Customer Reviews

Microsoft Access 97 Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm a bid surprised by some of the negative reviews on thisbook. They were either written by already expert coders of VisualBasic expecting advanced materials in an introductory book or by folks that roll out of their bed on the wrong side each day. I suspect the latter.

This is not a book for learning how to create databases. This is not a book on learning how to write Access macros. This is not a book that you simply read to become a master.

This book gives you a foundation for event programming. If you are a programmer from another environment that has not experienced property sheets and methods and event programming or if you are new to programming and have the desire to learn how to program in an event driven environment with Access then this is a great introductory book for both Access and programming.

In order to learn from this book you should work through each lesson at the keyboard. The gains you will achieve as you make data entry mistakes and correct them, and by pressing the F1 help key to read some more on the topics being covered in this book, will be enormous. If you aren't willing to actually perform the exercises at the keyboard but want to be "book-learned" then you'd be better off selecting another book.

We all start out as beginners with a new topic and with practice become experts. May you soon on the "expert" side.

I use this book to teach Microsoft Access 97 to beginners and it works very well. Its step-by-step nature helps students work exercises right in class. The book is divided up into four parts, with a review at the end of each part that works great for an open-book quiz to test students' proficiency. There are CamCorder files available for download from the web to help demonstrate some features of Access. Although there are some typographical errors in the text, corrections can be found at the Microsoft Press web site. This book is not for the advanced Access user, but provides a good learning tool to cover most of the basics. A minor problem is that some seldom-used features, such as the toggle button are discussed, instead of spending more time on the more-often-used features. Students like the fact that it can be used as a beginner's reference to brush up on skills after completing the book. I do recommend to students a more detailed reference book, such as Running Microsoft Access 97, to supplement their future reference needs.

I bought this book and went from knowing nothing about Access to being able to fake having used it for years at a temp job. If you don't have your own copy of Access and can only use it on the job, this book is great, because it's slow-paced and has a lot of pictures.

However, it is only slightly better than Access' built in help files. If you want to save your money (if you don't have to cram to fake proficiency like I did), first learn the basics by experimentation and reading the built-in help, then buy a more thorough text.

While the book certainly helped me, I can't imagine doing anything with it now except chucking it in the trash. It was worth the investment, but it's not a keeper.

If you have nothing to do one afternoon buy a copy of this book and go through it's click here, type this, exercises and then try to apply it to your needs. My question to the author(s) at Catapult who wrote this book is "Why?" Why do I always want to choose the defaults? What if my problem isn't the default? What do I do then? Why not explain what would happen if I didn't choose the Default? Give me more meat and less potatoes in your explainations. We do not live in a "default" world, and it is not neccessarly easier to accept the default, HELL-O!

I agree with one of the other less kind reviews that this book tells you step by step what to do for the excercises. It does not explain the reasons behind the steps.

Until I found this book, my collection of "how to" Access 97 books kept growing and growing and gathering dust. It seemed that every Access 97 book (Alison Balter's "Mastering Access 97 Development"; Steven Roman's "Access Database: Design and Programming"; and Alan Simpson's "Mastering Access 97") started out assuming the reader knew too much. Those books also jumped around way too much. With the exception of Roman's book (he stated it wasn't for beginners), I was disappointed. All I really wanted was a book that pointed out tools and that gave a decent explanation on building forms from queries.

And then, I found this book. While it was a very "See Jack Run" type of writing style, it focused on core Access 97 development. This book assumed nothing about the reader. It started from ground zero. If you've sat down and taught yourself Excel, Word and Powerpoint, but you can't seem to get going with Access, then get this! book. (It should also be noted that the book is quick reading/teaching and one could be up to speed in a week, easy.)

The only down point about this book is that there were a few errors, missing files on the disk, and not even a mention of saving '.mdb' files as dynamic data with the web. Perhaps that's why the book is so easy, but dynamic data needs to be addressed or MSPress needs to write an Access Step by Step Book for connecting to the web.

This book is not good for learning to build a usable database. It does tell you how to build the sample database with little explanation. It doesn't even touch security.

This is an excellent beginners book. It is also a fine book for those aspiring to become a Certified MOUS Access 97 Expert. Unfortunately, although it is Microsoft approved courseware, you should not depend on this book entirely to pass the exams. You may need at least another more advanced text and some work experience. Having passed the exam myself, the MOUS tests are real-world task-oriented. There are a few tasks that are not covered in the book. However, it is extremely beneficial to those needing to learn or already have other texts and need a supplementary study book.

I found this book to be very helpful. It's written for the beginner but is also very helpful for someone who needs to review Access. I also found the Practice Files to be excellent. I have been able to work at my own pace & fit it in when I have time at work. I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to learn Access or review it.

I read and used this book cover to cover. It was almost sufficient enough to allow me to pass my exam. I did use another MSPRESS book for more hardcore reference. The exercises are fun, and if it was not for the minor mistakes in the book I would rate it 5 stars. Look to the MSPRESS site and check under support for the corrections...print it out to view the minor problems for yourself. Overall a great book...don't bother with Exam Crams A97 "WASTE OF TIME" book...this is the better deal! Good luck!!!!