Customer Reviews

Microsoft Access 2000/Visual Basic for Applications Fundamentals

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The book is an introduction to the technique used within VBA programming and shows in very general terms how and what can be achieved, by using VBA to program Access 2000. It is only useful for a limited audience since it is neither an introductory programming book, nor a VBA reference book.

If you have no previous programming experience, I recommend "Learn to program with Visual Basic 6" by John Smiley (ISBN 1902745000), which will give you a solid programming foundation to build upon. If you have programming experience, I recommend "Applications Development in Access 2000" by Baldwin and Paradice (ISBN 076007108X).

Of the so-called "Real-world Business Examples" as stated on the cover, you will find several of them to be "cold-coded". Which means the results are static and written directly into the code. One of the very first things you will be warned against in most programming courses.

The book shows an example of automated data entry, in which the application automatically writes the city, state/province and country based on the postal code entered. If you followed the book's example you would have to include every single combination in your code! Imagine the work needed to update and maintain the data, let alone write several lines of code for every postal code.

It gave me many ideas on how I could add automation to my applications, but not the knowledge to actually do it.

As an individual who has only used the "automated features" of Access development, I found this book to be a great help. Yes...as other reviewers have pointed out the book is very basic. It is well written, however, and does a nice job of presenting programming without getting a newbie (such as myself) in over her or his head. Overall, this book made me more knowledgable about programming, more confident in my own efforts, and hungry to learn more. Isn't that what a good book should do?

Callahan takes the newbie by the hand and reviews the basics of VBA in a very useful and easy to understand style. If you've mastered the basics of Access and want to see how they do all that cool stuff in forms and reports, this is a great place to start. BUT if you've already done a little programming, this book will waste your time! Go for Beginning Access 2000 VBA by Sussman and Smith. A true intermediate book which no one should try to read until they know some of the fundamentals and a book I keep right next to Access Developers Handbook.

I tried a "Dummies" book when trying to first learn Access programming (albeit Access '97) and found that the "Dummies" book presumed too much and was riddled with errors. Although this book is only aimed at "fundamentals" of writing code with Access 2000, it does a great job; I have worked through 3 of the 4 parts so far and have only found one error; the explanations are clear, the steps simple, and the practicality of everything that is taught is great. A person will want to go on from here but this is as fast and as clear as the beginner wants to go. I noticed another reviewer saying the book was expensive but I disagree - when anything is this clear and useful, esp. for beginners, it is worth it in all the saved time and frustration. Good job, Mr. Callahan and thanks for making my days.

The book is written in the Microsoft step by step style. Fundamentals in the title translates to newbies with no knowlege of programming. The examples are short, one liner code. As far as it goes its a fine book, but pricey. Microsoft charges a premium for its books and this is no exception. Other Publishers do a better job by giving you more for your money. Before getting this book look at the Que, Dummies or Sams Publishing (Teach Yourself) titles.

This book helped me a lot. I was at the point where I knew the basics of Access, but nothing about writing code. This book is excellent for taking you by the hand and helping you to start learning VBA. Another feature I really like is that the examples are examples that you are likely to find useful for the application you are developing. So I was able to got a very practical use out of this book (the Access 97 version is very similar).
On the negative side, sometimes the book gives poor explainations. For example, they never really explain why create variables, what's the advantage. There are several similar areas where the author simply never thought of explaining something that, to a beginner, is very confusing without an explaination.
So, by itself, the book is very helpful but you need other books to fill in the gaps. However, as far as I've seen, it's the best book I've seen to get you started in VBA.

This book is a copy of Access 97 visual basic step by step. Author did not talk about new tools that Access 2000 offers

As a data analyst and DBA, this book has really assisted me in learning how to develop using Visual Basic for Applications with Access. If you are a hands-on learner, the exercises provide instructive guidance with terse explanations.

A _very_ basic book. I bought the book in a hurry, and suffered for it. The book claims to contain valuable information for both beginners and intermediate users. I had only poked at Access a couple of times, and found myself pretty much beyond the scope of the book. I would, however, recommend this book for absolute beginners, with no knowledge of Access at all.

So you have created your Access database and have exhausted every wizard and control that you can use without actually coding. You still need a little something, but aren't sure how to get a little (or a lot) more out of Access - then this is the book for you.
This book will ease you into writing come code while jumping right in with both feet. The examples are simple enough to understand, but you are given enough information to make them work for you. Many times when you are beginning, the example is exactly what you want to do, but you are not given enough information to insert it into your project and make it work - this is not the case here. I had this book (and its predicessor) open on my desk regularly during my first Access project and still crack it open for ideas and reference. (Sure I could look it up in an advanced book - but why?)
If you can only buy one beginner book on VBA - this should be it.