Access Database Design & Programming, 3/e

Access Database Design & Programming takes you behind the details of the Access interface, focusing on the general knowledge necessary for Access power users or developers to create effective database applications.
When using software products with graphical interfaces, we frequently focus so much on the interface that we forget about the general concepts that allow us to understand and use the software effectively. In particular, this book focuses on three areas:

• Database design. The book provides an enjoyable, informative overview of database design that carefully shows you how to normalize tables to eliminate redundancy without losing data.
  
• Queries. The book examines multi-table queries (i.e.,various types of joins) and shows how to implement them indirectly by using the Access interface or directly by using Access SQL.
  
• Programming. The book examines the VBA integrated development environment (IDE). It then goes on to provide an excellent introduction to Data Access Objects (DAO), ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and ADO Extensions for Data Definition and Security (ADOX). These sections serve as a handy introduction and primer for basic database operations,such as modifying a table under program control, dynamically adding and deleting a record, and repositioning a record pointer. The concluding chapter focuses on common programming problems, such as computing running sums and comparing two sets.
  

Unlike other Access books that take the long, detailed approach to every topic of concern to Access programmers, Access Database Design &
>Programming instead focuses on the core concepts, enabling programmers to develop solid, effective database applications. This book also serves as a ?second course? in Access that provides a relatively experienced Access user who is new to programming with the frequently overlooked techniques necessary to develop successfully in the Microsoft Access environment.

Anyone interested in learning Access in depth, rather than just scraping the surface, will enjoy and benefit immensely from reading this book

Table of Contents

Preface 

Part I. Database Design

1. Introduction
2. The Entity-Relationship Model of a Database
3. Implementing Entity-Relationship Models: Relational Databases
4. Database Design Principles
 

Part II. Database Queries

5. Query Languages and the Relational Algebra
6. Access Structured Query Language (SQL)

Part III. Database Architecture

7. Database System Architecture

Part IV. Visual Basic for Applications

8. The Visual Basic Editor, Part I
9. The Visual Basic Editor, Part II
10. Variables, Data Types, and Constants
11. Functions and Subroutines
12. Built-in Functions and Statements
13. Control Statements

Part V. Data Access Objects

14. Programming DAO: Overview
15. Programming DAO: Data Definition Language
16. Programming DAO: Data Manipulation Language

Part VI. ActiveX Data Objects

17. ADO and OLE DB
18. ADOX: Jet Data Definition in ADO


Part VII. Programming Problems

19. Some Common Data Manipulation Problems

Part VIII. Appendixes

A. DAO 3.0/3.5 Collections, Properties, and Methods
B. The Quotient: An Additional Operation of the Relational Algebra
C. Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
D. Obtaining or Creating the Sample Database
E. Suggestions for Further Reading

Index