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Introduction
How This Book Is Organized
This book contains 38 chapters and three appendixes, divided into seven parts.Part I: Access Building Blocks
Part I consists of nine chapters that cover virtually every aspect of Access development. For many
Access developers, these chapters are all that you’ll ever need. The chapters in this part cover basic
database design, referential integrity, constructing tables and queries, building forms and reports,
and using the new features in Access 2010.Chapters 1 through 3 contains great conceptual material on understanding the basic elements of
data, introduces you to the keywords of database management, and teaches you how to plan tables
and work with Access data types. Chapter 4 through 6 teaches you Access queries, expressions,
and working with Datasheet view. Much has changed in Access 2007 and 2010, and even experi-
enced Access users are easily confused by the new user interface.Chapters 7 through 9 take you on a tour of various types of forms and give you a complete under-
standing of form controls. These chapters drill into the process of creating great-looking and effec-
tive forms and reports. You’ll learn how to take best advantage of the new features in Access 2010.Part II: Programming Microsoft Access
Virtually every serious Access application uses VBA code to perform operations not possible with
macros, or to make using the application easier and more reliable. Learning VBA programming is
often a daunting task, so the six chapters in this part take extra care to explain the principles
behind VBA programming, and show you how to take advantage of this powerful programming
language.In these chapters, you’ll learn not only the fundamental skills required to become proficient in
VBA, but also many “insider” tricks and techniques to apply to your Access application develop-
ment projects. You’ll come to understand and appreciate the complex object and event models that
drive Access applications, and how to construct the VBA code necessary to take advantage of this
rich programming environment.Part III: More-Advanced Access Techniques
After you’ve gotten through the basics of building Access applications, you’ll want your database
development skills to extend and enhance your Access applications. Part III is made up of eight
chapters that cover virtually every aspect of advanced Access development, including importing
and exporting data, exchanging data with other Windows applications, and handling application
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