Learning Access 2003 resources and questions

[bulldog10]

Hi new member here.



I am wanting to learn MicroSoft Access and was looking for books last night that might help. I haven't tried much programming before. Are the free online tutorials here good enough for a beginner or should I try to purchase training? I can't afford a lot. Has anyone tried any of the following and did they help? My boss uses Access 2003, but only wants simple applications for the office and it might help me to know Access in the long run.

Mastering Access 2007 CDs

Teach yourself Access 2000 Visually

Keystone Training 21 CD training for Microsoft Access 2000

Iman Video training

I found the last two on ebay for pretty cheap, but didn't want to just get a bunch of manuals and find that it's still not teaching me enough.

Any other suggestions for materials?

[ajetrumpet]

Why pay for a book to learn anything when you can learn it for free on a computer and/or the internet??

Every single thing you can find in a book, anywhere, can be found on your screen for free in one way or another. 99% of what you'll need, google has ready for you to ask for.

books are good, and some people enjoy learning that way, but if you're pressed for time and this is not a hobby to be explored in your spare time, a book might not be the best use of your time. not to mention, that when you're fooling around in a book, you cannot explore the hands-on approach at the same time and experiment with techniques that are generally needed for any access user.

one other thing I would point out is to make sure you make use of your time learning a program. Most programs have two parts to them: the interface and the coding. Access also has both. IMO, learning the interface is always the best way to go, at least first, because manufacturers usually make sure to give users the ability to do what's necessary without knowing a programming language.

I would also seriously try to learn why the program exists. For instance, the reason why Access was invented, IMO, was to basically upgrade Excel's capabilities. It's nothing more than that, really. Nor is any other database system.

Again IMO, the most important part about learning computer software is to understand: the purpose of using it and the restraints that it has on you as a user. For instance, if you're using Dreamweaver's Flash program it would be pointless to undergo a project without understanding the timeline and how frames/subframes and all the other frames work! If you don't understand that, you are basically using a program for entertainment only. In Access, you have to understand the purpose of why a database structure exists and what it should be used for. Otherwise, you'll probably end up wasting your time, that could otherwise be used more efficiently.

The reason I'm saying that is simply for good use of time. I personally think it's well worth it to understand what you're doing and why you're doing it before jumping in the pool. Kind of the same mentality as asking the person next to you at work for help before you open a browser and ask google. Why ask 2 billion people a question when you can probably get an answer from 1??

[bulldog10]

I appreciate the advise. That's what I'm looking for I guess. It's a little daunting to get started, but it's an opportunity that was also thrown in my lap that I should take advantage of. Comparing it to excel helps with make it seem less daunting. And I am usually pretty good with finding things on the net, but I need to get started to know what I'm looking for.

[timmy]

A month ago i had never touched access before. Now i have a fully working database with thousands of entries in tables, linked up to a mySQL server. I have about 700 lines of code (not a lot i know), around 200 of these i wrote myself in the past week or 2. the rest i have managed to peice together from googling, and the extremely helpful people here and over on AWF.

I would suggest you get yourself a version of access (trial or not). Next Get a template! Make sure its one that suits your needs, you can search the web for them rather than use access's built in ones.

Once you have done that, have a look around the template and understand how it works (make sure you understand table relationships etc).

Lastly, start modifying it to your needs, when you get stuck, search google. If your still stuck, post something here or on another forum.

After a while, your template will start to change so much that you wont even remember what it looked like freshly downloaded. Just stick with it!

Also, Adam made a great point about needing to know what you want access to do, and what its capable of. I know someone whos workplace makes them use access just like excel (data insterted straight into tables etc). Imo, its just pointless and you might as well stick with excel if thats all your going to do