Fixing Access Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Your Favorite Database (Paperback)

~ (Author), Evan Callahan (Author)
Key Phrases: design view, datasheet view, code modules, Visual Basic, Private Sub, Mailing Labels (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

When an application is part of the Microsoft Office suite, it's sure to be a leader in its field. In the realm of desktop database management, Access is top dog with millions of users. But this is one dog that can bite. Although Access is a powerful, relational tool with the fetching talents of a Labrador, it's not an easy beast to train.

Still, millions of users count on Access for everything from managing parts databases to running Web catalogs to working as a front end to mondo SQL databases. But Access is chockablock with annoyances---report hassles, query conundrums, VBA bugs, arcane error messages, and more.

O'Reilly's Annoyances series offer real-world help, right now, and "Fixing Access Annoyances" continues tradition. You'll not only squash bugs and workaround Access' limits, but you'll learn how to use Access to the max, whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro. Coverage includes install/configuration annoyances, building better tables and queries, creating forms that work right, generating reliable and sophisticated reports, pulling in data from a variety of sources, crafting macros and VBA code to customize Access, and much more.

You could grab those other books for help, but do they solve problems from page one? Meet a book of a different stripe. The authors come armed with knowledge of the program's quirks, design hurdles and interface snags. They provide you with battle plans in "Fixing Access Annoyances" to save you time and bouts of hair pulling.

Stop information from spiraling out of control when working with Access and trying to make this #$@@#$ thing work! Don't let its quirks, bugs, and troublemaking features beat you. Who you gonnacall for help? Instead of waiting on the line for tech support or searching for the answer on the Internet with its too many resources to find exactly what you need, take control of databases with "Fixing Access Annoyances," your partner on database adventures.

About the Author

Callahan owns Callahan Software Solutions, a database consulting firm specializing in Microsoft Access. He worked for Microsoft from 1989-1995. He received a B.A. in philosophy and comparative literature from the University of Washington.

Product Details

• Paperback: 357 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; illustrated edition edition (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059600852X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596008529
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,913 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be the second book you buy after a reference manual..., March 15, 2006

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I consider myself fortunate that I converted my last regularly used database off of Access awhile back. While the software served me well in learning about database systems when I first made the move to PCs, I always found myself fighting with things that should have been easier than they were. Now I find out that it wasn't just me. Phil Mitchell and Evan Callahan have put together a great book titled Fixing Access Annoyances. If you spend any time in Access, this ought to be on your bookshelf.

Contents: Access Basics; General Annoyances; Performance, Versions, Security, and Deployment; Data, Tables, and Database Design; Queries; Forms; Reports, Mailing Labels, and Charts; Expressions, Macros, Code Modules, and Custom Controls; Appendix; Glossary; Index

The Annoyances series is set up in such a way that each chapter covers a series of "questions" posed as to why a particular software package behaves in a certain way. The questions range from minor "why does Access always do x" to "my #$@%@ database is corrupted!", and the conversational tone between the questioner and the authors is fun to read. After reading some of these things, you wonder why *anyone* would use Access! Mitchell and Callahan, although experts in Access, maintain a healthy cynicism towards the product's features and foibles, and all it would take is for you to find three to five annoyances that bug you to no end in order for you to think this is the best money you've spent in a long time. They also try and cover a range of things, from beginner to advanced level gripes, so that you should see value wherever you are in the continuum of Access experience.

If I had this book available to me a year ago, I might still be running my reading log database in Access instead of in Notes. I certainly would have experienced far less frustration than I did. After making sure you have a solid Access reference guide on your shelf, this should be your second purchase on the subject...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for a beginner, nothing new for experienced users, June 30, 2006

By	ars_inveniendi (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

I wish I had this book when I began programming Access, it would have saved me a lot of frustration. The writing is easy to follow and it contains a wealth of information I had to either learn through trial and error or lots of searching google groups.

That said, there isn't much of value here for someone with a couple of years Access experience--you've already learned this stuff through trial and error or searching google groups!

I only found one piece of incorrect information--it is possible to create page headers on a subreport by creating a dummy grouping level (=1) and putting your headers there. The book says the only way to do it is by putting the headers on the parent report.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Troubleshoot Access 101, April 27, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Wow what a great idea for a book series!!

I thought I had seen it all, but then when I picked up my first "Annoyances" book I learned there was a whole new niche out there that had yet to be exploited.

For many of us out there, we pick up technical books for a few typical reasons: to learn a new skill or a reference for an existing skill. What about if you already use an application and there is a whole known set of pitfalls and problem areas that you either need to find a workaround for, or you just want to learn about so if the need arises, you know how to deal with these?

Well, enter the "Annoyances" line of books.

'Access Annoyances' by Phil Mitchell is a great companion book for anyone that has a lot of Access books on the shelf or uses Access on a daily basis and needs to read up more on the problems that will be seen at some point. With a layout that takes each problem one at a time, the flow is very good, and the writing style is clear and concise. Unless you are the MOST experienced of Access users/developers, you will be able to pick up something from this book, and it's more likely that you'll pick up a LOT of things.

Some of the O'Reilly prices on books blow me away because they are so low. It's like you are paying x amount and getting xxxxxx in return. If you use Access on a daily basis, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of 'Access Annoyances' right away.

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION