Access 2003 Bible

1448 Pages·2004·20.144 MB·English

by  Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, Jennifer Reardon

Access 2003 Bible

Access 2003 Bible
Cary N. Prague, Michael R. Irwin, and Jennifer Reardon
Access 2003 Bible
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Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
ISBN: 0-7645-3986-8
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About the Author
Cary N. Pragueis an internationally best-selling author and lecturer in the database
industry. He owns Database Creations, Inc., the world’s largest Microsoft Access
add-on company. Their products include a line of financial software; Business! for
Microsoft Office, a mid-range accounting system, POSitively Business! Point of Sale
software, the Inventory Barcode manager for mobile data collection, and the Check
Writer and General Ledger. Database Creations also produces a line of developer
tools including the appBuilder, an application generator for Microsoft Access, the
EZ Access Developer Tools for building great user interfaces, appWatcher for main-
taining code bases among several developers, and Surgical Strike, the only Patch
Manager for Microsoft Access.
Cary also owns Database Creations Consulting, LLC., a successful consulting firm
specializing in Microsoft Access and SQL Server applications. Local and national
clients include many Fortune 100 companies including manufacturers, defense con-
tractors, insurance, health-care, and software industry companies. His client list
includes Microsoft, United Technologies, ABB, Smith & Wesson Firearms, Pratt and
Whitney Aircraft, ProHealth, OfficeMax, Continental Airlines, and other Fortune 500
companies.
Formerly, he has held numerous management positions in corporate information
systems, including Director of Managed Care Reporting for MetraHealth, Director of
Corporate Finance and Software Productivity at Travelers Insurance where he was
responsible for software support for 35,000 end users, and Manager of Information
Systems support for Northeast Utilities.
He is one of the top best-selling authors in the computer database management
market, having written over 40 books that have sold over one million copies on
software including Microsoft Access, Borland (Ashton-Tate) dBASE, Paradox,
R:Base, Framework, and graphics. Cary’s books include 11 books in the Access Bible
series (recently number one on the Ingram Bestselling Database Titles list and in
the Amazon.com top 100), Access 97 Secrets, dBASE for Windows Handbook, dBASE
IV Programming (winner of the Computer Press Association’s Book of the Year
award for Best Software Specific Book), and Everyman’s Database Primer Featuring
dBASE IV.He recently completed several books for Access 2003 including Weekend
Crash Course in Office Access 2003 Programming. Cary recently sold a product line
named eTools for Microsoft Access to MightyWords, a division of FatBrain.com and
Barnes and Noble.
Cary is certified in Access as a Microsoft Certified Professional and has passed the
MOUS test in Access and Word. He is a frequent speaker at seminars and confer-
ences around the country. He is on the exclusive Microsoft Access Insider Advisory
Board and makes frequent trips to Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA. He has
been voted the best speaker by the attendees of several national conferences.
Recently, he was a speaker for Microsoft sponsored conferences in New Orleans,
Hawaii, Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Palm Springs, Boston, and Orlando. He has also
spoken at Borland’s Database Conference, Digital Consulting’s Database World,
Microsoft’s Developer Days, Computerland’s Technomics Conference, COMDEX,
and COMPAQ Computer’s Innovate. He was a contributing editor to Access Advisor
magazine and has written for the Microsoft Office Developer’sjournal.
He is active in local town politics serving on the South Windsor, Connecticut Board
of Education, Parks and Recreation Commission, and the Board of Assessment
Appeals.
Cary holds a master’s degree in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, and an M.B.A and Bachelor of Accounting from the University of
Connecticut. He is also a Certified Data Processor.
Michael R. Irwinis considered one of the leading authorities on automated database
and Internet management systems today. He is a noted worldwide lecturer, a winner
of national and international awards, best-selling author, and developer of
client/server, Internet, Intranet, and PC-based database management systems.
Michael has extensive database knowledge, gained by working with the Metropolitan
Police Department in Washington, D.C. as a developer and analyst for the Information
Systems Division for over 20 years and assorted Federal Agencies of the United States
Government. Since retiring in June 1992, he runs his own consulting firm, named The
Irwin Group, and is principal partner in the company - IT in Asia, LLC, specializing in
Internet database integration and emphasizing Client/Server and net solutions. With
consulting offices in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bangkok, Thailand, and Manila, Philippines, his
companies offer training and development of Internet and database applications.
His company has the distinction of being one of the first Microsoft Solution’s
Providers (in 1992). His local, national, and international clients include many soft-
ware companies, manufacturers, government agencies, and international companies.
His range of expertise includes database processing and integration between main-
frame, minicomputer, and PC-based database systems, as well as B-2-B and B-2-C
integration between back-end databases; he is a leading authority on PC-based
databases.
He is one of the top best-selling authors in the computer database management mar-
ket, having authored numerous database books, with several of them consistently
on the best-sellers lists. His books, combined, have sold nearly a million copies
worldwide. His most recent works include The OOPs Primer(Borland Press, dBASE
5.5 for Windows Programming (Prentice Hall), Microsoft Access 2002 Bible, Microsoft
Access 2002 Bible Gold Edition (co-authored), and Working with the Internet.The
Access Bibleseries have constantly been number one on the Ingram Best-selling
Database Titles list and is consistently in the Amazon.com and Buy.com top 10. He
has also written several books on customs and cultures of the countries of Asia
(including China, Japan, Thailand, and India). Two of his books have won interna-
tional acclaim. His books are published in over 24 languages worldwide. He has been
a contributing editor and author to many well-known magazines and journals.
He is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences around the world and has
been voted the best speaker by the attendees of several international conferences.
Michael has developed and markets several add-on software products for the
Internet and productivity related applications. Many of his productivity applications
can be obtained from several of his Internet sites or on many common download
sites. Many of his application and systems are distributed as freeware and careware.
He has also developed and distributes several development tools and add-ins for a
wide range of developer applications.
Jennifer Reardonis considered a leading developer of custom database applica-
tions. She has over ten years’ experience developing client/server and PC-based
applications. She has accumulated much of her application development experi-
ence working as lead developer for Database Creations. She has partnered with
Cary Prague developing applications for many Fortune 500 companies.
Her most significant projects include a spare parts inventory control system for
Pratt & Whitney’s F22 program, an engineering specifications system for ABB-
Combustion Engineering, and an emergency event tracking system for the State of
Connecticut. She was also the lead developer of many of the Database Creations
add-on software products including Business, Yes! I Can Run My Business, Check
Writer, and the User Interface Construction Kit.
She has co-authored Access 2003 Bible, Access 2002 Bible, and Access 2000 Weekend
Crash Course. She has also written chapters in other books on subjects including
Data Access Pages, the Microsoft Database Engine, the VBA programming environ-
ment, creating help systems, and using Microsoft Office 2000 Developer. She has
authored chapters in Microsoft Access 97 Bible and Access 97 Secrets.
Jennifer owns her own consulting firm, Advanced Software Concepts, providing cus-
tom applications to both the public and private sectors. She specializes in develop-
ing client information systems for state-managed and privately-held healthcare
organizations. She has also developed a job costing and project management sys-
tem for an international construction company. Her corporate experience includes
seven years with The Travelers where she was an Associate Software Engineer serv-
ing on numerous mission-critical client/server software development projects using
Easel, C, SQL Server, and DB2. She has contributed several chapters for books on
dBase and Microsoft Access.
Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Massachusetts.
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This book is dedicated to some special people from South Windsor, Connecticut (in no
particular order) who helped me in my quest of the last year to join the South Windsor
Board of Education. Lincoln Streeter, Matt Streeter, Tim Moriarty, Tom Berstene, Teri
Dickie-Gaignat, Carrie Momnie, Tom and Audrey Delnicki, Mayor Bill Aman, Town
Manager Matt Galligan, John Mitchell, Barbara Barbour, Walter Mealy, Herb Asplund,
Roy Normen, Jan Murtha, Bob Wilson, Hap Fitts, and many others in the South
Windsor Republican Town Committee. Craig Zimmerman of the South Windsor Parks
and Recreation Commission, Ray Favreau, Mike McCarty, and Elle Randazzo of the
South Windsor Recreation Department, Joel Nadel of the Board of Assessment Appeals
and Charlie Dana, Assessor, Anne Flint and Gabrielle Batz of the South Windsor
Chamber of Commerce, and Dr. Joseph Wood, Superintendent of Schools. By allowing
me to explore new opportunities and shamelessly promote myself, you have
enrichedmy life and provided me with new friends and new challenges
thatIneverknew existed.
— CNP
This book is dedicated to the people closest to me. First and foremost it is dedicated to
my family—my wife, Dra. Arni Irwin, my sons Richard Rocco, Joseph Patrick, and
David Joseph. While writing this book, they had to put up with my constantly telling
them “Sorry, I have to do this first” in order for me to finish on deadline. It is also
dedicated to my mother, Aurelia Irwin—74 years young and as strong as ever—who
has continued to be my sounding board and example of strength. Finally, partner,
Richard Mahonski, who passed away this year—I will truly miss him.
— MRI
This book is dedicated to my parents-in-law Tom and Arden Reardon. Way back during
my college years, they provided me with the unique opportunity to be involved in the
world of publishing as a part-time typesetter for their respective printing businesses.
Together, we forged a method of setting type using my PC and modem and their
Mergenthalers—this was 1983—much before the era of desktop publishing as we
know it today. Now here I am enjoying being on the other side of the fence as an
author. But, all the while that I am keyboarding my own work, I am always thinking
back to the old days of how we used to have to keyboard all those crazy codes for font
changes and em spaces and line spacing. Thanks for always being so supportive of me
in the past 30 years that I have been part of your family.
— JR