Customer Reviews

Microsoft Access 97 Visual Basic Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Evan Callahan has done for Access VBA what Dan Gookin did for the C language (with his 'C for Dummies book'). Both of them are masters of technical writing. This book, as the title suggests, teaches you how to write snippets of code to get started in the world of database programming using VBA. This book is not meant for complete novices. Some familiarity with Access is required to get the most out of this book. However, this book assumes no previous programming experience and teaches you the material accordingly. That's one reason why this book received a lot of bad reviews from people who were expecting in-depth coverage of Access VBA. (Hello, the title says 'Step by Step'. Maybe these people should read the title before they buy a book).

Evan Callahan introduces various ways in which Access could be customized without delving too much into hardcore stuff. He is one of the few writers who can teach you how to work with various controls and properties and the proper ways and places to use them without devoting entire chapters to describe them. His teaching method should be the model for the entire technical writer community. He brings to life complex concepts without resorting to technical jargons and technobabbles because he understands his audience. Readers with beginning skill level would have an increased appreciation for what Access could accomplish incorporating various programming techniques. The book builds on each chapter, and as the readers finishes the book building a complete application from scratch, s/he goes through various stages of application development and becomes familiar with typical scenarios that real world developers deal with for more complex applications.

Please don't get me wrong. The book only scratches the surface of VBA. You CANNOT acquire the advanced skills and techniques required to take advantage of the true potential of this extremely powerful database programming language by reading this book only. However, this book points you to the right derection with ample examples, solid advice, and an extremely easy to follow format. This books has definitely served its purpose, which is to introduce you to the world of Access programming using Visual Basic. It's a masterpiece in its class deserving more than 5 stars. You won't need to read any review to buy any future Evan Callahan book, because this dood knows how to deliver.

As the title of my review states, this book is ideal if your situation falls into the following category: You have a solid amount of skill with Access (without VBA) such as action queries, subforms/reports, option/combo boxes, relationships, SQL, etc. You understand Access and can already build fairly advanced applications, however you want to goto the next level. The next level is VBA and here is where you go "under the hood". You will find out how to do basic procedures and how they work. You will be shown the light as to why event procedures are so critical to more advanced applications. After reading this book (and implementing what you learned into your own applications) you will be well prepared for intermediate level books. The book is extremely well written and is careful to make sure that the reader does not fall behind. I felt like the author actually cared about the learning process, and didn't just write a book to prove his own expertise (like many others). In summary, if you already know Access (sans VB), and would like to go "under the hood" to be on your way to becoming what I would consider an intermediate developer (i.e companies actually pay you [albeit moderately] for your Access skills, however it is not 100% of your job description) - buy this now.

As an Access/VB developer who has done a lot of Access and VB work this book was the perfect introduction and was very helpful for Access programming.

Good Points:

Very easy to follow, simple examples and PRACTICAL examples that are given that you will want to use in your business applications.

Time constraints. You are not bogged down on theory and spend most of the time coding at actualy writing than reading. You can EASILY finish this book in a week.

Very few errors in coding (Some books I have had were horrid! )

Bad points:

Book does not follow naming convention standards for variables (minor point)

Not a book for people who want to do a full blown system with a lot of hutzpah (hey were talking Access here anyway), or Advanced features of coding in Access.

Relatively basic and touches only very few advanced features and coding (eg. Automation, Active X) or not at all.

In the end, good outweighs the bad. As a developer though I needed more that was the drawback. But if you want to get a quick fresher on Access Basic (I say ACCESS basic cause Access coding is NOT like VB Coding even though they appear similar).

If you're looking to code in Access and have little or no experience than this book is perfect for you, however I wouldn't recomend this book as a basis for learning VB. From then you can move on to the Access97 developers handbook published by Sybex written by Litwin, Getz, Gilbert for a good reference book.

Although this book is not intended as the most authoritative and complete refence on VBA known to exist, it can teach a beginner what in the heck VBA is and how to use it. When I picked this book up, I had previous experience programming in an old DOS database and knew the basics on the features of Access -- but I had no clue what VBA was or what it did. In working though the materials, somewhere along the way, the light came on! Each chapter in this book is a lesson that walks you through some very important VBA techniques in a logical, organized way (you don't get lost). Unlike some books that just throw some sample code at you, in this one you are working with real life examples and Mr. Callahan takes the time to explain in detail why you are doing what you are doing. It teaches you how to actually apply your knowlege. The most dissapointing thing about this book is that Mr. Callahan did not keep writing and teach other programming techniques.

This book does exactly what it claims to. It's a great book for beginners in access programming and vba. If you are an experienced vb programmer and are crossing over to access, I would say Access 97 Developer's Handbook would be a better buy.

This is one of the finer books for the beginner VB programmer when using Access 97. All examples are geared for Access 97 and have relevance to what the new user of Access would want to know. Little or no experience in VB is necessary as this book will guide you step by step. Well worth the money!!

This was the first time I have used Visual Basic for Access. I found most of the examples helpful, practical and easy to incorporate into my own project. I would recommend this book.

Easy-to-follow, interrelated examples. It teaches how to develop and package a system, how to do basic controls and basic VBA programming. This is a good manual for developers who are beginners at event-driven programming, Access, and/or VBA. The examples are very simple, however, as is the VBA programming. The book just scratches the surface. You will need a more advanced book after this one to really learn how to develop a system and to use as a reference. (This book, by the way, would make a lousy reference manual).

Don't hesitate to buy this book. I bought this book as part of course being taught on VBA. Don't be scared that it is for Access 97 because the visual basic portion of Access has not been developed any further. This is the book to have. I am now a full time database programmer for a state agency and this is my desktop reference. BUY THIS BOOK!!!

I read this book last year and found it very instructive. It is easy to understand and contains very good explanations of the sample code. Very little or no typos or code errors, which always helps. The cd contains one or two useful applications in addition to the chapter databases. What I like about the book was that it makes use of the wizards up to the point where you you have to write code, which is a good time saver.