NO! The biggest myth about Access - especially Access 2000 - is that it is difficult to use. Sure, if you want advanced features in your database that look like that program you saw your friend using or you want an application that rivals the professionals, it is going to be difficult to create. Not because Access is hard to use, but because anything really good is not going to be easy to create. It takes time and thought. But if you are the home user who just happens to have Access as part of an Office installation from the factory or perhaps you purchased it with Office and don't know what to do with it or it is on your office PC and you don't know why, then you are missing out on one of the most powerful, flexible, and ultimately time saving applications you have.

Lets get something straight up front - do not take Access lightly. Even if you are the home user, you can get a lot of bang for your Access buck. I have helped novice users set up very sophisticated database applications with very little actual programming intervention from me. I will also be up front with this - even as a developer who creates and sells applications with Access, I would not even think of undertaking a project without my resources at hand. I have and use no less than 5 resources regularly when programming. I have been doing this since the first release of Access and to me it is unthinkable to even attempt it without them. So for anyone out there thinking of or currently working with Access 2000, before you start I would highly recommend investing the additional $50.00 to get the Access 2000 Bible by Cary N. Prague and Michael R. Irwin, IDG Books. I recommend this text in general. If you have more experience programming with Access then I am sure you already know the others available. But this text is very well written and assembled so that even the novice user can follow the concepts and make them work for him/her.

For the Novice User:
Assuming you have no experience programming a database or possibly even using a database application, don't let the power scare you. Would you not drive your new car just because the engine was bigger than your old one? Access 2000 has a lot of features for the advanced user, but the novice has not been left out. The application comes with a full compliment of pre-programmed database applications that can be created using a wizard and once created can be edited or customized to fit one's needs.

To create a database from scratch is not that difficult either. The key is planning. If you don't have a clear picture of what you want your database to do, you will not be able to create one that works the way you want. How can you? Every component (tables, queries, forms, reports, data access pages) has wizards to create new ones that totally simplify the process. Using a reference will help you with the particulars if you want to add more features.

Tables
You start with a table to define what the data is you are going to be working with. The design window allows you complete control over how data is entered, interpreted, handled. Once you have a table designed, you move to queries.

Queries
Don't let the fact that you have never created a query before scare you. The fact of the matter is, every time you make a choice, you have in effect run a query in your brain. All a query is is a set of criteria to determine if a record is the right one or not. You are the one who is going to be looking for the record, so you know what the criteria is. You can have as many queries as you want based on the same table of data.

Forms
Now that you have the data and the means to select only certain records within that data, you need a way to display it. So you create a form based on the query or the table. The wizards show you through this all step by step. If after the form is created using a wizard you don't like the way it is laid out, simply view the form in 'design view' and drag and drop the fields around to where you want them. Add footers, headers, whatever you want. Think of form design as a word processor where you have to manually move the things around the page. I guess more like a publisher than a word processor.

Reports
Reports are created very much like forms. You can base a report on a query or a table. But no matter what you base it on, you can customize the way it looks just like a form. Again, you just 'view' it in 'design view' or right click on the screen and select 'design view' and then literally drag and drop things where you want them. If you want the header to be bigger, drag the header border down. If you want the title centered, drag the title box to the center. It is up to you how your reports look.

Data Access Pages
These are more involved and as a novice user you would probably not be creating any of these. However, a data access page is a very simple way to create an interactive page for the world wide web or intranet that works with your data.

Macros
Macros are just a set of instructions that you determine you want to perform automatically instead of manually. For example, if you want to backup your data, instead of copying the tables out of your database every time you create a macro that copies the tables for you and then add a button to a form that runs that macro. The button wizard is very easy to use and assign functions with. Macros are really simple to create.

For the Advanced User/Programmer:
At last, the advanced features are in and the web is active. The 2000 version is a significant improvement over all previous versions. Having programmed with Access since it first came out, I have to say this is the best release yet. This is something I cannot say about all previous releases after their release.

First the Developer Tools:
A lot of changes here. Some for the better, some for the worse. I guess the biggest change that I noticed or seemed to have a problem with was the Package and Deployment Wizard. This is the equivalent to the Setup Wizard. I could not find it. It is now an add-in to the program when in the vba window. After I learned the Set-up Wizard and had achieved success with it, I was initially disappointed to see I would have to learn a new routine. But I was real happy with my first experience with the new tool and have found that the flexibility, although not as apparent, is there if you look. Follow the MSDN boards to learn the tricks fast if you have not already. The new wizard is simple and easy.

VBA:
What can I say. If you started as far back as I did you worked with a lot of languages along the way to this day and age. I must say that as a platform for Office, VBA works very nicely. Being able to program across the board opens a lot of possibilities that were not there before. Not only in Access, but in all of Office. But specifically in Access, being able to generate email alerts based upon criteria specified in a query in a database is a vast improvement.

The Web:
With the advance of the World Wide Web in the last few years and no slowing to the growth of the medium, integrating the web right at the Access level was a real plus. Data Access pages are a great tool and a really easy way to create a fully functional page. But besides these, other improvements in web access to data bases and also in the SQL side of the application have made working with data over the web/an intranet much easier and more reliable. Data handling is efficient and smooth and multiple access at or near capacity, so far in my experience, has not degraded performance by any significant amount. This is a real plus. Especially in the more well travelled networks.

Overall
Overall for the beginner, novice, casual user I would have to say that Access has finally made itself accessible to you. The power to create a really rich and useful database application is at your fingertips. For the advanced/expert user, programmer, I would say that now we can do the things even we could not do before. Or at least certainly not this easily.





Recommended: Yes