2 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Beginning Course.

1. well I'm studying computer scince and I've read this book.. I would recommend this book after reading an introduction book like MS VB step-by-step..



2. I've done some limited programming with earlier versions of WordBasic and Norton's scripting language -- neither of which work with Office 2000. I bought Mr. Sestak's book and spent six or seven hours with it this weekend, hoping to learn how to use VBA for tasks like those I'd done with the older tools. Alas, I'm afraid I wasted the six or seven hours!

   The book shows you how to write macros or VBA programs to do useless things: add a new slide to a PowerPoint presentation, change the font in an Excel column, create a Christmas card in Word. The point is, if I want to add a new slide to a PowerPoint presentation, there's a button in PowerPoint that does exactly that. Why on earth do I want to write complex code to do something I can do simply by pressing a button?

   Nor does the book give you a clue about how to expand into more intersting activities. It seems to me it would have been far better to create a book that shows you how to do useful things, that makes you think, "Hey, that's neat!" after doing one of its examples. After all the hours that I spent with that book, I still don't have any idea if I can use VBA to do anything I want to do.

   But there were a lot of more constructive -- and fun -- things I could have done with those six or seven hours!

3 comments about Professional Access 2000 Programming.

1. Professional Access 2000 Programming is a combination of a training book to heighten your programming skills, and a reference work that will give you a complete overview of Access 2000 and it's related programming environment. It's written in the traditional Wrox style that is so easy to read and usable for developers.

   One thing I do miss, is the usual Wrox opening statement where it is described whom the book is written for and if any previous programming skills are assumed. It's not until chapter 3 that you find out VB or VBA programming experience is assumed to make use of the chapter. Don't start on this book without any knowledge of VBA, since it is used in most of the coding examples. If you don't know VBA check out the following books: ISBN 0782123244, ISBN 1861001762 and ISBN 0735605920. An understanding of ADO would also improve on the usability of the book.

   To make use of the books fullest potential, have a design plan of your database next to it and make notes or check for errors in your design when you go through the chapters. This helped me to improve on the design of my database.

   Not essential, but it would have been nice if the sample code used in the book had been made available to the reader. At one place in the book the author even writes that the sample code is available from Wrox' website, but as of today it is not.

   This book has given me the skills and confidence to start working on client/server solutions and integrating SQL server. It breaks down the entire complexity surrounding Access 2000 and database development to sizeable blocks and tools that I can piece together according to programming and design goals. A must have for any Access programmer on his way to become a true professional.




2. I've been consulting for over 5 years with Access in all it's iterations except 1.0 and I must say that this is the best book on intermediate topics that I have found. There is no "fluff" like in books from other publishers (especially Queue in my opinion). This book is concise with real world examples for real world issues. When I first opened this book and read a bit I realized this book was written by consultants/developers who have gotten there hands dirty and not "feel good" academics who have never written a line of code for a company. Keep this one handy if you're the Access guru at your firm.



3. I've created basic database structures and applications for about five years and pledged never to go past writing macros, because I didn't want to be forced to learn VBA. I run a realty and mortgage office and just couldn't spare the time. Now that Outlook and the Office suite is becoming more familiar with my crew and now that we've joined a WAN and some B2B data sharing, the basic stuff just didn't fill the bill. I've bought quite a few books on Access recently (not to mention dozens from the past few years) and have found this one to be one of the best in its presentation and content.

   It gave me some real insight on how I should be considering networking and upsizing. I answered more questions I had after spending 12 hours with the book, than I had spent searching the net or reading the other books for several months. I even read though the code and understood it, and contrary to the warnings the presentation still flowed well. I still know little VBA and am now going back to get a Wrox book on Beginnng Access 2000 VBA.

   Concise, very detailed, stuffed full of info and reference. I'm a Wrox fan now.

5 comments about The Waite Group's Visual Basic 6 How-To (Sams How-To).

1. I HIGHLY recommend both this book and "Visual Basic Black Book" by Steve Holzner. With these two books at your side you won't need anything else.



2. This book is amazing. I got the VB4 edition and I was still using it. The VB6 edition has many good changes. You won't be sorry if you get this book.



3. Personally I learned more from this book than I did from my course at college. The steps to complete a project are all well laid out and easy to follow. By following the examples in the book you will learn more about Visual Basic than most other books. It is an indispensible refrence for VB6 programmers who will find it usefull after they have read it. The chapters are self-contained so you do not have to read one chapter after another in a specific order. This book is great for all levels of Visual Basic programmers. Buy the book and learn from it!



4. Not much useful, cohesive information here. More like a hodge-podge of scattered "hints". I found it to be of little practical use. Suggest Balena's book on VB 6 instead. Pass on this one!



5. I found that this book provided a solid understanding of a multitude of areas in VB that have been difficult. It isn't a beginners book (unless you want to use the code straight from the book), but if you have some experience, this book can open whole new areas of VB you never discovered or didn't know how to use. After following a couple chapters, I was able to create ActiveX controls with ease and even enhance my VB interface with wizards, not to mention, improving my error trapping and testing application performance.

   Two things you should be aware of before purchasing this book. Some of the code on the disk is incorrect or examples are missing files. This can lead to small headaches when an example they suggest you look at doesn't work. The other is, this book only covers specific topics. Read the TOC listings to see if the book provides you the information on the topic you need. Otherwise, you'll be wasting your time.

5 comments about Learning Word Programming.

1. I bought this book based on the reviews below, I'm a beginner in the VBA world (first book) and I liked how the author writes and explain the theory about VBA BUT unfortunately he barely have any exercise that would demonstrate what he is talking about on the chapter that just ended (only in the end of the book he gives some exercises "THE FAX example". Programming for me (a true beginner that came from the Network world) is like Math, you can show all the math theories that you want but if you don't give some exercises to demonstrate your theories it gets hard for US BEGINNERS to "see" the practicality of the theory just explained. I agree that he does not have to waist 500 more pages writing exercises, but if he could include 1 or 2 exercise for each topic that he explained It would be great for us real beginners in the VBA world to understand. For me that is the difference between beginner and experience programmers, when you have experience just having the theory can be sufficient and a reference book will do the work. You can understand the key concepts, mainly because you have PAST experiences to back it up... If you want a good theory book to show you the key concepts this is it, BUT if you also want to have a Hands On understanding of how VB editor works with the VBA world and how to apply the main VBA codes, well for now you will need another book.



2. This is a good book for learning Word Programming, but if you want a reference book, look elsewhere. It is well written and informative, but does not have enough detail for reference use.



3. Let me start by saying I am not a Visual Basic programmer, until now! I had a project that needed a solution. My research lead me to Visual Basic for Application's Word Object Model. Not having any significant experience in VBA I needed a way to get up to speed quickly. I first bought the Guy-Davis book Word97 VBA and found it simplistic and not providing enough technical information to accomplish my task. I then purchased the Word 2000 Programmers Reference Handbook which told me everything I ever wanted to know about the Word Object Model, however, it didn't really explain how and when to use the enumerators and other such objects, which are very important when programming. I work with 5 different languages and felt very lost with this book.

   Then I purchased Steven Roman's book "Learning Word Programming". Spent a weekend reading it and by Monday I was more than ready to tackle my project. After reading his book using the Word 2000 Programmers Reference became my next best friend because Mr. Roman's clear and concise approach to explaing everything (sans fluff, as he says other authors have a tendency to do) helped even a seasoned programmer, such as myself.

   I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to become a programmer or is now a programmer. Yes, it was boring to read the 'Programming 101' end of it but after getting through all of it I was pleasantly surprised at how a little refresher helped me look at my project from a new perspective.

   Again, get the book! It saved me hours of work.

   Dan Borden danielborden@hotmail.com




4. As mentioned in another review, I thought the book lacked enough useful exercises to practice Word programming. I bought this book because I couldn't find any others at the time specifically addressing Word programming and in the end, I had to search for another book to supplment it. I found it much more useful as a reference than as a learning tool.



5. What can I say, I found this book very informative. Also, check out his second book.

   The writing is clear and concise. This book isn't going to *make* you a Word programmer, but it can be a useful reference.

   It seems Word programming is all about creativity. Obviously, creativity is something that can't be taught.

5 comments about MCAD/MCSD Visual Basic(r) .NET(tm) Windows(r) Applications Study Guide (Exam 70-306).

1. It's obvious why this book was the first VB.NET book available. The book was obviously rushed, has many typos, pieces of code that doesn't work, and questions with wrong answers. The content of this title isn't anywhere near the quality of the study guide by Gunderloy. This book is a decent start for beginners, but if you really want to learn and pass the test, look elsewhere.



2. This is an excellent book to be used for your certification. It comes loaded with examples, exercises, exams, and plenty of explanations on the answers to the Self-tests on why they are correct AND why they were incorrect!

   One bad thing: You will need to watch the syntax on some of the exam watches and self-test question and answers. I highly recommend downloading the errata for this book before you start from [a website]. I have found a handful of important editing errors but they were pretty obvious.

   Other than the printing errors, which are very few IMO, this is a better cert book than [certain other] books!




3. This book is alright, but it does not take into consideration all OS's on which the code might be running (xp users beware on the globalization chapter) and some of the end of chapter questions don't even seem to be based on data discussed in the chapter. That all being said, there aren't many other options exam prep books for 70-306 and this one is at least easy to follow along with although I don't think it is in depth enough for the exam.



4. This book is chalk full of errors. I am not at all convinced that anyone went back through and actually tried to reproduce the examples and assignments found in this book. If you like a challenge and enjoy debugging someone else's code, this is the book for you. If, however, you feel that your time is better spent actually studying for the exam I would skip this book.



5. If you are new to Visual Basic.Net then this book is great for getting a basic understanding of the language. If you are using it to introduce yourself to the language then I would highly recommend it. However, this book miserably fails its' title in preparing for the 70-306 exam.

   The best thing the book does is to provide you an outline of what to study for the exam but you will need to do further research on the topics with MSDN. Plus, as other reviewers have stated, there are a few errors throughout the book most notably on the practice tests. But, for an intro study I would not let the errors turn you away from it.

   The bottom line is the book is not detailed enough for the exam but a good introduction, especially, for college students taking a VB.Net course.

5 comments about Hands On Visual Basic 6.

1. I found this a great book for beginners who want to actually DO something with the language once they understand something about it.



2. This book has been reviewed at VB Techniques (vbtechniques.com). The book takes a unique approach to teaching VB while at the same time showing how to build realistic applications. The user will be able to take skills from both tasks to future projects.



3. If you are beginning Visual Basic then I highly recommend this book. Ms. Podlin presents basic Visual Basic in a way that is light and fun . The flow of the projects are very good, with a real-life small project feel. The book gives the fundamentals of the language and Environment in a clear and hands-on manner, and then gives the reader a taste for a number of different ways in which VB 6 can be used: automation with Office apps, objects, and database access. From these projects, you can decide which was the most fun or intriguing for you and pursue that usage of the language. The downside of the book, as mentioned by another reviewer, is the need for more explanation on the integration with Excel and Word. I guess, though, that this gives more insight into the intricacies of the language.



4. Based on the title and content, this appears to be aimed at beginners (to VB, or programming in general).

   I have quite a bit of programming experience, but not in VB. I found the book useful, but other books would definitely need to accompany this one to get a sense of the possibilities with VB6.

   There was barely a reference to the rich function library VB6 has, and v. little emphasis on reusability (controls) and developing components vs. implementing them - understandable for a beginner's book. Knowing more about the capabilities of VB6 than the book revealed, I found it was a little "lite." However, my perspective is as an IT professional so perhaps I'm being unfair.

   I would have rated the book with a 4 had it not been for the following shortcomings:

   1. The projects, though useful, did not go far enough. Again, they didn't leverage many built-in functions (or show how to browse them), and the discussion of the ADO model was v. high level. Didn't get down to fields/items levels which any real application would need to do.

   2. Project 2 (even the solution on the CD) had run time errors when adding and deleting records. This is because the authors had not taken into consideration the child recordset. In other words, adding and deleting parent records gave no consideration to the impact on the associated child recordset. Just testing each option would have quickly revealed the problem, and it would have been a GREAT example had the authors included what it takes to sync. parent and child recordsets.

   Definitely a worthwhile introduction, and the hands-on approach was beneficial.




5. Overall good book after a slow start. The book claims to be intended for "Intermediate to Advanced" users but is too simple for anyone with any experience. It's five chapters before the reader launches Visual Basic and then continues to move fairly slowly. I didn't expect so much hand holding in a "hands on" "intermediate to advanced" book. Author occasionally meanders during tutorials when the meandering material would have been better served in an appendix. There are some good tips and the author points out good programming practices/conventions but inconsistently follows them. There are some misspellings, omissions and inaccuracies between the text and the CDROM but nothing that should preclude the reader from finishing the tutorial projects. Overall a good primer.

No comments about Mobile Device Game Development (Game Development Series).

1 comments about .NET Mobile Web Developer's Guide.

1. Reviewing books is a very subjective process. The review is colored by personal reaction as your level of expertise runs up against who the authors and the editors expected as the prospective audience for the book.

   Given that my level of knowledge differs from another person who may be interested in a book, I will try to provide as much info as I can so that an interested party can make their own judgment about a particular book. To that end, I will assign a pass/fail grade to each chapter. The pass/fail grade will be assigned based on the following context and assumptions:

   * The book title. What specific technology does it focus on?
   * Are the examples and explanations clear and to the point?
   * Evaluation of the topics in the context of the title and intended audience of the book.

   Chapter 1: Introduction to the wireless web and the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit

   This was a rather long chapter (58 pages). It starts out with a general introduction to the various mobile devices and the their limitations regarding connectivity, screen size, memory and processing power. Along the way some rather interesting information on items such as Connectivity options and a basic introduction on how WML is delivered to Microbrowsers are covered. This was well written and I rather liked the background that was covered.

   The next section of the chapter gets into the actual Mobile controls themselves with sample code snippets. The controls cover the gamut from the general input controls to list and validation controls.

   All code samples are in VB.Net

   Grade: Pass
   
   Chapter 2: Introduction to the Microsoft .Net Framework

   A fundamental assumption that I made when reviewing a book that is focused on Mobile .NET is that the reader already knows what the .NET framework is and also that the MMIT is an extension of ASP.NET. In short, I am assuming that the reader is already familiar with both of these ideas/technologies and does not need it repeated to them.

   Well, this chapter does just that. It covers everything from getting and installing the framework to explaining what a web service is. I personally found this chapter redundant. Getting an introduction to the what the framework is was NOT something I was looking for in this book. In addition, there was no attempt to slant the explanation to anything remotely mobile related.

   Grade: Fail
   
   Chapter 3: Learning ASP.Net Covered the ASP.NET architecture and the web controls.

   Items covered ranged from the usage of a DataGrid(!) to Validator controls. Again, I found this chapter redundant.
   I am NOT looking for an intro to ASP.Net in a book that is supposed to talk about .net mobile capabilities.

   Grade: Fail
   
   Chapter 4: Using Mobile Device Emulators

   A very detailed chapter that talked about the various mobile emulators that are out there, where to get them, installation and configuration instructions etc.
   A very valuable chapter for any mobile developer that is targeting multiple devices.

   Grade: Pass
   
   Chapter 5: Developing mobile applications using the MMIT
   This chapter was a disappointment for me. Given the chapter title, I really was expecting to get into the guts of the mobile controls at this point.

   But only superficial examples are given. A majority of the information in this chapter seems to be a rehash of the MMIT documentation on MSDN. One of the more powerful controls that is present in the MMIT is the objectList. Beyond a written description of what it is, NO further information is provided. Very disappointing!

   Grade: Fail
   
   Chapter 6: Data Access with ADO.NET

   One of the beauties of the MMIT, is that you can use all of the same data access technology that you use with Web forms and windows forms. Given that, I again found this chapter redundant in the context of Mobile applications.

   I do NOT need an explanation of the ADO.NET object model, not to mention info on how to update/delete using ADO.Net. It did not teach me anything new that was relevant to my reason for getting the book in the first place, namely learning about Mobile .net technologies.

   Grade: Fail
   
   Chapter 7: End-to-End Microsoft Mobile Solutions

   This chapter went into great detail about how to install and configure the Microsoft Mobile Information Server and how to configure Exchange 2000 to work with this product.

   At the end of reading this chapter, I was ... confused. I had no idea why this chapter was in a book that was titled .NET Mobile Web Developer's Guide. Yes, the Mobile Information Server is a Microsoft technology that does allow you to deploy a mobile solution that allows you to read your exchange inbox from a phone and various other capabilities. BUT, it has nothing to do with MMIT!

   Grade: Fail
   
   Chapter 8: Creating a Mobile Movie Ticket Purchasing Application

   I liked this chapter!. It gave extensive documentation on System/Process flow, Database schema, components that were built to abstract data access as well as a UI storyboard for the application. Then it got into the code.

   It is a rather straight forward application, but the supporting design documentation made it very useful from a developers perspective especially as there was discussion of the code and design tradeoffs. In addition, it also provided extensive screenshots of how the app would look in a variety of devices.

   Grade: Pass
   
   Conclusion:

   Based on my personal criteria, 3 out of 8 chapters passed. As mentioned above, your needs in what you are looking for in a book might vary, but hopefully I have provided enough info for you to make up your own mind.

3 comments about Pocket PC Development in the Enterprise: Mobile Solutions with Visual Basic and .NET.

1. When I picked this book up I was pleased to find useful tools and tips included in both the book and on the CD. The code for the datetimepicker alone pretty much justifies the cost of the book in my opinion. Having the embedded Visual Tools, SQLCE, and the other tools all on one CD is also a good thing.



2. This book is extremely broad yet contains more sample code than most other books! Really enjoyed the Pocket Service sample!



3. In my opinion this is a book built arround a very good example of an application, but not a book to start with nor a book for the experts.

   The introduction goes fast jumping from subject to subject without showing a clear direction to teach you either logic, approach, language, conventions or how to better understand the environment (developing environment)

   The fact of talking about visual basic makes me think instantly that there will be a smooth transition till you are up to speed and then jump to more complex examples, in this book it is a collection of picks and tricks in a messy way in order to prepare you without too much explanation so they can explain "real" application written in VB.

   Funnily the application itself is very informative and useful but by the time you arrive there there are too many questions running wild on your head and is quite fustrating.

2 comments about Pro ASP.NET 1.1 in VB.NET: From Professional to Expert.

1. I'm impressed by this book. It's tome sized, which I normally don't like. But it covers the fundamentals effectively with well written text and effective use of graphics. Data binding, XML, ADO.NET, authorization, security, custom controls and more are covered.
   
   I recommend this book for anyone looking to use VB.NET for dynamic web application work.



2. In pre-dot NET, ASP was a clever way to make dynamic web pages on a Microsoft web server. This book shows that under .NET, ASP has built on and extended that idea. As for instance, being able to do state management. A powerful idea that can be vital in building a complex web application and minimising the coding and debugging time.
   
   The book also covers XML usage. You can integrate this deeply into your application. Plus, XML is the basis of Web Services. The entire last section of the book (3 chapters) is devoted to this.
   
   On a forward looking note, Web Services offer exciting future innovations that can span many machines run by different companies. ASP is explained in the context of furnishing and using these Web Services. You also get an explanation of Web Service Description Language. The only failing of the book is that in going over WSDL, it omits to mention Business Process Execution Language. This has been out for over a year. It is far more expressive than WSDL in providing a declarative format for an aggregation of Web Services. Surely ASP can use BPEL?