Preface

Access really is an amazing product. Its power is vast, and yet its maintenance is low. In fact, in most installations it sits on the desktop and is maintenance-free. It's flexible enough to be used by one person or to run an entire company. It's a rapid application development (RAD) tool that outshines other such tools (such as Visual Basic) in time to development and ease of use.

Access is also a complete database application system. It incorporates both the back-end and front-end elements of a database, thereby eliminating the need to use two products to get your work done. Even so, its flexibility allows an Access database file to be just a back end or just a front end. Access can control data in external database systems such as SQL Server and Oracle.

Need I say more? I don't think you need any convincing to know what a great product Access is. Either you are using it already, or you are about to start. Well, here is some great news: this book is going to show you even more ways to use Access. Whether it's how to run Union queries, play video files in Access, view web sites within Access, or even control Access from another product, there are hacks here to tickle every fancy.

Access Hacks lets you move beyond the familiar tables, forms, and reports paradigm and get new insights into making your database applications more valuable and exciting. It's my pleasure to show you new ways to work with your favorite database product. So, fire up your computer, and let's get started!