Access Books?

[hollyneal]

Hi. I'm trying to teach myself Access from a systems development-type point of view. Can anybody recommend any books I might start with? I've pretty much exhausted the online tutorials and they really aren't going into the depth that I have in mind.

Thanks in advance!

Holly

 

[spikepl]

we don't know what you have in mind. what?

 

[mdlueck]

I have found the Access 2007 Bible pub by Wiley to be quite helpful, along with this forum system.

That book did not cover MANY things which I have either learned here or shared here... such as using an ADO Command object with ADO Parameters objects to issue a SQL INSERT / UPDATE transaction. That I ended up sharing here. That book only covers SQL INSERT / UPDATE transactions via ADO RecordSet objects.

So, that book + Google = success in my case.

 

[jleach]

Most any book published by Wiley is going to be a good read. Wrox also, I've had great luck with their stuff. The "Access (pick a year) Inside Out" series are excellent as well. Also, the Access Cookbook is very good, and Access Solutions by Doug Steele and Arvin Meyer... both those last two are task-based approach type books, rather than "learn about access" type books, but recommended nonetheless.

hth

 

[mdlueck]

Oh, I just thought of... the book I had for Access 2000 had a MUCH better discussion (than Access 2007 Bible) on embedding SQL queries right into Combo Box controls. I believe that was a book from Que publishers. So it really is dependent on what you need to learn - which book to suggest.

 

[hollyneal]

Thank you all for these suggestions. I'll look through them and I'm sure I'll find exactly what I need.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

the best way of learning is to pick a subject you know very well, and which might make an interesting database, and develop one. I think you have to practice things a lot in computing, and this is a good way of finding an interesting subject on which to practice

examples I can think of are:

the standard CD / DVD database - many difficult design decisions here about compilations, and so on, that make the table design rather complicated

a golf scores database. record the rounds you play at various courses, including strokes per hole, etc

a football/sports record database, storiing matches played, scores, teams, etc etc

as far as books go, the one I used most was the Access Cookbook (O'Reilly). Not a primer, more an in depth examination of a number of practical issues.

the trouble with the 1000 page general books, is that at least half is wasted covering basics.

you also need to be comfortable with VBA, and understand the principle of "event-driven" programming.

hope this helps