Beginning Access 2002 VBA

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book to use to come up to speed
Review: A number of books out there look at Visual Basic for Applications, but this is the only one so far that focuses on the newest version of Access. I found this book to be invaluable in cutting through the clutter and getting me straight to the practical applications of VBA. The authors take you through basic programming tenants but don't dwell on them. Rather they jump into examples that are very interactive and instructive. Their examples are clear and are good starting points to expand from on your own. It is not an exhaustive reference, but you benefit from it more if you have some decent Access experience. If you don't know a database, you are not going to learn here. But in just a few weeks after reading this book, I find myself going again and again into the examples as starting points for my own projects. And it is amazing how a little bit of programming will impress the users.

There are a couple of mistakes in the book that can inhibit your code from running. In addition, the database supplied has dates of 1998 and 99, but the book uses dates in 2001, so you have to adjust your code in order to get results. And unfortunately WROX has shut down its errata area so you can't really get help with these problems. So don't assume if your code doesn't work, it is your fault. This is where the code on the CD can be helpful - if it doesn't run right it's the program, not the programmer.

Overall with a little patience and work, you can get a huge amount of help from this book.

Rating:
Summary: Have you guys bothered to go to their website?
Review: All wrox books ship without CDs. You are supposed to download the code from their website.

Shame on you who can't be bothered to visit their site even once!

Rating:
Summary: Good Start Fizzled badly!
Review: I had to use this book for a class on "Database Programming". I took the class to (1) get credit for taking a class and (2) to get more help with Access and VBA for work. This book started out excellent, good explaintion very informative and after about chapter 6 it fizzles, with inconsistancies lack of all the information. Code wasn't included on the cd. They could have shown how to build a form that was needed for the chapter. Everyone in our class was given 100 pts for two modules because the book was incomplete. There were 12 modules in this class.
I felt cheated. I don't know who to blame the School or the book writer. I want to blame the school for not using a book that has complete code/explanations.
(I have been building databases with Lotus Notes for 7 years. Access is new to me, but programming isn't, so you know my perspective.)

Rating:
Summary: Good Start Fizzled badly!
Review: I had to use this book for a class on "Database Programming". I took the class to (1) get credit for taking a class and (2) to get more help with Access and VBA for work. This book started out excellent, good explaintion very informative and after about chapter 6 it fizzles, with inconsistancies lack of all the information. Code wasn't included on the cd. They could have shown how to build a form that was needed for the chapter. Everyone in our class was given 100 pts for two modules because the book was incomplete. There were 12 modules in this class.
I felt cheated. I don't know who to blame the School or the book writer. I want to blame the school for not using a book that has complete code/explanations.
(I have been building databases with Lotus Notes for 7 years. Access is new to me, but programming isn't, so you know my perspective.)

Rating:
Summary: Good Start, but loses it about 150 pages into the book
Review: I knew how to do all the basics in access, Make forms, reports, basic queries, and basic access pages--so I got this book hoping to expand on the one area i was foreign to--VBA.

The first 150 pages were great, very clear and like any WROX book, they do these 'do it yourself' examples where they make you type out some code.

After roughly page 150, I began to get sucked into a quagmire of theory and less and less practical application. I went into this book hoping to answer the single question 1. What practical uses of VBA can i employ in my bio-tech work environment? As I proceeded into the book I realized that I was being lost in theory and -0- practical application. The book sure tells you what an Array is, what Functions are, Methods, operators, etc--but you know what? I sure wish there were some practical examples! good lord, there is an entire chapter on the history of DAO stuck in the middle of useful information.

This book for the most part is a massive amount of theory which is used in THEIR context, not one that one could think 'hey..that might be useful!'---on page 226 I realized I had found something that might be useful to me: a way to count how many records are in a table. Excellent. It only took 226 pages to get there. But other than that--I have 250 pages of information stored in my brain and can't think of any practical use for them! The book has a large 'ice cream' database that it uses for examples, but its really really just not very helpful.

Its method of teaching I think contains way too much theory and far too little practical training and experience. If you already know VBA or another language, sure this will be a decent review--but if you don't know any language well like me, but you DO know access fairly well minus the VB aspect, this book will leave you clueless at the entrance of chapter 5.

My favorite line? Page 228 "You should be getting a feel for the VBA code by now, so we won't explain every line that we write"

Ah, wonderful--not only am I left in the dust due to excessive amounts of theory which I have not been able to use, but now they're not going to explain every line.

Anyway, I usually like the Wrox books--like their javascript book, but this one is just terrible. If you are new and you want something to help you with the fundamental uses of VBA and its practical application, LOOK ELSEWHERE. If you want a reference book on how specific areas in VBA work--this book will be a decent refresher.

Ethan

Rating:
Summary: Try it out, Why it didn't work?
Review: It is not for beginners. It should be called "An Introduction to Access VBA", because it is very theoretical, and the authors seem not have the knowledge of the difficulties the beginners in programming are faced, when trying to run the code by simply copying it from the text.For example, in the ulterior version refering to Access 97, if you dont have the cursor on the name of the procedure or function you wont get it running when the run button or run menu is clicked. That is an information that a beginning book should teach to beginners. This version, refering to Access 2002, is enlarged by new interesting contributions, like to specify records that should be reported using a filter form.I like the way Wrox books are formated, but this book miss revision in text and code.As a beginner in VBA, I can bear errors in text, but when neither the code on the book or on the CD runs, I am disappointed and I would advise only skilled programmers willing to find out why the code didn't work to buy the book.Until a full revision be done, beginners dont buy it. I am longing for a Microsoft Team Access 2002 VBA Step by Step, or a Beginning Access 2002 VBA by John Connell.

Rating:
Summary: Content is great- CD is lacking
Review: The book itself is GREAT! Lots of great concepts and tips, etc. The only problem is the book ships with a CD that does not have all of the chapter examples! On page 29 it states they provide a file for each chapter, specifically for the work they have done in that chapter. None of the chapter by chapter examples are on the disk. You have to email the company to get them to send you the disk.