No comments about Visual Basic ® 6 Made Easy: A Complete Tutorial for Beginners.

No comments about Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: An Object-Oriented Approach.

5 comments about Absolute Beginner's Guide to VBA (Absolute Beginner's Guide).

1. This author has a clear way of explaining the full realm of VBA using all Microsoft Office applications. The hard part is that its not really for the ABSOLUTE beginner. Another problem is that through each step of his writing he makes the assumption that you have a specific need for that specific portion of VBA's abilities and then goes on explaining it like your just going to be able to apply it to your personal programming needs. The sad part is that the author took no time to create a hands on approach so that you could understand and self apply. I would go with a different beginners guide.



2. I came to this book about two years ago after about a year of VBA programming in Excel. At the time I was mostly hoping to learn how to automate Outlook and Word from Excel. Although I enjoyed the book and found it to be fairly straightforward reading, I didn't walk away feeling I had picked up the skills to succeed with the automation tasks I was hoping to work on.
   
   In coming back to the book on a few occasions since my first reading, I've found the book had more to offer than I absorbed on first reading. The organization is good; the code samples are practical and to the point; the style of writing ease clear and easy to follow.
   
   Still, the book does seem to skip a lot of foundation and details. I'd recommend it as an introduction, with the intent of following up with a book that addresses whatever topics you are primarily interested in learning in greater detail.



3. I really was disappointed with this book. It lacks for complete examples and details that show how to implement and use VBA functions, commands, and procedures presented in this book. It was hard for me to implement and use most of the Objects, Methods, Properties, etc presented in this book. The readers need to see complete examples in order to understand how it works.
   
   This book is suppose to be for beginners, however, it is a more descriptive book of VBA objects, methods, etc rather than a teaching book that takes the reader step by step through the learning process.
   
   A lot of typos especially in Excel functions or commands which confused me and wasted a lot of my time trying to find the correct function. I think it is not worth buying it.



4. This books has almost no useful code, and does not go into enough depth to demonstrate how to write any useful code. Fortunately, I found everything I needed on several VBA websites. I wish I had saved the $18.95...



5. This book lacks the organization and isn't a very good reference. If you need to learn VBA, this is a good book. If you need to learn and have a good reference, I would suggest you look for another book.

3 comments about Mastering Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition.

1. There is a lot in this book for a novice as I but a little too informational on the basics of web design. I don't think Visual Web Designer is the proper tool for someone who knows nothing about html or scripting. Some references to the VWD program interface are not correct, at least for the verison that I have. Supporting code links on the Sibex website do not work so you will have to type in any code samples in the book. Some other links for downloading info or tools do not work, as in the Microsoft's iveiwers.dll file. All in all I find the book helpful though not supported.



2. I disagree with C.K. Nowicki's review, above.
   
   I bought this book because I downloaded MS's Visual Web Developer Express product and found it hard to learn. This book is really the missing manual.
   
   This book teaches you how to use the product; it's not a book about HTML or the basics of web site design. Most beginers won't have a need to create ASP webpages that authenticate users & interface with SQL Server databases.
   
   It was very easy to find the sample code for this book on the www.sybex.com website. You just do a seach for the book title then click "Resources & Downloads".
   
   The author has done lots of other books, and I think it shows. It's amazing how many technology books are poorly written, and this is not one of them.
   
   I think you get alot for your money: The book is almost 700 pages of material, I think really good value for $26.
   
   HOWEVER-- I was expecting this product to have some features from MS Frontpage, that would appeal more to the amateur user. This product is more industrial that I expected. If MS could combine this product with Front Page, then you would have a really interesting product.



3. This is my second Mastering series book. Also purchased Mastering SQL Serve r Express. Returned SQL and just got back from vacation where I started the Mastering VWD. VWD was better, but still doesn't flow well. Lots of examples and appeared promising, but light in explanation part. Maybe this was the intention of the book.
   
   So not a good book for newbies / intermediates.

3 comments about Programming VB.Net 2005 + CD + 180 day trial software.

1. The programming in VB.NET 2005 is straightforwardly presented here. It is not a comprehensive exposition of all the VB.NET commands and widgets. Otherwise the book would be much thicker. Instead, the authors strove to teach the most common and, hopefully, useful features of the language.
   
   We can see that Microsoft has put a lot of effort into making VB coding as painless as possible. Buttressed by the addition of a CD with Visual Studio. The latter gives a nice development environment that you could consider learning. Alas, there is only a 6 month trial period for it. Clearly, Microsoft puts this forth as a teaser. Hoping that by the end of that time, you'll be so used to Visual Studio that you'll gladly plonk down bucks for the full version.



2. This book, while getting a user quickly up and running with VB.NET, provides very little detail and explanation on almost every topic it covers. If you are someone who has never written a line of code in your life, have never used Visual Studio (or any other IDE for that matter), and want a very cursory explanation of VB.NET and the use of the various code wizards, then you will find this book quick and informative. For those of us who demand a more rigorous approach, I would highly recommend purchasing another book, geared toward more serious programmers.



3. The book appears grea--typical of Brqdley/Millspaugh. However, it would have been nice if the endclosed software matched the text of the book. The book refers to the "2003 Update", but the endclosed sofware is for the "2005 update". The two do not match and thus the purpose of enclosing the software so I can do the exercises in the book and thus
   learn to use the software is very much more difficult than intended. With the missmatch, I now believe I wasted the purchase price. I did not get what I bargained for.

5 comments about Managing Windows(R) with VBScript and WMI (Microsoft Windows Server System Series).

1. I bought this book based on other customers' reviews. The book talks very generally about scripting for Active Directory. The book contains the word "VBScript", as well as "Managing Windows". However, it covers very little about the in's & out's of what it possible. The sections on ADSI are watered down and virtually useless. The script examples are simple, and aren't thorough at all. I found more information on Microsoft's web site.

   For an experienced system administrator, this book is not for you. If you are an absolute beginner and want to learn a few simple tasks using VBScript, have at.

   As for Mr. O'Connel's comment above, perhaps I should have been more specific. For example, while the book does show you how to create & delete users and OU's (incidentally with error-ridden scripts), nothing about the underlying ADSI object model is discussed. There are hundreds of ADSI objects available through LDAP, few of which are covered in this book. For the ones that are covered, there is no discussion of the attributes or methods of these objects.

   So, yes, I did read the same book as Mr. O'Connel. However, I was seeking "way more detail" from a book entitled "Managing Windows".




2. Was Joseph DeMarco (previous review) reading the same book? The book has several chapters on AD scripting, and they showed me how to create users, delete them, create OUs, and more. The book has THIRTEEN chapters on learning VBScript, which I didn't know and now I finally do. They're clearly written and they're not super-deep, so I got through them quickly. If you're a professional developer, this book isn't for you. If you're a systems administrator, I can't see how this book wouldn't be helpful.

   The book has several "Putting it All Together" chapters which sum up everything that came before and show you how to design, write, and debug a complete script. I took a previous review's advice and checked out the authors Web site and there are GOBS of additional script samples, tutorials, and more. The book doesn't, for example, go into remote scripting - which I think would have blown my mind when I started - but the Web site has a good tutorial on it and several user discussions on it.

   I bought the Micosoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide and thought it was WAY too deep. Every time I started to learn something it would go off on a tangent. That book is starting to be useful to me as a reference, now, because it contains SO MUCH information, but Don Jones's book showed me how to make sense of everything.




3. This is a nice introduction, reasonably well written, introduction to using Windows automation through VBScript. About a third of the book acts as an introduction to the basics of VBScript for use in this context. He covers basics like variables, conditionals, functions, error handling, and more. The other two thirds of the book covers a variety of topics like shell extensions, ASP, XML, active directory and more. This is up-to-date stuff.
   
   On the downside the exposition depends a little too much on code. But if you like that sort of thing you will do well with that. It's not unusual for tech books, but it's enough that I took a star off for it.



4. I was up and running in no time. Finished this book in a couple weeks, and was automating my companies Terminal Server user environments and Active Directory tasks in no time. I recommend this book to any beginner, as well as to someone just needing to solidify some concepts they may have missed while "frankensteining" their scripts. You know we've all done that!



5. Very Good Book for Admins who are not very comfortable with programming. Covers from the Basics till Advanced topics. Good buy if you want to take control.

3 comments about Word 2003 Document Automation with VBA, XML, XSLT, and Smart Documents (Wordware Applications Library).

1. Quite often you see book titles that unfortunately do not match the subject content. This one certainly does! The back cover states that it sets out to explain how to:
   
   - Automate documents with a minimum of programming by using Word's native functionality
   - Use VBA to create document automation solutions
   - Record macros, create automated templates, format and manipulate files using Word and build documents dynamically
   - Create, edit and format XML documets
   - Develop smart documents solutions to guide users through a variety of repetitive tasks
   - Transform XML using WordprocessingML, XSLT, XPath, smart documents and web services technologies
   
   Ok, to be fair I didn't find anything on web services explicitly but it still gets us over 99% of the way through delivering on its expectations.
   
   This book has hit a niche area for word users wanting to create smarter documents with no other book providing coverage of this subject matter as intimately or in a way as easy to follow as this book. It is perfect for people who routinely have to write legal contracts, functional specifications and general technical documentation as it allows you to fully leverage off Word's capabilities in letting you work smarter.
   
   I did not own any other books by Wordware and this seemed to be a bit out there in their list of publications so I was initially a bit hesitant about buying this book. As it turns out I shouldn't have been! Scott Driza presents the subject matter well and in a very succint way - this book has just over 400 pages in which it manages to cover quite a lot of ground!
   
   I bought this book primarily to concentrate on the XML, XSLT and Smart Documents features, but have found that I even picked up a trick or two in relation to VBA-based templates. For those who like using shortcut keys, Appendix A will be a God send as it has the most exhaustive list of Word commands and shortcut keys I have ever seen!
   
   The book devotes approximately half of its pages to VBA and assumes no prior knowledge of VBA, XML, XSLT or Smart Documents. It doesn't cover all subject areas exhaustively but it gets you started and tells you where to get additional materials.
   
   I would have liked to have seen a bit more detail on XML schemas although the the book does show you how to get Word to automatically generate an inferred schema based on XML mark-up. That is pretty much the only reason why I didn't give it a 5-star rating.
   
   If you are an IT professional, engineer, lawyer, technical writer or any other type of knowledge worker; do yourself a favour - stop creating your documents the hard way and buy this book. It will more than pay for itself the first time you start applying the concepts, techniques and technologies it refers to.



2. This is one of the least useful books I have read in my 10+ years in the IT business. Written from an academic standpoint, there were few useful examples offered and no subject was discussed in enough detail to be useful. Examples were vauge at best.
   
   While this book got me excited about the topic of document automation, I am unable to create a custom Smart Document solution from scratch after reading this book from cover to cover.
   
   Buyer beware: This is a "What Is" book, not a "How To" book.



3. I've read the majority of the content of this book and I have found it to be very useful. The author's coverage of the basic of WordProcessML is excellent. The first seven chapters contain good examples of how to automate Word.

5 comments about Visual Basic 2005: A Developer's Notebook.

1. On the back cover the book says that it is designed to help experienced .Net 2003 developers move up to 2005. From that point of view I think it is excellent. In one evening I had a good overview of what has changed and the features that I am likely to use. Because it focuses on developers familiar with previous versions, you do not have to wade through pages of things you already know in order to find a few nuggets.



2. I found that Visual Basic 2005 "A Developer's Notebook" was a quick and informative read. While many topics only scratched the surface, that's exactly why the book was written, to get the VB.Net developer up to speed on changes and enhancements to both the language and environment. Good Job!



3. This is an excellent book for people moving from VB 2003 to VB 2005. It just gives an overview of what has changed, pointing out the issues and limitations in 2003 and the improvements to these issues in 2005. It presumes you are already familiar with VB 2003, so this is not a primer. It's a quick read, and had me constantly saying "Thank goodness - they've done something about that". All the examples are straightforward. Writing style is very straightforward. Every topic has where to go for further help.



4. The VB 2005 Developer's Notebook is just chock-full of very useful and immediately usable information, much of which is not readily available elsewhere. For example, I recently made use of the section on adding images and controls to the datagridview. There's also a very useful intro to using the new factory model to write database-agnostic code.
   
   The examples are not complex, and chances are that after MacDonald gets you started in the right direction, you'll need to find more detailed information from the SDK or other source as you build a more complex real-world app. But, the value in seeing in a concise and easily accessible example how you might tackle some problem makes this book well worth the price.



5. This book nicely captures a balance between ultra-condensed "Nutshell" books and the mighty 1,000 page+ tomes. It is aimed at experienced VB developers switching from Visual Studio 2003/CRL 1.1 to Visual Studio 2005/CLR 2.0. It has nice concise examples with great explanations.
   
   This book is not an introduction to Visual Basic. If you're just getting into .Net I'd recommend looking for another book--at least at first. But, if you've been coding awhile and are looking to migrate to the latest version, I highly recommend this volume.

No comments about No Stress Tech Guide To Crystal Reports Basic For Visual Studio 2008 For Beginners.

5 comments about Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to Serial Communications.

1. One thing that i like in this book is the author's recommendation on how to optimize the serial communication program in terms of program execution speed. However, i do not like the way source codes are pointed out. Some codes are shaded gray and it took me time to find which code is being explained. Each line of code should have been numbered. Additionally, the book may need to add some more pages that will walk the reader through a small most common serial comm project from "scratch to finish". Overall, this book is a good reference.



2. For Visual Basic programmers working with serial ports, if you are not an expert at them, then you need this book. Since I already had a great deal of experience with serial ports, most of this was not new to me. However, instead of having to train some colleagues on all the details, I recommended they buy this book. They did and it made them very proficient with serial ports. They kept the books.



3. This is an excellent, excellent reference for using serial ports with VB. I can't say enough for this book. The author knows his material and communicates his knowledge very well. I am using it to write a communications program to interface with field devices using the modbus protocol. The book doesn't specifically cover modbus, but I still found this book to be very helpful. Again, excellent!



4. This book covers serial-port programming in Visual Basic from VB's early editions through Visual Basic .NET, including programming for Windows CE. It's the most complete reference you'll find on the topic. Richard Grier has done a great job of keeping the book up to date through multiple editions. If you do serial-port programming in VB, this book will save you time and trouble.



5. I purchased this book in order to add serial IO to my .NET programs. I have been very sussessfull using VB6 in the past but could not get a single code example from the CD ROM to work with Visual studio 2003.
   
   The Compact framework .Net examples did work however.
   
   On top of all the problems the text is very hard to match up with the CDRom and does not follow. For instance it is stated that the .Net routines do not implement oncomm events yet it is programed in the code on the CDrom.