Access Database Design & Programming: Creating Programmable Database Applications with Access 97, 2000, 2002 & 2003

So you're familiar with the Access interface and are comfortable with tables, forms, reports and macros. So what's next? Simply put, choose this book if you have little to no programming experience and you're ready to go to the next level with Access database development. This book is truly for the advanced Access user, but the novice VBA programmer. Having spent many frustrating hours with other books that claim to be for this audience, I can wholeheartedly recommend this one. I needed a "primer" in VBA before moving on to more advanced treatments, and this one fit the bill.For me, a bonus was the section on normalization. Well written and clear, it solidified and enhanced my understanding of sound database design .Steven Roman...thanks so very much!

It is so rare to find a book like this. It was exactly what I was searching for and had the information I needed. I was limited to five stars, but ideally, I'd just create an endless loop and keep spitting out stars. I had to know what Access is all about and this book delivers! Since I'm new to VB/VBA and DB work in general, I'd have to recommend another great book that deals with Access/VB6 subjects and that is John Connell (Beginning VB6 DB Programming) ISBN: 1-861001-06-1.

I have yet to go wrong buying an O'Reilly book. This book is no exception. Few screen shots clutter up the book, which is great. It seems that most other Access books jam a bunch of screen shots in the book just to make the book thicker and therefore command the greatest bookshelf real estate. Do I really need screen shots showing me how to use a wizard? Isn't the wizard supposed to walk you through the steps so that you don't need a book? This book doesn't insult you like so many others. I bought the second edition. It was excellent at explaining database theory. Considering that Microsoft will eventually phase out DOA and move to ADO, I was a little bit disappointed to find heavy coverage of the former and light coverage of the latter. However, once you understand the theory behind DAO, the light coverage of ADO is all that is needed to explain the differences.Excellent book.

Most 1,000 page books on Access show you a bunch of worthless screen shots and help you put together a rather useless "college" or "restaurant" database. The problem with these books? They never explain what a database is and why you might want to use one. Steven Roman is incredible at breaking the complex down to the understandable for the intelligent non-technical user. Forget dummies books, you are intelligent or you wouldn't be thinking about using Access! It is so much easier to use Access when you understand what a databse is. I can't give enough praise for this book.

Most books on Access are over a thousand pages long, and teach you bad habits like designing your database to fit your forms, not vice-versa. This book, like other titles from the publisher, is information-packed and concise. Unlike other Access books, this title teaches you to resist the urge to bind (pun intended) your tables too tightly with your forms. Instead, in a very easy-to-understand way, it teaches you to design your database well first, and then take advantage of the programming tools that are part of Access to manipulate your data. Other books emphasize form design over all else, teaching an approach that invariably paints the budding database designer into a corner sooner or later. The reader who uses the approach taught in this book will design extensible databases that look a lot like the ones the n-tier SQL Server and Oracle gurus put together. I've helped colleagues with databases, and then urged them to get a copy of this book for themselves -- You know, "Give a man a fish, ..." Learn to design Access databases the RIGHT way and avoid wasting your time plowing through yet another cinder block-sized tome - buy this book.