System Requirements

This book requires Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Version 2002. I developed the samples with the Enterprise Developer edition, but the samples are designed to run with the Professional edition as well. Installing Visual Studio .NET Version 2002 automatically installs a version of the .NET Framework compatible with the samples in this book. All the Windows applications can run on a single workstation running Windows 98 or any more recent version of Windows. Any of the Web applications, either ASP.NET or XML Web services, requires a version of Windows that supports IIS, such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP. I used an Internet Explorer browser on the client workstations for the ASP.NET Web solutions.

All the database samples, except one, work with a Microsoft Access 2002 database. Because the default file format for Access 2002 is the same as Access 2000, you can also use Microsoft Access 2000. Earlier versions of Access will work as well insofar as they are compatible with Microsoft Access 2000. The one SQL Server sample in this book uses Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Since the SQL Server 2000 file format is incompatible with that for earlier versions, you must have SQL Server 2000 to run this one sample.

Rick Dobson

Rick Dobson is the author of the Microsoft Press titles Programming Microsoft Access Version 2002 and Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET . He is the founder and chief technologist of CAB. He has more than a dozen years experience delivering professional computer services and is an accomplished author, speaker, and developer. His work has appeared in many publications , including Byte , Microsoft Office & Visual Basic for Applications Developer , DBMS , Visual Basic Developer , Microsoft Web Developer , Visual Developer , and Smart Computing . He has led training classes in the United States and abroad, teaching developers from companies including Proctor & Gamble, Bell Laboratories, and Cincinnati Gas & Electric.

Since 1999, Rick s company has sponsored its own national tour. Over the years, the content of the tours changed to reflect Rick s books as well as the most recent releases from Microsoft. His 2002 tour was entitled The Access/SQL Server/VB.NET Development Seminar. The seminar tour attracts independent as well as corporate developers. Among the corporate developers, attendees came from organizations such as Bank of America, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, State Farm Insurance, Prudential, EDS, the U.S. Navy, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, PACCAR Corporation, and Panasonic. These annual seminars provide Access developers, SQL Server developers, and database administrators the information they require to deliver better solutions to their clients , as well as helping Visual Basic developers put Visual Basic .NET to use for database applications. For specific locations and registration for the next seminar tour, visit http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/ .