Access VBA Programming For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) [Paperback]

Alan Simpson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764574116 | ISBN-13: 978-0764574115 | Publication Date: August 27, 2004 | Edition: 1

• This friendly, easy-to-use guide shows experienced Access users how to use
• VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) to build Access databases and applications, but also covers programming fundamentals for nonprogrammers
• Includes practical, ready-to-use VBA code examples that readers can type or copy and paste from the Web into their own database projects
• Explains basic VBA skills and concepts for nonprogrammers, such as procedures, variables, and loops
• Covers more advanced topics, such as record sets and other programming activities that are unique to Access programming
• Author has written more than ninety computer books and has been working with databases since the early 1980s

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Find out how to make your databases do your bidding

The fun and easy way® to program for Access 2003, 2002, and 2000

Even if you still think "code" means the way spies talk to each other, this book will ease you into programming before you know it. Soon you’ll be able to use VBA to make Access do things it can’t do by itself, customize your databases, and even automate mundane chores like converting numbers to words for check printing.

Discover how to:

• Use the VBA editor
• Work with variables, constants, and arrays
• Create recordsets with SQL
• Control lists with code and export data to files
• Debug your code
• Synchronize forms and reports

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

About the Author

Alan Simpson is the author of over 90 computer books on databases, Windows, Web site design and development, programming, and networking. His books are published throughout the world in over a dozen languages and have millions of copies. Alan has also taught introductory and advanced computer programming courses at San Diego State University and the UCSD Extension. He has served as a consultant on high-technology, educationoriented projects for the United States Navy and Air Force. Despite that, Alan has no fancy job title because he has never had a real job.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (August 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764574116
• ISBN-13: 978-0764574115
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Development > VBA
  • #69 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Database Management Systems
  • #75 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Development > Visual Basic

More About the Author

Alan Simpson is the author of over 115 computer books on all sorts of topics: Windows, databases, Web-site design and development, programming, and network administration. His books are published throughout the world, in over a dozen languages, and have sold millions of copies. Though definitely in the techno-geek category, we let him contribute anyway because sometimes people like that come in handy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Quick Way to Start Learning VBA, October 13, 2004

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Access VBA Programming For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

Some years ago Microsoft created a specialized programming language to allow extensions to be made to the normal modes of operation allowed in their Office suite. The language was fairly well thought out to be applicable to applications as different as word processing, spreadsheets or data bases. They called it Visual Basic for Applications shortened to VBA. It has worked remarkable well. Down theough the years there have been relatively few changes to VBA.

This book is on VBA as specifically oriented to the Microsoft Access database program. But if you learn Access VBA, you are not far from knowing how to use VBA on any of the other Office components. ==While this is an Access book, it is specifically on VBA, it assumes that you already know about how to build a table, and about rows and columns. It also assumes that you have some familiarty with other Access features such as building queries.

Access goes to a great deal of effort to avoid having to use the underlying SQL language. There are a couple of chapters on SQL for the total beginner. In the long run, you will probably want to know more.

You can't design one book to do everything in about 400 pages. This "dummies" book concentrates on VBA. That's enough for one book. It does a good job on VBA. You may want to fill out your bookshelf with Access for Dummies and SQL for Dummies.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overall, though not perfect., March 23, 2008

By 

Ryan Hagglund "Superlegoboy" (Newberg, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Access VBA Programming For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

"Access VBA Programming for Dummies" definitely helped me in breaking into the world of Access VBA programming. The first half is especially good at explaning things in such a way that most anyone with a basic level of understanding of Access could benefit. I did run into some problems with some of the code which I used as templates for my database project, however. The solution I found suggested that the book should be using the '&' sign for combinations rather than the '+' sign, which appears to cause problems in some situations. Thus, it seems to have some mistakes in it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Takes Work to Use Example Code, February 23, 2008

By 

Always Having 2 Learn Stuff "The Learner" (Lake Stevens, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Access VBA Programming For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

This book has lots of code snippets, but so many of them are out of context of actual usage (within class and standard modules) that the beginner is really left to READING about things rather than trying them. This is a mistake on the part of the Dummy editors. The authors need to give the beginning Dummy the ability to play with the code. It does no good to explain controls and then not provide the code to create the form or even provide the form for the reader to play with and practice. There are some sample files included, but they are far from useful and don't even follow the book. For example, the Chapter 6 Sales Tax form isn't included. I'd look for a book that gave you more examples for practice. Failing that, it's not a BAD book; it may take another book or two used along with this book which really defeats the concept of a Dummy book. Dummys need practice, not reading material.