Access 2002 for Dummies or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Programming For Dummies

Access 2002 for Dummies

Author: John Kaufeld

The truth is, the database is the computer world's best-kept secret that everyone really knows about. Everyone knows about them because everyone uses them – from the little database you use to keep track of addresses and phone numbers on your computer to huge databases that banks use to house the financial information of millions of people. However, nobody talks about databases because they're so darned complicated to set up and use; quite frankly, nobody but the geeks who design and build them really know how they work!

How does this apply to you? Well, being a normal human being (translation: not a computer geek), you probably have work to do. In fact, you may have lots of work piled up precariously around your office. Someone, possibly your boss (or, if you work at home, your Significant Other), suggested that a database may help you get more organized, eliminate the piles, and generally make the safety inspector happy. Good advice, except for the fact that you, like most other people, don't know thing-one about setting up a database. And you have this program called Access 2002 on your computer that's supposed to do all that for you.

But how do you get started with Access 2002 and have it set up the kind of database you need? Well, you've come to the right place.

Written in plain, understandable English (try to find that in your typical software manual), Access 2002 For Dummies shows you how to make sense of that whole complicated database thing without boring you silly or turning you into a world-class computer geek. Here are just a few of the topics you'll find covered in Access 2002 For Dummies:

• Touring the basic functionsof Access 2002
• Designing and building a database – without tearing out what's left of your hair
• Building data relationships, keys, and indexes
• Making your data presentable
• Searching: Find, filter, and sort
• Posing queries and creating calculations
• Running reports and creating charts
• Feeding your data to a Web site
• Top Ten lists on timesaving techniques, surviving database crises, and tips from those computer geeks to make your database life easier

So no matter what you want to use your database for – whether it's to store inventory information, to feed information dynamically to a Web site, or simply to track your business contacts (so you can get rid of that drawer full of business cards) – you can find all the information you need in Access 2002 For Dummies.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	1
Pt. I	Which Came First: The Data or the Base?	7
Ch. 1	The 37-Minute Overview	9
Ch. 2	Finding Your Way around like a Native	23
Ch. 3	Calling the Online Saint Bernard and Other Forms of Help	33
Pt. II	Truly Tempting Tables	43
Ch. 4	Designing and Building a Home for Your Data	45
Ch. 5	Relationships, Keys, and Indexes (And Why Your Really Do Care)	69
Ch. 6	New Data, Old Data, and Data in Need of Repair	79
Ch. 7	Making Your Table Think with Formats, Masks, and Validations	89
Ch. 8	Making Your Datasheets Dance	103
Ch. 9	Table Remodeling Tips for the Do-It-Yourselfer	117
Pt. III	Finding the Ultimate Answer to Everything (Well, Not Everything)	125
Ch. 10	Quick Searches: Find, Filter, and Sort	127
Ch. 11	Pose a Simple Query, Get 10,000 Answers	139
Ch. 12	Searching a Slew of Tables	153
Ch. 13	The Ands and Ors of Dr. Boole	163
Ch. 14	Teaching Queries to Think and Count	171
Ch. 15	Calculating Your Way to Fame and Fortune	179
Ch. 16	Automated Editing for Big Changes	191
Pt. IV	Turning Your Table into a Book	201
Ch. 17	AutoReport: Like the Model-T, It's Clunky but It Runs	203
Ch. 18	Wizardly Help with Labels, Charts, and Multilevel Reports	215
Ch. 19	It's Amazing What a Little Formatting Can Do	229
Ch. 20	Headers and Footers for Groups, Pages, and Even (Egad) Whole Reports	247
Pt. V	Wizards, Forms, and Other Mystical Stuff	263
Ch. 21	Spinning Your Data into (and onto) the Web	265
Ch. 22	Making Forms That Look Cool and Work Great	277
Ch. 23	If Love Is Universal, Why Can't I Export to It?	289
Ch. 24	The Analyzer: Your Data's Dr. Freud, Dr. Watson, and Dr. Jekyll	297
Ch. 25	Talking to Your Computer	305
Pt. VI	The Part of Tens	315
Ch. 26	Ten Timesaving Keyboard Shortcuts	317
Ch. 27	Ten Common Crises and How to Survive Them	321
Ch. 28	Ten Tips from the Database Nerds	327
	Index	331

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Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Programming For Dummies

Author: Andrew Watt

Create and modify databases and keep them secure

Get up to speed on using T-SQL to store and manipulate data

SQL Server 2005 improves an already great database management system. This book shows you how to put it to work in a hurry. You'll find out how to use the SQL Server Management Studio and the SQLCMD utility to write T-SQL code, retrieve data from single or multiple SQL Server tables, add data using the INSERT statement, and much more.

* Create queries to retrieve data
* Ensure SQL Server security
* Use Visual Studio(r) 2005 with SQL Server
* Create tables, views, and indexes
* Work with Common Language Runtime
* Query XML data