Microsoft Access can be a powerful tool to manipulate data, but it can be daunting to beginners trying to control its power. Fortunately, publishers have created a wide variety of tools to help out. If you know nothing about databases, you might find Access for Dummies, or a similar book, the best way to start. But if you have some experience with databases, or even with spreadsheets, you're likely to find one of the following books a better starting or continuation point.

Running Microsoft Access 2000 is a very good starting point if you need to learn the basics of Access. Author John Viescas starts with a discussion of databases and how Access fits in. He then covers database design and normalization, and how to work in Access building a design.

Once the database is built, he shows in considerable detail how to work with it. This ranges from simply moving around in the database to finding and editing records with queries. The section on SQL goes from a brief history to creating complex queries. Two more extensive sections cover forms (designing, building and customizing) and reports, including publishing data to the Internet.

Finally, Viescas walks you through the steps of creating applications in Access. A detailed discussion of macros leads into an introduction to Visual Basic For Applications, the preferred tool for serious Access applications. The "finishing touches" section describes creating custom menus and toolbars, analyzing performance, and polishing the application's look and feel. Discussions of replication, security and multi-user issues finish out the book. These are just introductory overviews and do not provide great detail.

Running Microsoft Access 2000 is a thorough and thoughtful way to go from novice Access user to beginning programmer. On the other hand, if you already use Access and have a grasp of the fundamentals, you might want to try Rick Dobson's Programming Microsoft Access 2000.

Note that the title is a bit misleading: much of the material in Dobson's book is more about using Access than programming it. He has chapters on designing database tables, using queries, building forms and creating reports, topics which aspiring programmers should already have studied.

Dobson does, though, offer coverage on integrating Access with other applications in the Microsoft Office package, and using the shared Office objects. He also covers in greater detail multi-user issues, replication, and the new Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE), a scaled-down version of SQL Server, included in Access 2000.

Dobson's book is best at covering the new items in Access 2000, but will disappoint those looking for lots of code samples.

Microsoft Access 2000 Development Unleashed was "completely rewritten from the ground up," according to the authors, but you'll still find some references to Access 97 that sound like they came unedited from the last edition of the book.

Nevertheless, this is another solid entry in the Unleashed series. The book is loaded with useful material. Much of the material in the first section, covering database design and queries, can be found in other volumes. But the sections on ActiveX Data Objects and user interfaces offer many useful tips.

The authors' discussion of Visual Basic For Applications (VBA) focuses on object orientation, debugging, error handling, and optimizing your application. Throughout this section there are valuable pointers on avoiding problems, speeding up the application, and anticipating errors.

Of the books in this review, only Unleashed includes Oracle in the treatment of client/server applications. If you work in a corporate or government environment, this is an important area. There is some coverage of integrating with other Office applications, but not in detail. However, the authors do provide detailed discussions of replication, file locking, security, and other multi-user questions. And, finally, Web publishing includes a thorough consideration of data access pages, active server pages, and configuring Web servers.

Running Microsoft Access 2000
By John Viescas
[$44.99, 1072 pages with CD-ROM]
Microsoft Press, 1999
ISBN: 1-57231-934-8

Programming Microsoft Access 2000
By Rick Dobson
[$49.99, 550 pages with CD-ROM]
Microsoft Press, 1999
ISBN: 0-7356-0500-9

Microsoft Access 2000 Development Unleashed
By Stephen Forte, Tom Howe, and James Ralston
[$49.99, 878 pages with CD-ROM]
Sams Publishing, 1999
ISBN: 0-672-31291-3