Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

(Rick Simeone) #1

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Introduction


The techniques in Part III would normally take most Access developers several years to master. I’ve
carefully selected a potpourri of techniques that have proven valuable to me in the relevant devel-
opment efforts. Each chapter is accompanied by an example database that demonstrates the tech-
niques documented in the chapter.

Part IV: Professional Database Development
Over the years, Access has grown in its features and capabilities. Although most Access developers
never have to use the techniques and features documented in Part IV, I’ve included these tech-
niques to make the Microsoft Access 2010 Bible the most comprehensive reference possible.

Part IV includes eight chapters covering a wide range of professional-level Access techniques. In
these chapters, you’ll read about advanced features such as object-oriented programming in
Access, using the Windows API, and customizing the Access 2010 ribbons. Much of the informa-
tion in Part IV has been added for this edition of the Microsoft Access Bible, and reflects the growth
and expansion of Access’s capabilities.

Part V: Access and Windows SharePoint Services
Microsoft has made a huge investment in Windows SharePoint Services. SharePoint is Microsoft’s
premier collaborative computing system and is widely used in small and large companies as a data
and information sharing platform.

Integration with SharePoint has grown over the last few versions of Microsoft Access. Versions
prior to Access 2007 could display, but not edit, SharePoint data. Access 2007 introduced edit
capabilities to its relationship with SharePoint, greatly enhancing Access’s stature as a front end to
SharePoint data.

With Access 2010, Microsoft has extended SharePoint integration capabilities to include publish-
ing Access tables, forms, and reports on SharePoint sites. Although somewhat limited when com-
pared to strictly Access applications, publishing Access objects to the SharePoint platform provides
a powerful way of sharing Access data with remote users.

Part VI: Access as an Enterprise Platform
Access is often employed in “enterprise” environments as a front end to data stored in a variety of
server database systems, such as Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle. The three chapters in Part V
cover a variety of topics that are of interest to developers working in enterprise environments, par-
ticularly those using SQL Server as a database engine. In these chapters, you’ll learn the fundamen-
tal technologies behind SQL Server and how Access integrates with server databases hosted in
Microsoft SQL Server.

You’ll also learn how to upsize Access applications to SQL Server. Access 2010 seamlessly inte-
grates with SQL Server, either as a simple consumer of SQL Server data or as a direct interface to a
SQL Server database. The chapters in Part VI cover this important technology in detail.

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