The following special features are included in this book to assist readers. If you've never used a database management application, you're provided with quick-start examples to gain confidence and experience while using Access with the Northwind Traders sample database. Like Access, this book uses the tabula rasa approach: Each major topic begins with the assumption that you have no prior experience with the subject. Therefore, when a button from the toolbar or control object Toolbox is used, its icon is displayed in the margin. Tip Tips describe shortcuts and alternative approaches to gaining an objective. These tips are based on the experience that the author gained during more than seven years of testing successive alpha and beta versions of Access and Microsoft Office Developer (MOD). Note Notes offer advice to help you use Access, describe differences between various versions of Access, and explain the few remaining anomalies that you find in Access 2003.
Caution Cautions are provided when an action can lead to an unexpected or unpredictable result, including loss of data; the text provides an explanation of how you can avoid such a result.
Cross-references to specific sections in other chapters follow the material that they pertain to, as in the following sample reference:
See "A Section in Another Chapter," p. xxx. Most chapters include a "Troubleshooting" section at the end of the tutorial and reference contents. The elements of this section help you solve specific problems common and uncommon that you might run into when creating applications that use specific Access features or techniques. At the end of each chapter is an "In the Real World" section that discusses the relevance of the chapter's content to the realm of production databases, the Internet, and other current computer-related topics that affect Access users and developers. The opinion-editorial (op-ed) style of many of the "In the Real World" sections reflects the author's view of the benefits or drawbacks of new Access features and related Microsoft technologies, based on experience with production Access applications installed by several Fortune 500 corporations. |