Access 2000 Reference Books

[DannyD]

I am new to Access and have been tasked to develop a project management tool
for my lead. I've had a moderate amount of success to date (<10 days) with an
"Access for Dummies" book and use of online resources such as this newsgroup.
I would rate myself one notch above beginner (novice?) relative to SW
development skills. I'm pretty much self taught on Office applications and
HTML/CSS.

I now want to get a better understanding of Access including VBA and
possibly SQL. I intend to order the "Access 2000 Developer's Handbook Volume
1: Desktop Edition" (Paul Litwin) per a recommendation on this thread. Would
I be wasting my money if I also considered purchasing the "Microsoft 2000
Access Bible" (author Cary N. Prague) or "Beginning Access 2000 VBA (author
Robert Smith)? I'm buying used - I just don't want books collecting dust,
going unused.

I'll also mention that I'll be able to join AARP in less than 2 years, so my
brain is not the "sponge" of techie info that it used to be. I mention this
just in case the first reference is not helpful for "middle-aged beginners
.

Thank you for your time and opinions.

Cheers - Danny

 

[Bob Larson via AccessMonster.com]

I think they have gone off the deep end. To have someone who has little
experience to create a project management tool, and you've been at it for
about 10 days? That is about 80 hours? If you make $20 per hour that is
already about $1600 to build a tool that you could buy for $600 to $1,000
(Microsoft Project)? Plus it would have much more functionality than you
will ever get into it.

It amazes me sometime that bosses don't take the whole financial picture into
account when assigning tasks.

Bob Larson
Access World Forums Super Moderator
Utter Access VIP

 

[Stockwell43]

Hi DannyD,

First sugesstion is buy from Amazon. I get the majority of my books there
and they are really cheap. Just be patient because sometimes if you wait
you'll see the book cheaper especially after college semesters when everyone
is looking to unload them.

Now for the books:

Access 2003 programming inside/out and Access 2003 Inside Track are good
books because they are informational and easy to follow. Access 200 Bible
would not be a waste of money either.

I have over 20 books for Access because each one shows something different
and I got them quite cheap so what it would have costed me for one, I bought
four including shipping. Also, I would like to suggest going to a book store
and checkout there books and browse through some to see what looks good to
you then see if Amazon has them. Keep in mind, some books are more into the
mechanics which is important and some are more into coding. Try to find some
that are more into the mechanic of access for now because they will also show
you some coding for doing basic programming and then when your comfortable
you can work your way up. Do get frustrated because it is not an easy task to
understand.

 

[DannyD]

It's not as complex as you're thinking, but the management capabilities of
the original tool built as an Excel spreadsheet were too limited, and the
lead wasn't interested in Project for his requirements.

Any thoughts on my original question?

Thanks - Danny

 

[DannyD]

Thank you! I can get all 3 books used w/shipping from Amazon for just over
$30.00 (1 new, 2 used). I'll follow up on your advice and check out the
local used book store.

Danny

 

[Stockwell43]

You're quite welcome! Let me know how you make out with all that. If you
want, make up a temporary email address in yahoo and I will send you a bunch
of links and code snippets that have helped me out a lot.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I now want to get a better understanding of Access including VBA and
possibly SQL. I intend to order the "Access 2000 Developer's Handbook Volume
1: Desktop Edition" (Paul Litwin) per a recommendation on this thread. Would
I be wasting my money if I also considered purchasing the "Microsoft 2000
Access Bible" (author Cary N. Prague) or "Beginning Access 2000 VBA (author
Robert Smith)? I'm buying used - I just don't want books collecting dust,
going unused.

The ADH is the "gold standard", but it's pretty heavy (both in size - 2200
pages or so! - and in effort required). If you get a good price on it go for
it. The _Bible_ book is pretty good, far less depth. I'd suggest leafing
through the Beginning book and see if you find it useful.

Anything by my friend and colleague John Viescas is going to be pretty useful

I'll also mention that I'll be able to join AARP in less than 2 years, so my
brain is not the "sponge" of techie info that it used to be. I mention this
just in case the first reference is not helpful for "middle-aged beginners
.

I've had my card for a couple of years now... <g>

 

[DannyD]

Sorry if this is the second reply ... I'd very much appreciate the links.
Please send to (e-mail address removed).

 

[A Nother]

Thank you! I can get all 3 books used w/shipping from Amazon for just over
$30.00 (1 new, 2 used). I'll follow up on your advice and check out the
local used book store.

Don't ignore Craig's List or Freecycle.org (although that's much less
likely).