Access 2000 Developer's Black Book with Cdrom
Authors: Lars Klander, Dave Mercer
Venue:  (1999)

From the Book: Introduction Introduction This book is about power, the growing power of databases, computers, and networks to slash costs and dramatically increase effectiveness of communications and management. Databases touch everyones lives in some way or another, and a clear understanding of what works and what doesnt puts that power within reach. This book is aimed at everyone who must participate in a database project to ensure success: database designers, end users, database administrators, senior managers, front-line managers, as well as those who must wear all these hats at once.  For experienced database designers and administrators, this book contains complete coverage of Microsoft Access 2000 in easy-to-understand (and use) examples, with plenty of reusable code and screen shots.  For managers and end users, this book contains plain-English explanations of how databases are constructed, what the limitations are, and a broad, exciting view of the potential.  For those who must act as designer, manager, and user, this book takes you from the most basic fundamentals to the most advanced programming steps, without requiring a degree in computer science. In every sense of the word, this book is a practical, day-to-day guide for people involved in building database solutions. Not only does it guide you through the phases of successful database projects (large and small) and the pitfalls that have ruined some, it teaches you the language and terminology used on all sides as you go: project management, process reengineering, relational models, programming fundamentals, and so on. The emphasis throughout the book is on enhancing communications, because clear and timely communication is the primary attribute of a successful database solution. Communication takes work. Everyone must be working from the same playbook for a database application to be effective and achieve widespread use. Traditionally, databases have been designed by computer scientists far removed from the day-to-day activities of work. A team of systems analysts would show up one day, gather what information they could about a process, then spend a year or two in the ivory tower building the application. The application would be instituted, workers trained to fill out the forms, and the reports would print, all according to the now-dated but assuredly very accurate specifications. For some applications, this system worked quite well, but for others it failed miserably. Where failure occurred, the primary cause was rapid change: changes in processes, requirements, business conditions, even changes in computer literacy. Today, because change is constant and the pace of change continues to accelerate, only excellent communication among everyone involved can overcome the swirling confusion born of change. This book gives everyone the playbook that they need to achieve these implementation goals. It takes the best of all traditional methodologies for rebuilding an organizations processes and for developing and constructing database solutions, explains them concisely, and blends them together into a powerful toolkit for building effective applications in a rapidly changing environment. The power of Microsoft Access 2000 combined with the proven methods outlined in this book increase the probability that your database application, no matter the size, will "work" from all perspectives. For the managing members of the team, the book helps you create a plan for effective and consistent implementation of your applications, whether destined for internal use throughout the enterprise or for public consumption. For those responsible for the creation of the implementationthe developers, power users, and users who will interact with the application on a regular basisthis book teaches you everything you need to know about making the application not only perform its tasks, but perform them well. No matter what environment you are developing forfrom standalone databases at workstations to databases that will serve intranet and Internet usersthis book teaches you how to address development issues in that environment and make sure your product not only works, but shines. Real-world examples, step-by-step explanations, and thousands of lines of program code all work together to ensure that you have all the tools you need to be successful. Contents Of This Book This book is divided into 8 parts, intended to guide you through the steps of database development with Access from beginning to end. Part I, "Fundamentals Of Information," contains three chapters that consider the nature of information and how information relates to the design of databases. The three chapters in the section, Chapter 1, "Foundations For Database Construction," Chapter 2, "The Nature Of Information," and Chapter 3, "Data Organization," guide you through the principles of information theory and the ways in which data is organized. Each chapter provides you with important information that you must understand to master effective techniques of database design. Part II, "Database Fundamentals," takes the information theory that you learned about in the first three chapters and brings it to the level of database design theory and principles. Chapter 4, "Relational Databases," introduces you to the principles of database design when working with relational databases like Access 2000. Chapter 5, "Database Structures," looks at the overall theory of database design and reviews the principles of relational database design that you learned in Chapter 4. Chapter 6, "Advanced Database Systems," considers the nature of advanced database architectures and the networks required to support them. By the time you finish Part II, you will have a solid knowledge base for database designnot only with Access, but with any relational database product. Part III, "Modern Database Implementation," moves on to some of the specific types of database uses in business today. Chapter 7, "Data Warehousing," covers the construction of data warehouses in depth. Chapter 8, "Applications and Operating Systems," covers practical application and operating systems (OS) issues, namely, how to decide whether to buy or make apps and OSs, and how to find and use them if you do decide to buy. Chapter 9, "Marketing," discusses the important considerations for you to keep in mind when preparing to distribute your Access products. From identifying your target market to measuring and adjusting your market strategy, effective marketing techniques can make a product successful or, if implemented poorly, can ensure it never sells a copy. Part IV, "Microsoft Access 2000 Overview," contains four chapters that address the specific improvements and changes to Access 2000, and the specific purposes for which Microsoft designed the Access 2000 product. Chapter 10, "Access 2000 Technologies," gives you a broad overview of some of the many component technologies that Access uses to simplify user access. Chapter 11, "New Features And Trends In Access 2000," considers some of the directions in which Microsoft has moved the Access product, including a discussion of the new Jet 4 engine and new integration with Microsofts BackOffice products, specifically SQL Server. Chapter 12, "Access Purchasing And Installation," discusses such important implementation issues as who needs Access installations and what level they need, what the different types of Microsoft Office suites are, and specific installation concerns to keep in mind when purchasing the new Access 2000 product. Chapter 13, "Access 2000 Distribution And Training," addresses specific issues related to the deployment of the Access program in your enterprise. It also discusses built-in training support in the Access product and issues to consider when determining how and who to train. Part V, "Microsoft Access 2000 Usage," contains three chapters, each of which considers a general category of the target market for the Access product and how to design databases for that market. Chapter 14, "Access For Personal And Small Office/Home Office Use," addresses common uses of Access at home and in the small office setting. It discusses both common situations in which you might use Access databases and ways in which to create those databases. Chapter 15, "Using Access In A Corporate Environment," addresses common techniques for Access deployment within companies. It also contains your first introduction to the new Access Data Projects (ADPs) and their use as a SQL Server database front-end. Chapter 16, "Using Access For Scientific And Medical Purposes," considers common methods and implementations for Access in the scientific and medical communities. It also provides an introduction to the use of Accesss graphing capabilities and presents useful information in both types of deployment environments. Part VI, "Database Application Design Reference," moves on to the creation of databases in Access 2000. The five chapters in this section provide you with a method that you can use to define and create databases to meet any need. Chapter 17, "Problem Definition And Design Planning," discusses the specific steps you should take in planning the design of a database to solve a particular problem and walks you through an extended example of these crucial steps in the design process. Chapter 18, "Planning And Design," moves on to the specific discussion of designing a database in accordance with the design planning that you performed in Chapter 17. Chapter 19, "Database Construction," shows you how to take an actual design diagram and convert it into table and database definitions in Access. Chapter 20, "ImplementationBeta Testing And Bug Checking," moves on to the testing and implementation phases of application design, including discussions of the testing process you should use and more. Chapter 21, "Completing The Implementation," discusses post-release improvements you can make to the application, including optimization, compacting, and repair of the database, as well as using the Access-provided tools to analyze and improve performance of your application. Part VII, "Microsoft Access 2000 GUI And VBA Programming Reference," covers the low-level, "nuts and bolts" of Access 2000 programming. The chapters take you from the initial creation of a database and its component tables through advanced programming with ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), Data Access Objects (DAO), and database management and security. Chapter 22, "Installation, Setup, And Configuration," discusses the installation specifics of the Access product, including the options you have during setup. It also introduces you to some of the specifics of Access database designboth for the standalone and the client-server environment. Chapter 23, "Developing Tables And Relationships," introduces you to the specifics of table creation and relationship definition, the core of database design. Chapter 24, "Creating Queries," takes you into the heart of relational database work, by teaching you how to create the different types of queries that lie at the heart of SQLs power. Chapter 25, "Creating Forms And Reports," teaches you the knowledge you need to create user interfaces and design effective reports that output data in the most usable form. Chapter 26, "Creating Macros And Modules," explains Accesss macro language and introduces you to modules, which will contain Visual Basic for Applications codecode which will, in turn, unlock significant additional power for your database applications. Chapter 27, "Using Modules And Visual Basic For Applications," builds on the knowledge you gained in Chapter 26 to teach you what you need to know about writing VBA programs to "power-up" your Access applications. Chapter 28, "Working With DAO And ADO," introduces you to the database objects that VBA lets you use to manipulate Access, SQL Server, Oracle, and other ODBC- and OLE DB-compliant databases. Chapter 29, "Using Class Modules With Access," describes some basics of object-oriented programming and how you can use VBA class modules to implement custom objects within your Access 2000 applications. Chapter 30, "Advanced Database Design Techniques," shows you how to take advantage of VBA and Accesss built-in features to make your applications more professional. It also focuses in-depth on the administration of security within your Access database. Part VIII, "Microsoft Access 2000 And Client-Server Development," contains five chapters that teach you about client-server programming with Access 2000 and different server-based database products, as well as how to create World Wide Web front-ends for Access or server databases. Chapter 31, "Client-Server Programming With Access 2000," introduces you to SQL Server and working with back-end products from Access. It also covers, in detail, important conceptual information about client-server design that is applicable to any back-end. Chapter 31 also introduces you to the Microsoft SQL Developer Engine (MSDE), a local implementation of SQL Server that you can use to design SQL Server databases on your development machine. Chapter 32, "Using Oracle And Access For Client-Server," teaches you the fundamental concepts of Oracle database design and the differences in development between Access front-ends for SQL Server and Oracle. Chapter 33, "Advanced Client-Server Techniques," takes the knowledge from Chapters 31 and 32 and sends it to the next level with important information about topics such as triggers and stored procedures, transaction processing, Access Data Projects (ADPs), and more. Chapter 34, "Web Front-End Development," moves to the largest client-server environment in the worldthe Internet. It covers historically proven and commonly used techniques for exposing databases through HTML pages. Chapter 35, "Using Data Access Pages For Web Front Ends," moves on to Microsofts proprietary Access front-end technology, Data Access Pages (DAPs), which let you develop highly customized, highly responsive front ends for your Access databases, all from within the Access Interactive Development Environment (IDE). In addition to a complete index, the book also contains an appendix of additional resources. From the first 9 chapters that step you through the fundamentals of database design and relate them to good programming practice and business process reengineering, to the next 26 chapters that cover every detail about how Access 2000 works (including how it interacts with the Web and mainframe databases), the purpose of this book is to build a common ground on which all people, from the novice user to the most sophisticated IT developer, can work together. Remember, people in organizations today recognize how important it is to make the powerful software tools on their desktops useful, and they need a tool like this book to make it happen.