Customer Reviews

Professional Visual Basic 6 Databases

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is virtually worthless if you do not have SQL Server 7.0. In addition, the bulk of the first 13 chapters is covered in better detail in Wrox's Beginning VB6 Database's by John Connell. So if you have started with that book, or any other VB database book, then the first half of this book is all review.

It does get into some interesting topics, but since I did not have SQL Server 7.0 available, I could not really use this book.

If you have SQL server 7.0, VB 6.0 and are new to databases, then this book is PERFECT.

If you are looking to get overall information about how to use databases with Visual Basic 6, go for it. If you already have experience on working with VB for n-tier applications and knows ADO pretty well, look elsewhere.

This book covers a great deal of material, thus going over some details of them. This book is good for beginners to intermediate people that wants to have quick solutions.

For the others, for example, if you are looking for a better implementation of n-tier or to pass data between components; you will have some information in this book but I would suggest the Visual Basic 6 Business Objects and VB6 Distributed Objects, both from Wrox, to get a full coverage on the subject.

Overall, this book is good for VB/Data starters.

I have read both this book and its series "predecessor" by John Connell, starting with Connell. While there is considerable overlap between the two, as other reviewers here have remarked, I'd choose this one if I were only to buy one book. Not that Connell is not a good book; it's just that I found this one more readable where it covered the same material. The "Professional" appellation should not frighten off beginning to intermediate readers, nor convince them that they must start with the "Beginning" title first.

After reading the introductory, "basics" chapters of this book I came away with a much better understanding of such things as connection strings, ADO objects, and basic SQL syntax than after reading the Connell book. My major gripe about many programming books--and I have been devouring them in bulk over the last two years--is that they often launch into code examples without adequately and systematically explaining the various methodologies involved.

For instance, I don't think I have ever read elsewhere a better overview of the ADO Object Model (Chapter 7)--it's well done because it's covered in an organized and systematic fashion that is appropriate for this book's target audience (the intermediate programmer who might be new to some of the technologies presented here but who is not to programming per se) rather than as a chaotic catalog of example after example--though there are plenty of those as well where appropriate.

Great content aside, another niggling gripe I have with this and other programming books, perhaps more often with Wrox (maybe it's just a sample error because I read more of them,) is the presence of annoying grammatical errors. If only someone could teach the editors (are they awake out there?) how to use semicolons, because sentences smash into each other like minivans at the supermarket with irritating regularity. The copy editors, who are supposed to fix typos, also must be asleep at the switch. We are entitled to expect better from a forty-dollar book. But just grit your teeth and focus on the content.

In short, if you already know something about SQL, database design, and VB, but need help making them all work together, I think this one is the ONE you should buy if you can only buy one.

I am a Client/Server & E-Commerce developer. I have read this book page-to-page and I enjoyed every second of it. The information is in-depth, down to the point, and extremely well written. I found Only 3 bugs in this 700-page book. Big deal. The author is also a gentleman. I had a question that I e-mailed to him and he got back to me within 24 hours. I hope that Charles Williams will have the time to publish another book. If you enjoy VB and are serious about it, buy this book.

This is an excellent book if you want to learn and build good client server applications. It starts by building the basic concepts about databases which is very important if you want to have a good database design. It then progresses on to more complex and interesting issues such as 2-tier, 3-tier and n-tier system. It also provides an excellent view of the SQL Server 7 as well as other technologies that you need to be a good enterprise developer. The only thing it doesn't touch is the Visual Modeler tool included with the Visual Studio. This is another addition to the long list of excellent books by Wrox publishing. This might be the only book you'll need to develop database application.

The most important factor was the publisher (Wrox) when I buy this book. It works :) This book is even higher than the Wrox standard. If you used MSAccess as a database with VB before and want to upsize to SQLServer, this book really smoothly upsize YOU to SQLServer. Examples have been chosen very carefully, the sequence of the chapters are very logical. And also if you have a problem with learning ADO, the chapter dedicated to ADO is also very good. If you are looking for a book for VB and SQLServer stop searching and buy this book. Thank you Charles, for this perfect book.

This book was simple to follow yet it clearly discusses a great deal of material. I actually was looking to buy a Beginner VB book - something that covered the basics. Glad I purchased this book, as the basics are reviewed and other subjects like C/S, ADO and SQL Server 7 are covered with pertinent examples.

This book is excellent for experienced programmers looking for a "how to guide". The examples follow a logical flow and are explained in detail. Experienced programmers will find this an excellent guide in translating their functional understanding of another programming language into the functions available in VB6. I especially like the way that the author offers more than one way to accomplish the same task. Database application programmers could not ask for a better program by example guide then this book. I have purchased several books on VB6 and have been disappointed with the layout, explanations, or scope. This book is exactly as advertised. This is truly a programmer to programmer book.

I have been programming Access/VB/SQL Server Database for 3 years. I read this book and realized how much I didn't know. Mosts books I have purchased end up gathering dust or serve as a quick reference or code sampler. This book went far beyond that in covering topics and conceptial design issues I have not seen in any other books. Finally it uses examples that as an industry programmer, I can relate to. Its case study at the end will walk you through setting up an e-commerse web sight using MTS, ASP, and SQL Server. Excellent, Relevant choice of examples.

I purchased this book with little VB experience and even less database experience. This book is a fantastic learning tool. I started in chapter 9 becuase I wanted to learn how to populate tables from separate forms while working on the correct records. Anyway, I found the answers and more. For Visual Basic and Databases, this book is the best I've seen!