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Rating: 
Summary: It's Good But Not For Absolute Beginners
Review: After developing in Access & SQL Server for a number of years, I was always intimidated by VB development and had made a conscious effort to develop "work-arounds" for my lack of hard-coding skill. However, my current project required that I take-over and inherit someone else's work. Imagine my horror when I discovered that the person who built the database I had to maintain had done so almost entirely in VBA (and didn't document a single word of code). Where were all the macros? Where had my happy place gone? I begrudgingly accepted the fact that I would have to learn VBA in order to fix this database and support it. Although I'm not quite through the book, I felt like it was written specifically for guys like me. You must know your Access and your basic theory of database, but if syntax and coding experience is what you need, this book is great. I plan on getting the "Professional" version by Wrox as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Love it
Review: Best book on VBA i've ever had the misfortune of reading. Not the most pleasant of subjects, but this book did a masterful job of presenting ideas, structures and syntax in a clear, easy-to-read format. I am now programming like an ox thanks to this book. Avoid the horrible Susan Novalis Access VBA Handbook and get this one instead. Full of sample code, and the CD has many apps you can steal and modify to suit your needs. Bravo, Wrox.
Rating: 
Summary: Are you self taught? Does syntax frustrate you? Get this one
Review: For all of us that use Access and want to code a bit, but can't find a good source to explain syntax, this is the perfect book. Don't think less of this book because it doesn't have a lot of ADO in it. If you don't understant DAO and Access objects well you won't be using ADO anytime soon. After applying myself to this book I can write my own functions, routines and understand the nuts and bolts of VBA and Access 2000. If you don't know what each of these lines mean, get this book. (Thanks to Rob and Dave I now do, because I wrote them and dozens more - who knows how this display in the review) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Private Sub FISCAL_2000_PROJECTED_AfterUpdate() Dim varProj As Variant varProj = DLookup("fiscal 2000 projected", "tblCustCode-Projections", "forms!frmSaleman!Custcode =[custcode]") End Sub ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Function laborcodetext(REGOT2x As Integer) As String If REGOT2x = 1 Then laborcodetext = "Reg" ElseIf REGOT2x = 2 Then laborcodetext = "OT" ElseIf REGOT2x = 3 Then laborcodetext = "2X" End If End Function ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Private Sub SaveThisRecord_Click() Dim db As Database Dim rec As Recordset Set db = CurrentDb() Set rec = db.OpenRecordset("tbljobhoursdetail") rec.AddNew rec!EmployeeID.Value = Me![Text2].Value rec("job#").Value = Me("txtjob#").Value rec!DateWorked = Me!txtDateWorked.Value rec.Update rec.Close End Sub
Rating:
Summary: Detailed examples, clear progression, lucid explanations.
Review: I felt this book was written for me. I received it, turned to chapter 8, and there in front of me was a solution I had been searching for weeks. My relational database is now easily searchable for those inept at constructing queries. Yay! The book's strongest feature is the many detailed examples that are clearly explained and progess in a logical order. The book also serves as a useful refresher for basic object-oriented concepts, and contains a CD with all of the code. If you're new to SQL or wonder what "events" are, look for a simpler book. This book is definitely for those who understand basic SQL and relational database design, have designed customized forms/queries/reports, and want to take their Microsoft Access database to the next level.
Rating:
Summary: A book for people with no programming background
Review: Maybe a good book for people with no programming background. For people coming from other programming languages, look elsewhere, unless you want to go through the basic concepts universal to all programming languages all over again.
Rating:
Summary: Only two complaints
Review: Overall, yes it is a very good book, but I have two issues with it.
1. The authors sometimes give code examples that use functions/syntax that are not explained until several chapters later. They inevitably state something to the effect 'Don't worry about such-and-such, it will be covered in chapter whatever.' In the meantime, I still can't do anything with what I'm learning.
2. (and more significantly)By the author's own admission, they chose to focus on DAO rather than ADO. Maybe at the time it was written that really was the best decision, but learning DAO is a big step in the wrong direction now as ADO is already more the standard, especially as everything moves toward .NET
Rating: 
Summary: How to make VBA impossibly confusing
Review: The book seems to be written with the objective of showcasing how much the authors know about VBA without imparting any of this understanding to the reader. "Don't try to understand this now, we will explain it later" is used in almost every chapter. The concepts and syntax are poorly narrated and the text suffers from the needless and boring injection of the authors humor. If you wish to understand VBA, buy the Access 2000 VBA handbook by Susan Novalis. I learned more that I could practically apply to my databases within 30 minutes of picking up her book than I learned after reading and re-reading the Sussman/Smith text multiple times.
Rating:
Summary: How to make VBA impossibly confusing
Review: The book seems to be written with the objective of showcasing how much the authors know about VBA without imparting any of this understanding to the reader. "Don't try to understand this now, we will explain it later" is used in almost every chapter. The concepts and syntax are poorly narrated and the text suffers from the needless and boring injection of the authors humor. If you wish to understand VBA, buy the Access 2000 VBA handbook by Susan Novalis. I learned more that I could practically apply to my databases within 30 minutes of picking up her book than I learned after reading and re-reading the Sussman/Smith text multiple times.
Rating:
Summary: It's Good But Not For Absolute Beginners
Review: This is a solid book, nicely written, and the authors have obviously put a lot of thought and good effort into it. However, in it's introduction, the authors advise that you don't really need to know anything about programming in order to understand the book. In my experience that's not correct. While a beginner can understand parts of the book, you soon get the feeling that you are in over your head. It gets into fairly complex code quite quickly. It would be a great book if you are taking a class or have a teacher to explain the parts that need clarification. But for a beginner like myself trying to learn VBA on my own, it's too much too soon. Another thing that this book (or any book) could do to help you learn is provide a lot of problems at the end of each chapter for you to try and apply what you learned, sort of the way we learned algebra in high school. Evan Callahan's Book, Step By Step Microsoft Access VBA is a much more basic beginner's book. It takes you by the hand and gets you writing code quickly. It does not take you very far into VBA, but does get you going. The next book I'd recommend is VBA Handbook by Susan Novalis. It's a much more gentle intro than is Sussman's book. In fact, after you learn Novalis' book you will probably be ready for Sussman's book.
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Summary: I know..it's 2004 but this book f*cking rocks!
Review: Yeah, I still use Access 2000, but so freakin' what? Can most folks really justify the cost of upgrading to Access 2002/2003? Didn't think so...anyway, this book is just pure gold! A lot of the query examples in here use SQL, so this stuff should transfer to the new versions of Access. Next to the O'Reilly's Access Cookbook, this is the best Access book! Usually the Wrox books are highly regarded, and this book is a prime example why. If you find this one in the bargin bin, snag it! This book has really helped me in constructing user-interface canned queries and the report preview form design here is really slick. The authors break down all of the code in concise, easy to digest explanations. I freakin'love this book!
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