SQL: Access to SQL Server review

SQL Server has various advantages over a desktop database, but you wouldn't want your users to have to link directly to it.

Rather, you should provide them with a friendly application to run on their desktops, which accesses the data within SQL Server for them. What do you use to develop such an application? Many people choose Visual Studio but Access is equally useful. If you're interested in doing this, the underlying language you'll be using is Jet SQL; if you go further, you'll be writing stored procedures in T-SQL. This book by Susan Sales Harkins and Martin Reid covers both topics.

If you've tried using SQL Server (or other SQL databases) from Access, you'll know that it can create SQL queries for you and the wizard makes a reasonable attempt at writing the SQL. However, it's not perfect and sooner or later you'll probably want to take over and get on with the job yourself. SQL: Access to SQL Server is designed to teach you how to go about this. It's also designed for Access developers who would like to learn SQL and want to stay in a familiar environment while they're learning.

The benefit of this approach is that it's realistic. If you're moving to SQL from an Access background, you will be familiar with some aspects of databases while others are alien. You're also probably interested more in practical solutions than theory and that's mirrored in the tone and examples used by the authors. The book is full of useful information and by the end of it you will have covered all the topics you need to be able to use SQL databases, although some not in enough detail.

The book starts with a general introduction to SQL and how to use Jet SQL in Access. There's a somewhat redundant chapter on relational database theory, then good chapters on SQL grammar and its various elements - the Select statement, Update, Insert, Group By and cross tabs. You're then told how to create and modify tables, and there's a good chapter on referential integrity and Jet indexes. The description of transactional processing isn't detailed enough at just two pages, but at least you're told what a transaction is.

It's not until chapter 12 that you are introduced to the SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine. This is followed by a chapter on full SQL Server. Views and stored procedures are covered well and the chapter on SQL Server security is miraculously understandable. There's also a good appendix on SQL solutions to common problems. Overall, a well-written, useful book.