Customer Reviews

Beginning Visual Basic 6 Database Programming

5 star:		(155)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I strongly recommend purchasing a copy of Beginning VB6 Database, John Connell, Wrox, ISBN 1-861001-06-1. This book is superb. It's well written, easy to follow, and uses practical real-world-example-type labs to get you quickly up to speed on DB access and writing GOOD user interfaces. It also shows how to write re-usable code for those interfaces. If you don't feel like coding the examples they can be downloaded from the Wrox web site. I've learned a bunch of simple little things to improve my VB skills in the first 200 pages. This is essential reading if you want to learn VB skills that you can apply to business solutions, and it doesn't take a lot of time to get through the chapters. I can't say enough good things about this book. Probably the best "how to" computer book I've ever read. It also covers ADO 2.0. I checked it out from the library and was so impressed I purchased my own copy.

I would like to congratulate you for producing Beginning VB6 Database Programming by John Connell. The book is well structured, the chapters can be studied independently. The explanations are very thorough, and clear, the style gave me complete confidence in the author and the feeling that no stones were left unturned. This opinion is evidenced by the Bullet Proof User Interface which is built, incrementally over chapters 4 -7, leading to an excellent Data Control Class Module and Form Templates which have been designed for code reusability. Chapter 10 provides an excellent Address book application using many features of VB for the design and implementation of the foundations of a professional contact management system. The background and history of ADO is clearly and thoroughly documented to provide a solid understanding of the many technologies involved in Database access and how ADO simplifies data access using Universal Data Access for both relational and non relational data sources. Chapter 12 provides an excellent ADO Data Bound ActiveX Control which enables code re-use in a multitude of applications. Chapter 13 is an excellent introduction to Acitve Server Pages and ADO with a really useful Cookie application which incorporates many of the features of using Active Server Pages, using HTML, Server Side Scripting using Visual Basic, ADO for database connectivity and an Active X Dynamic Link Library to exploit the power of VB6 and keeping the Data Centric code close to the database, separate from the User Interface, and again, designed for re-usability in other applications. Chapter 14, Advanced ADO Programming - Data Mining. This is a suberp application which has huge potential in many organisations with corporate data. The data mining technique is employed in a professional front end, user interface, which can easily be tailored to many business specific scenarios which require Business Intelligence uncovering hidden trends in their corporate databases. Finally, Chapter 15, really tops it off, with the capability to provide data exporting features for all database applications. The ability to export data from a database in a variety of formats, including Excel, HTML and CSV is invaluable to every application developer. The ability to disconnect a Recordset and make it persistent has huge potential in Internet applications. The book has, throughout, many useful coding tips to improve the speed of display of Forms, using Events, and writing fast code using the With Statement and storing of static values as variables for fast code execution. Very Professional.

I started the book in the Cookie Chapter 13, then 14 then 15. I then worked my way back to Chapter 8. Then I worked forward, to finish with Chapter 7.

Thank you, I've learned heaps from the book. Big respect to John Connell, he is the man.

If you're still using VB6 (many, many are despite the .NET hype) and you need to put together a database-driven application this is the first book you should buy. It covers all of the basics you'll need to go forward with database programming. It includes chapters on good data design, definitions of databases and good interface design (the chapter "Creating a bulletproof user interface" is useful for any VB6 application, not just database-driven ones). All of this is essential for creating good DB apps, and the author explains these concepts clearly and not too verbosely. It goes beyond the coding and shows you the "why" behind data storage and manipulation. You'll learn much more than VB code.

If you're already conversant in VB6 (the book doesn't assume you are) you will fly through this book. I ossmosized this book, it's that well written, and I was able to absorb everything well in time for a VB project deadline. If you need to learn quickly, this is also the book to get.

The book focuses mostly on Microsoft Access DB programming (which makes sense since most beginners do not have an expensive copy of SQL Server just lying around begging for data), and it covers DAO and ADO and delineates the important differences between the technologies. Though the book provides a good foundation for any VB database programming, it will not teach you how to program using VB6 and SQL Server.

In short, a great introduction to database programming for Visual Basic programmers. Expect to learn a lot, but don't stop here. Move on to a more advanced book after ingesting this one.

As an introduction to Visual Basic, or as an introduction to Relational Databases, but especially as an introduction to how the two work together, this book is superb! Serves as a better intro to VB6 than most introductory books on the market, while at the same time tackling an essential subject thoroughly and clearly. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn more about this subject, or to anyone simply wanting to learn Visual Basic. A great buy!

John Connell should have been a teacher. I have about 1 dozen VB books, and this is in the top two of my favorites and probably always will be. If you understand basic (sorry, no pun)VB and want a good intro to database connectivity(DAO, ADO, ASP, SQL)stuff then definitely buy this book. There are also great sections on object-oriented programming like creating data handling classes and Active X controls for code reuseability. I found the midsection discussion on relational database design (normal form design, key constructs, SQL queries, etc.) an excellent refresher. The ending section and example on Data Mining was just too cool and really showed me how database programming could be much more than simply keeping track of who has what zip code.

If I had one suggestion for improvement it would be to look at connectivity issues with databases other than Access. Connecting to legacy systems like Dbase, or more esoteric ones like Filemaker are currently "try and see" experiments for me. I sure wish John would hold my hand there too!

I was recently assigned a task to write a db app for our department using VB 6.0. There are quite a few book selections to choose from - and a lot of noise on the book shelves (real and virtual). After researching a few, I picked up Connell's book. Not only did it get me going - it provided me with ideas that I NEVER would have thought of. The state machine and bullet proof interface techniques are ingenious. With this single book, I am well on my way to having the high visibility project done ahead of schedule. Ive never done things like write to the editor, etc. But in this unique case felt I had to let everyone know what an exceptional book this is. Real world, excellent examples, and a display of knowledge that is obvious came from walking the technical walk

This book is excellent. A very thorough, yet amazingly concise and simple, discussion of the topic. I HIGHLY recommend this for folks new to VB and / or databases.

I recall two negative reviews. One said the code didn't work. "Leave the database alone and restructure the user" comes to mind. The code works fine - but you can't make mistakes (typos, etc.). Programming is unforgiving in this respect.

Another wanted more ADO, as though DAO had a fork stuck in it. This book is not for based solely on internet databases. It would be irresponsible to not address DAO.

Good luck in your search for knowledge. Databases are POWERFUL. This book is a GREAT first step as a foundation to build upon.

I stumbled upon this book via some hyperlinks. The reviews looked too good to be true, but I ordered the book anyway. Well - it is fantastic! I read it cover to cover over a long weekend. My wife was ready to divorce me, but it was worth it...I learned so much from this book that I simply can't believe it.

Funny, but I usually never get caught up in reviews. I guess Amazon makes it so easy that I can't resist. I read the reviews of other database books, and this one is the hands down winner. I ordrerd two others, as well as Mr. Connells. I can see why this one is far and away the most popular. And yesterday I found out that a large University is using Mr. Connell's book as the basis for an undergraduate class. I guess that speaks for itself. But being in the Christmas spirit, I just wanted to pass along my thoughts. I hope they might help someone - there is just way too much VB noise out there on the book shelves. When I find something that is excellent such as Connell's book - its very rare. I hope this will help others eliminate long and expensive searches.

Hurray for John Connell he speaks to us beginners on our level. It was also very encouraging when he mentioned that he did not get it the first time, he had a light bulb moment. I have never heard a guru admit that before they usually give the impression that it came very easy for them.

The exercises seemed to encompass a lot of VB functions, uses, and neat tricks. The explanations are complete, well thought out, and unambiguous. With little or no exposure to VB any programmer should be able to follow along.

My next goal is VB.Net I hope Mr. Connell will write/has written a book that addresses it. Wrox should adopt his style for all of their text books.