Customer Reviews

Learn Access 2003 VBA With The Smart Method

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros - The book offers the opportunity to build an enterprise level application where it can be modified to suit individual needs. I like the fact that it takes you through an entire project so each lesson builds on the previous one, there is no disconnect. Other material teaches in pockets not correlating skills or lessons with one another, this one does an excellent job at interweaving them all.

Cons - It is advertised as a beginner's book but it immediately dives into showing you a skill once and then expecting for you to replicate it under a different scenario almost immediately. If you are not comfortable with access from a database development standpoint this can prove to be frustrating. I would recommend starting with something else like "Access VBA Programming for the absolute beginner" ISBN 1-59200-723-6.

Otherwise the book is a good all around training tool that will help you further knowledge on VBA for applications.

Luis

I am not a computer expert, in fact I was only good with excel less than a month ago. I could use excel to do everything... so I thought. Recently I have been on the job hunt and I found one that required "strong" Access skills. I have used access, maybe even made a few wizard approved databases. Let me make this clear, I had never done any VBA coding (maybe not even heard of the benefits or even understood it). After a while on this project I realized I was in over my head, and I wanted to walk out the door. My last hope was to find books to walk me through the process. I picked Access 2003 VBA because it Said the SMART METHOD... not because I knew anything about Mike Smart. I started working through some of the excercises, and found that Mike has a way of explaining the process very very to the point. He held my attention, and basically took the fear out of the programing and just brought me to what I needed to know to get my pay check. I had a few problems along the way. I was ready to run away again, and as a last resort I emailed Mike Smart himself. He responded to my question with in 24 hours. He has been working with me to correct the issues. I could not believe it. Here I am in all alone "pretending" to be a programmer and Mike Smart himself helps me out. I have bought many books to teach myself computer skills, but this one is the best. So if you are in a hurry like I was to learn what it takes to get your pay check you better BUY this book! Mike even told me that he is writting more books. So since that is the case, buy this book and email him or post it here what you would like to see him teach "us" about next. I would like a basic everything you need to know about computer repair, maintenance, and preventative maintenance book. I would also like to see a book on Microsoft Office intagration, how to intigrate everything with real world examples. This book is what you need to stand apart on a job hunt, to prepare a database, and just keep you and your company up to date with all the benefits of Access. You might as well learn Access, Microsoft charges us enough for it, and programmers get paid well. I hope he continues to write more books, because maybe just maybe with his help I can become a real programmer... not the pretender I am right now!!

I own lots of Access books, some good and some not so good. This book is outstanding. I feel as if I am in a classroom taking a step by step course from an excellent teacher.

The only minor problem I have found is that the database that you download from the internet has a couple of minor differences from what is described in the book, but it was not a big problem. The real joy of this book is that it so clearly and easily explains what you are doing and why. I wish more books were written in this format and with such clear, informative instruction.

This book is best suited to those who know the basics of Access and want to move on to more professional programming. It's also good for people like me who know VBA programming to some extent but want a more solid foundation or wish to fill in the gaps.

I have been programming Access databases for years now although I am not employed as a programmer. I've written several databases to use for my job as a Network Administrator as well as for personal use. I am currently building a database to inventory my coin collection. I ran into all kinds of difficulty because the particulars of coin collecting demand a more robust database than usual. I have several books on Access from the early version to 2003 but finding answers to the problems I encountered was difficult and I wasn't getting anywhere with them. This book has been more of a help than any that I have own so far. Although I sit and read technical books like some people read novels I have always learned more by doing than by reading. I forget things I have read if I don't put it into practice. Learning by doing sticks with me longer. By going through the lessons in the book answers to my problems with my coin inventory came to light. Certainly the answer could be found in the other books I own but seeing a database in action and the code behind it to make it happen was far more advantageous than just reading about a function or routine. I highly recommend this book to those who learn by doing rather than by just reading.

I have invested hundreds of dollars in SQl and db books, and like the proverbial dog, I have been chasing my tail.

Mike uses the right teaching method. It is a joy to cruise along the book and really learn.

Finally I think that creating a professional DB is possible for idiots like me.

This book reminds me of my medical school days when I used to read British textbooks. The style is terse and brief with an occasional pithy brit style humor.

I will give it an unconditional 5 stars.

I hope Mike writes another Access book showing us how to create an invoicing solution db.

Mujahid Khan,MD

Princeton, NJ

One of the many advantages to shopping at Amazon, in my opinion, is to have the reviews from the actual users of these products to compare. When looking for any book regarding technology, one certainly can not rely on the cover or publisher's notes.

The other reviewers of the Learn Access 2003 VBA who rated it highly are accurately reviewing the contents of Mike Smart's book.

When I recently received this book from Amazon I glanced through it and began my usual method of a quick read through it to get a conceptual overview of the contents. The manner in which the author presents the material is well organized and clearly explained. I enjoyed his style of presenting the material so much I literally couldn't put it down. Very unusual for me for a technical subject book.

This is a wonderful introduction to the VBA language for Access, and I highly recommend it.

I am a finance professional, and consider myself an intermediate Access user. I plowed through the three common beginner / intermediate / advanced Access courses which teach you the ins and outs of Access (table structure, queries, forms, and reports, whether created fresh or via wizard). I have even automated many things using macros. In essence, I understood how Access worked. I had already created two databases still being used in large companies.

In my current job, I need to create a smooth user interface - forms and reports. This is an area not covered in the normal first three Access courses. I quickly realized that smooth interfaces (custom menus, custom search capabilities, custom pop-up boxes, other) are just not possible without VBA. I researched many options before settling on this book.

The Smart Method provided me the right tools at the right time. In a nutshell, this book was the perfect "next step" for me. In a clear step by step fashion, I learned clean database structure rules, coding techniques (custom pop-up boxes, custom validation, message boxes, buttons, searching, reporting, dialog driven reporting, error handling), how to interface with Word, customize switchboards, and create a user vs. development database.

In my opinion, Mike Smart wrote this book in an easy to follow and very accessible manner. If you reached the limits of basic Access teachings, The Smart Method is a perfect next step.

As an MBA and a novice programmer attempting to create a professional database application for work there is absolutely nothing better than this book! This book was extremely easy to follow and very well organized. It allows someone with little to no knowledge of VBA the ability to quickly learn and digest complex programming for extremely useful professional database applications. The author Mike (aka. The most helpful person ever) immediately responded to my emails when I had questions!!!! This is an awesome product and Mike provides excellent customer service!!!!

This book makes the basics of VBA easy to learn. This book teaches thru examples. And the tutorial ends when the example database is complete, so you only learn tips and tricks specific to that example database. His method of name conventions, and database organization was great. That is what I appreciated most as a beginner to VBA. I new how to use Access very well, but it wasn't until I start with VBA that I realized how important the names and organization were. There were a few skipped procedures, or wrong referrences but they were closer to the back of the book are pertained to things already covered, so it was easy to assume what step had been missed. Great book!

Excellent Book. First time I ever saw such an excellent book. I wish I had similar books for other products.