Press releases

"Access Cookbook, Second Edition": Solutions to Everyday User Interface and Programming Problems

Press release: April 14, 2004

Sebastopol, CA--Neither reference book nor tutorial, Access Cookbook, Second Edition (O'Reilly, US $49.95), by Ken Getz, Paul Litwin, and Andy Baron, delivers hundreds of practical examples, up-to-date suggestions, and handy solutions to real-world problems that Access users and developers have faced, will likely face, and perhaps haven't yet even considered as they attempt to build increasingly complex and even more productive applications.

"This is an idea book," claim Getz, Litwin, and Baron. "If you're using Access and you aspire to create database applications that are more than wizard-created clones of every other database application, this is the book for you."

Featuring the reader-friendly, highly useful problem-solution format that O'Reilly cookbooks are known for, Access Cookbook, Second Edition delivers easy-to-find and ready-to-digest "recipes" for more than 170 common (and not so common) Access problems. A single recipe in this cookbook can save hours of frustration, but the Access Cookbook is much more than a handy assortment of cut-and-paste code. Alongside each recipe, the authors present insights on how Access works, potential pitfalls, interesting programming techniques that are used in the solution, and how and why the solution works, so readers can adapt the problem-solving techniques to other similar situations.

Fully updated and expanded, the second edition of Access Cookbook includes four brand-new chapters covering Access and SharePoint, SmartTags, .NET, and XML. Each recipe has been tested for compatibility with Access 2003, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

Access power users and programmers at all levels, from the relatively inexperienced to the most sophisticated, will rely on the Access Cookbook for quick, timely solutions to gnarly problems, such as:

  • Specifying query criteria at runtime, rather than at design time
  • Restricting the user to a single row of a form
  • Preventing a report from printing when it contains no records
  • Making slow forms run faster
  • Ensuring that application user interface objects present a uniform and consistent appearance
  • Controlling a printer's paper source programmatically
  • Referencing data from multiple SQL Server databases in a single Access data Project page
  • Using contact information from an Access database when sending email using Outlook
  • Posting ASP.NET data to an Access database
  • Importing and exporting XML documents
  • To make things easier yet, Access Cookbook, Second Edition includes a CD-ROM with Access databases that contain the solutions for each problem presented in the text.

    Praise for the first edition:

    "The title pretty well says it all, and if you work with Access or plan to or even just want to know some of the things Access can do, you need this book."
    --Jerry Pournelle, Byte.com, April 2002

    "If you've ever wondered how to create an Access query that uses case-sensitive criteria or how to keep a report from breaking at an inappropriate spot, check out Access Cookbook...The authors show you how to overcome these problems--and much more--for Access 97, 2000, and 2002."
    --James E. Powell, "The Office Letter," May 2002

    "A good book with clear code and some interesting suggestions about solutions for a wide range of problems."
    --Computer Shopper, August 2002

    Further reviews can be found at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/accesscook/reviews.html

    Additional Resources:

    Access Cookbook, Second Edition
    Ken Getz, Paul Litwin, and Andy Baron
    ISBN 0-596-00678-0, 810 pages, $49.95 US, $72.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

    About O’Reilly

    O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

    Email a link to this press release