Customer Reviews

Wrox's SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Starter Kit (Programmer to Programmer)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I use MSDE at work the last few years and has recently moved to SQL Server express. My biggest gripe about MSDE was that there was no book covering MSDE - all the books with MSDE in its title was covering other editions of SQL Server. I deployed MSDE with my application and the MSDE books were not very helpful.

I like this book because it focusses on SQL Server express. I like the sections specific to sql server express like setup and deployment and recommend this for those who use sql server express with VB.

I am used to Access, and this book was wonderful to get introduced to and work with SQL Server. Step by step instructions on using sql with Visual Basic helped me a lot. The user interface provided was similar to my usage of access for basic scenarios; ofcourse access ui is more powerful than visual basic's. I would recommend it for a beginning user.

Among other things, Microsoft really likes to change the names of its products. For some years the Access database supplied as part of the Microsoft Office suite has come with two database engines. Originally supplied with the Jet database, Microsoft then began shipping it with a stripped down version of SQL Server, the latest name of which was Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE).

SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SSE) is MSDE brought up to date using SQL Server 2005 as the code base rather than SQL Server 2000. Perhaps the most important feature added is the graphical user interface that allows the creation of tables, defining relationships between tables and other simple database applications.

The one point that I would have liked to see in this book is more information, perhaps even a chapter on SQL. Especially in the section on migrating from the Jet database in Access to SSE some comments on the differences between the two SQL's would be very helpful.

For instance, in Access SQL (Jet Engine) you can have JOINs in UPDATE and DELETE statements. In T-SQL you can't. In T-SQL you can have a subquery in the SET clause of UPDATE statements, in the Jet engine you cannot. Finding all these differences is difficult. I'd like to see them in the migrating chapter.

Still, this book is intended for the beginner who is going to use Microsoft's GUI approach for everything, and not SQL. For that purpose it is excellent.

While the book gives you inroads into various options available with SQL Server 2005, it lacks depth in almost all topics covered, but then you would not expect something else from a Starter Kit. Recommended for beginners, if you have some experience, choose another book.

This book is a great book about SQL Server Express and a great introduction to other versions of SQL Server. In fact, it describes every nuance of SQL Server Express from creating tables, indexes and views to deploying and multi-user scenarios. It fills the gaps of the MSDN about SQL Server Express.

All books and especially books with computer code will have errors. I am very disappointed in the support from the authors and from Wrox. Chapter 7 has some code that will not work. This is addressed in the Wrox p2p forum but solutions are never present. One of the participants e-mailed the authors and got no response. I must find another source to learn XML as it relates to SQL Server Express. I would not recommend this book. The authors should pay attention to the comments and questions of the users and there is not evidence that they do. It is like buying a new car, something goes wrong, but the dealer will not help you fix it.

But for example they fail to mention a major concept too soon, like setting your first DB to be copied MANUALLY to your project, not to copy from source. If you take their advice, you will wind up with a project which wont allow you to update the database. And to resolve this, I had to use another book.

I emailed the author and tried the forums, several weeks ago, but have not gotten any response.

So, if you are looking for some support, don't get this book.

I am an Access user and now use SQL. The book was useless. The title of the book is SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, not Visual Basic Manual. ONLY the first chapter covers SQL, the rest of the book is Visual Basic. I am very upset with the false and misleading title and back-cover description. Shame on WROX.

I am new to SQL and a beginner programmer. The Microsoft Step by Step Books or the Dummies books are my kind of level. I expected something similiar, when I ordered this book. The book was absolutely of no help. It sometimes assumed a higher level of experience, there are gaps of information, poorly structured, key detail seemed to be lacking. It also seemed not up to date with 2005 but was referring to earlier SQL versions. It appears the book was rushed to market, and poorly edited. I returned the book.

This book is amazing! It told me everthing I would want to know about SQL server express.