Alison Balter's Mastering Access 2000 Development is a well-written, well-paced, and comprehensive tutorial on virtually every aspect of the new Access 2000, written for any beginning or intermediate developer. With its notable clarity, this book can put basic Access development within reach of many users.

As an introduction to or a review of Access and database basics, Mastering Access 2000 Development provides a really strong mix of clear explanations (for tables, queries, and reports) that will let you get up and running. One of the best features of this book is its patient introduction to the world of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming. (If you've struggled to use VB/VBA before, these sections can make successful programming accessible to you.)

The decidedly low-end focus of this book doesn't mean that it skimps on more advanced features. Besides showing off the strengths of Access when used with SQL Server (including stored procedures), "black-belt" sections of the book look at Web support and the new Data Access Pages for delivering Web content. Sections on deployment and optimizing Access applications will be invaluable to any working Access developer.

Overall, it's the author's skill at explaining the fundamentals clearly that makes this a strong choice for readers seeking to get more out of the new Access 2000. Mastering Access 2000 Development is perfect for the Access user who wants to break through to successful database programming for the first time. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Access 2000, database basics, queries, reports, form design, VBA, scaling Access to SQL Server, ADO, DAO, client/server, deployment, Microsoft Office Developer (MOD) tools, Data Access Pages and Web support, and advanced features.

Product Description

Alison's book takes a highly technical topic and presents it in a manner that is easy to comprehend. You'll want to read it from cover to cover, but it can also act as an excellent reference. Learn thorough knowledge of Access application development, real-world solutions to specific development and programming problems, and professional programming techniques backed by concise, no-nonsense explanations of the underlying theories. Debugging and troubleshooting methods are also included.