Customer Reviews

Advantage Database Server: The Official Guide

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4 star:		(2)
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I have been using the Advantage Database Server for many years and swear by its stability, performance and ease-of-use. "The Official Guide" is an excellent reference to all that ADS has to offer for both new and seasoned ADS Developers. This reference dispels the myths associated with ISAM databases and explains why ADS is fast, reliable and virtually maintenance-free when compared to other SQL-based engines. It is also an excellent reference to those higher level functions not normally associated with ISAM databases such as SQL queries, data dictionaries, triggers, stored procedures, cursor views, referential integrity and transactions. Finally, the reference also details the new features released in v7.0 such as FTS (Full Text Search).

I recommend "The Official Guide" to anyone currently deploying, or interested in deploying, ADS applications. I would also recommend it to those looking for a detailed explanation of a fast, reliable and low maintenance alternative to SQL databases.

I have been working with Advantage Database Server for several years. Many of our customers have (and are still) using Advantage 5.x. We are planning to use some of the newer features of Advantage in our 2004 release and upgrading our customers to ADS 7. This book came at the perfect time as we seek to understand data dictionaries, stored procedures, triggers, and other features that were not available in older versions of Advantage. This book is a life saver and has taught me so much about this powerful database server. I particularly find useful the chapter on the ADS .NET data provider.

Advantage Database Server: The Official Guide is an excellent resource for any Advantage programmer. Even though I have been programming with ADS for a number of years now, the Guide has proved to be a valuable asset. I especially liked the sections on FTS and SQL.

The book has also been effective in bringing our new programmers up to speed in our office. Cary and Loy have laid out ADS in a simple, yet informative, manner that is perfect for the beginner.

I've been developing vertical market applications for 20 years and have been spending too much time evaluating database products for my target market -- small to medium size businesses. My goal has been to find a product that can offer superior performance, effortless scalability, and low cost of ownership for my customers.

I've been aware of Cary Jensen as a trainer and author over the years and have read quite a number of articles he has written for various magazines, so I did not hesitate in buying this book. The style is clear and concise and I discovered what I needed to know. If you are considering ADS, the small investment required for this book is money well spent. If you are already using ADS, I suspect you might learn something valuable that you did not know before.

I have been using Advantage Database Server (ADS) for several years with clipper, then VO, and finally Delphi. There is an abundance of useful information about ADS and its various tools throughout this book. The book also explains the new version 7 features very well. I have only been using the Data Dictionary for about a year, and much of what I struggled for weeks to figure out is well documented and explained in this book. For me, the SQL chapters were also especially useful, as I do not as yet have a firm grasp on the finer details of SQL. If you are new to ADS or you want to learn more about it, this book is a good place to start. It will be an excellent reference tool for me now, but I wish it had been available when I first began using ADS.

I'm a long time user of ADS, and consider myself somewhat of an expert in the area. Therefore, I was absolutely AMAZED that I learned so many new things from this book - it was truly an enlightening experience. The authors have done an incredible job explaining the overall concepts and technical details of the Advantage Database Server and its usage. I'm sure this book will be a big help to both beginner, intermediate and expert users. I intend to have this book in my reference library for a very long time. HIGHLY recommended.

I have been using Advantage (with Clipper then Delphi) since 1995. It's great to finally have an Advantage book from one of the heavyweights in the Delphi world. The book lays out all of the features and tools for Advantage in a manner that is easy and logical to follow. I plan on upgrading my applications to Advantage 7 to make use of the Database Dictionary, Referential Integrity, Stored Procedures and Triggers. This book has given me the knowledge on how to approach the upgrade. Also, I really found the chapter "Using ADS from Delphi" - 'Admin Operations' section to be quite helpful to me.

Whether you're upgrading a BDE app to a client server database or developing a new single-user or scaleable multi-user app, Advantage Database should be at the top of your list of databases to consider. Native Delphi VCL components, ISAM file formats, free local server, easy installation and maintenance-free design make designing and deploying ADS apps a snap.

Now with "Advantage Database Server: The Official Guide", Cary Jensen and Loy Anderson have made life even easier. Although the Advantage help file documentation makes an excellent reference, it's no substitute for Jensen and Anderson's step-by-step guide to creating an Advantage database, connecting your app to it and deploying your end product.

If you've attended one of Cary Jensen's excellent Advantage Workshop seminars you'll recognize that this intuitive, and easy to read book is based on his well developed course book. If you haven't yet had the benefit of Cary Jensen's Advantage Workshop, you probably won't need it after reading "Advantage Database Server: The Official Guide"!

Whether you're an Advantage expert or rookie this book's a keeper as both an introduction and a reference. If you're looking for a low cost, maintenance free, high performance, scaleable database that you can learn to use and deploy in a day, this book and the included companion CD contain everything you need to get started.

This book is an excellent resource that explains how to get the most out of ADS. Without this book, there would have been aspects of ADS that I would have never know about. I would recommend this book to anyone who is currently using or considering ADS and would like to know what all it can do.

I have been using Advantage Database Server for 1 year.
This book covers a lot of topics that are helpful when building an application with Advantage.
I found a lot of tricks and tips in this book like "Running ADS without a network", that have been very useful to me.
Great book for developers!