Access 2003 All-in-One Desk Reference for Dummies

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 840 pages
• Published by: For Dummies
• Edition: 1st Edition September 22, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0764539884
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764539886
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.9 inches
• Weighs: 2.8 pounds

Product Review
“…clear explanations in plain English, and a bit of fun and humour…” (WWB, January 2005)

Book Description
Many people call our current era "The Age of Information." True, the body of information is increasing at an unprecedented pace, and information is more accessible than ever. But information doesn’t mean diddly-squat if you don’t know how to use it. Access 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies is your one-stop guide to building databases and managing information with Access 2003, covering the basics like tables, queries, forms, and reports and more advanced functions such as using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and writing code. If you want, you can go all the way to geekdom, or you can simply find out how to make the most of your data to better manage your business by:

• Creating and modifying tables and entering and editing data
• Sorting, finding, and filtering data
• Creating queries, including update queries, action queries, and the Query Wizards
• Building forms with AutoForm and Wizards
• Creating charts and graphs from your data
• Maintaining, sharing, and securing your Access database
• Letting Access do the math, whether it’s calculating simple cost per unit or performing complex financial functions

Microsoft Office Access 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies was written by three computer gurus: Alan Simpson, author of over eighty computer books; Margaret Levine Young, co-author of several dozen computer books, including The Internet for Dummies; and Alison Barrows, book author and writer and editor of technical documentation and training material. To give you hands-on experience and demonstrate practical applications of database management, there is a Web site that complements the book and features a fully functioning mail order management database used in examples throughout the book. You can download it and follow along as you explore:

• Working with external data sources such as Microsoft SQL Server
• Writing and debugging code
• Using HTML, JavaScript, Jscript, VB Script, and Java to facilitate the exchange of information on the Internet among different programs on disparate platforms
• Using data access pages (DAP) to share information on your intranet

With Access 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies, you’ll discover how to put information to work for you.

Reader Reviews
I started a new job in the Information Reporting Office of a State Education Department. I am fluent in SPSS programming, but have had little experience with Access. My job turns out to entail retrieving many data files in an Access format from a master database stored in Oracle on a mainframe using ODBC. I have had to learn quickly how to manipulate those databases to obtain the information needed to put into files for Federal reporting purposes. I needed a comprehensive reference to Access that would allow me to learn how to use Access to perform data manipulations that are easy to perform with Statistical Analysis packages such as SPSS. For example, every School is assigned a 12-digit code, and each sequence of two or four digits embedded in the code has a distinct meaning, such as a reference to the county of location or type of school. So I had to learn quickly how to "parse" the long "string" field into new separate string fields made up of the component parts of the 12-digit string. I also needed to aggregate data on field values to obtain counts and sums. These are basic functions, easy to look up or find in the index when using a program like SPSS. These sorts of functions do have counterparts in Access, but the indexes of such books are geared to the business user and do not refer to such functions with the standard terms such as "parse," "string function," or "aggregate" that are familiar to people used to using statistical packages to manipulate data. I looked at many older Access reference books in our office. I ordered the Alison Balter "Mastering Microsoft Office Access 2003" book from Amazon after reading the reviews. I was not able to find what I needed to learn from those books. Fortunately, I also ordered "Access 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies," from which I was able to figure out everything I needed to know. Once I knew what I needed to know, which in retrospect seem like simple functions, I went back to the other reference books to see how that information was presented and to figure out why I hadn't been able to find it. I still wasn't able to find some of these functions in the Balter book. I wouldn't write a review panning the Balter book because it may be excellent for its intended audience, developers working on form and report interfaces for commercial clients. But if you need to quickly get up and running learning how to manipulate data with Access, but are not a total novice with programming, and need some fairly sophisticated information, the "All-In-One Dummies" book certainly was far superior to the others. It could be better, as noted in a review below, if the index would include words familiar to more sophisticated programmers using other programs, such as "parse, "aggregate," etc., but the table of contents was so detailed, and the examples in the book so detailed and clear, that I was able to quickly figure out where the information would be in the book if it were to be found anywhere. For example, to find the "parsing function," I lookded under Book III: Queries (because I at least knew that "Queries" do most of the manipulations on data), Chapter 2: Letting Queries Do the Math, (Because functions are generally grouped and described in sections of books on doing math) and finally in the Section called "Manipulating Text with Expressions, Using the Access Text functions." Yes, a good index cross-referencing the words "parsing strings" and "text functions" would have been better, but I haven't found one reference book that has been that user-friendly to the experienced programmer who just isn't "experienced" using Access. At least the "Dummies" book is sufficiently well-organized, comprehensive and transparent to let me find out what I need to know! Comment | | (Report this)