Microsoft Access 97 Visual Basic Step by Step [With CDROM]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.