoyed them so much and always hoped he would go beyond the beginner level Access programming books. Access Cookbook does exactly that, and in a very refreshing way.

Two things about this book were a big surprise to me. 1. Ken Getz wrote it and 2. O'Reilly published it. I couldn't think of 2 better choices! Ken Getz takes his high level expertise and writing style and transforms it into a new book that opens up his experience to a much wider audience. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! And then there's good ole O'Reilly publishing who have always had a talent for presenting a very academic subject to a less academic audience without loss of rigor.

"Cookbook" is an ok word for the title I guess, but I think "Storybook" may be more fitting, because I find that when I start a section of a chapter, I just can't put down the book until I see how the section ends. Likewise, when I start reading a Discussion section, I have to read it all before I put the book down and hit the keyboard. I even use this book for bedtime reading!

Enjoy!

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recipes for Access Developer Success, May 21, 2005

By 

JRK "jkunz" (N.H.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Access Cookbook, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

The Access Developer's Handbook Set (search ISBN: 0782140114) and in particular, Volume 1: Desktop Edition (search ISBN: 0782123708) is my definitive resource to approximately 4 years of Access development. I've got more stickies and highlights in this set than all other Access books combined. So when I came across the Access cookbook and realized that the same two indispensible authors (Getz & Litwin) put together a resource of Access developer solutions, I had to have it.

This book has not let me down. It is certainly geared towards the intermediate to advanced Access professional developers who already understand the basics of Access and more importantly, who also understand the shortcomings of Access and the benefits of getting around those shortcomings. There are about 170 solutions in this book that are segmented into 18 chapters of high-level topics such as Queries, Forms, XML, UI, VBA, Windows APIs, even Smart Tags. I would be really surprised to find someone who picked up this text, thumbed through the solutions, and found that there was nothing they could get out of this book.

I would say that if you are developing a professional Access front-end and/or database, you owe it to yourself to buy this book and review each solution before you release or ship your product. I did, and found either new answers and existing improvements to many of the things I was struggling with during my development cycles.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Access Cookbook Quick Analysis, June 19, 2003

By 

Brice Richard (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Access Cookbook (O'Reilly Windows) (Paperback)

I am an MS Access developer for an architectural firm in Washington DC. In evaluating the MS Access cookbook, I will first offer what I liked about it and then what I didn't like. First, I liked HOW it was written. Other reviewers have commented on the ease of understanding acquired from such a complex topic, viz, one of computer programming and the Problem-Solution-Discussion framework approach in which the book was written and I agree. The book is written in a fashion that makes it very easy to grasp MS Access programming concepts. I also thought there was a diversity of topics covered which will (or should) stimulate the reader into tapping into his/her own creative potential when using Access. What I did NOT like about the book was that I thought it lacked overall practicality. While some of the topics discussed were practical answers to real programming issues in MS Access, I thought that most of the book was impractical for typical business operations. Perhaps another chapter could be added to the book that offered MORE practical solutions for small business. Would I have purchased the book had I known what I now know about it? Yes I would and that strongly suggests the book is worth purchasing. I believe that all books are the same relative to knowledge - no one book has all the answers. You read a variety of books and pull the bits and pieces that you like from each one to create an intrapersonal, collaborative framework of knowledge and wisdom. The MS Access cookbook is just that. A book from which you pull a few practical bits of programmming to add to your own repository of knowledge.