Introduction

This book aims to help experienced Access developers be as productive as possible using features introduced or upgraded with Microsoft Access 2003. Many of the techniques and code samples presented here also apply to Access 2002 and Access 2000. Reading this introduction will help you decide whether Programming Microsoft Office Access 2003 will be relevant to your needs as a developer.

Who Should Read This Book

Programming Microsoft Office Access 2003 will aid developers who work with all recent versions of Access, including Access 2003, Access 2002, and Access 2000. Those who are migrating to Access 2003 from Access 97 or an earlier version will also benefit from the lessons contained here. Feedback from two previous books on programming Access and four national seminar tours that addressed the needs of Access and other database developers sharpened the book's focus. Professional Access developers said they want help for real problems that is short and to the point. Therefore, this book is chock-full of code samples you can adapt to apply to real-world problems for which your clients seek solutions.

This book represents a conscious attempt to provide content that will make a difference for Access developers. Browse the table of contents for a heading that addresses a question you face. Chances are you'll find one or more relevant code samples. The code is accompanied by clear, concise commentary to help you modify samples to solve your clients' precise needs. For example, you'll find expanded coverage of user-level security. This powerful mechanism for securing Access databases in multiuser solutions eludes many beginning Access developers, but here you will find step-by-step instructions and detailed code samples that make it easy to automate the administration of user -level security.

Developers also are commonly interested in learning techniques for locking clients out of the proprietary code. You want clients to benefit from your solutionwithout being able to steal your intellectual property. Creating .mde and .ade files is an easy solution to this objective, but it is a solution with important limitations. Therefore, this book describes ways to block users from going behind a Welcome menu that you make available when an application opens. These techniques vary from those that are simple to apply to others that are exceedingly robust and can block even the most determined attempts to access your proprietary code.

Because Jet is in maintenance mode, many professional Access developers seek to become comfortable with SQL Server as a means of creating new Access solutions. Therefore, coverage of Access projects and Access/SQL Server interoperability has been expanded from previous editions of this book. This edition includes three chapters devoted to empowering you to create great Access solutions with a SQL Server database server, including the one that ships with Office 2003.

Finally, this book presents improvements introduced or refined with Access 2003. XML capabilities are upgraded throughout the Office 2003 components , including Access 2003. In order to take advantage of this functionality using either Access database files or Access projects, however, you need a grasp of what XML is, what it's good for, and what it can do for the solutions you create with Access. That's why this book devotes a whole chapter to XML. Another important set of new features involves Macro Security and the Jet SandBoxthese technologies combine to secure your Access solutions within organizations. The rationale behind these new feature sets is explained here along with an explanation of how to manage them for the best advantage of your clients.