Hi FullName,
This is a reminder about resources and opportunities at ProgrammingMSAccess.com. This issue of our newsletters focuses on ways that our site helps those working with Microsoft database software, which is Access and SQL Server programmed by VBA, VB.NET, and T-SQL. We are trying a new format with this issue. You can just reply to this message to tell us how you like it.
We start by highlighting some of the site resources that visitors like the most. If you are similar to our other site visitors, you may want to take advantage of the same resources. If you haven't checked out our free resources recently, consider this message your personal invitation to come by and check out what we have at the site.
This issue also tells you about what books site visitors purchase most often when they come to visit the site. If the ProgrammingMSAccess.com site's content appeals to you, then you're likely to find these books real page turners.
Next, we remind you about prizes for those who sign our Guest Book or who join our Database Developers Group. This is a fun way to get help from the site because we give away software and other prizes that can make you more productive.
Finally, we invite you to take advantage of our technical support and consulting services. These resources can help you with a single tech support question or even help you build a complete project from scratch.
ProgrammingMSAccess.com is gradually building a library of high quality presentations on advanced topics. These presentations grow out of presentations that the ProgrammingMSAccess.com webmaster makes before various professional forums. Since the start of May, two especially popular presentations are on SQL Server Express and ADO.NET. Links to the presentations appear below.
First Look: SQL Server Express and SQL Express Manager
Developing Windows and Web Solutions with ADO.NET and SQL Server
Our presentation are free so that you can enjoy and learn from them without charge. Recently, we started to enrich our presentations with code samples that you can readily try out. Some of the code samples are available without charge at the site in our collection of code samples. Others are reserved for members of our Database Developers Group (membership has its privileges).
Another way of assessing what's hot at the site is to look at what pages visitors come to first. This metric reflects pages that visitors find from search engines as well as pages that visitors bookmark during one visit to return to at a later time. The most popular pages by this metric are our code sample collection and the welcome page for SPAM Blocker 2.0.
Our code sample collection includes code in three primary areas: VBA for Access, VB.NET and ADO.NET, and VBA and T-SQL scripts for SQL Server. If you are looking for a specific solution to a problem you are having, take a look at these code samples. One of the samples may be just what you need. The samples are free to use in your own applications, but we offer no tech support with them.
SPAM Blocker is our personal solution to filtering spam and other kinds of junk mail, including messages with virus and phising scams. I believe that the amount of spam email is growing. In any event, there is definitely a lot more recent interest in our solution to blocking spam. If you are experiencing an increase in your spam email, maybe it is time to take a look at SPAM Blocker. It is the approach that we use to blocking spam (not only did we build it, but we also use it). BTW, we just posted a fresh filter set and added a FAQ. Let us know about any questions you want answered in updates to the SPAM Blocker FAQ. Please send questions to rick@programmingmsaccess.com.
One of the most obvious ways to tell what's hot is to look at the most frequently viewed pages. Two especially popular pages so far in May are a working sample and our page of favorites.
The working sample is for an online telephone lookup. It is implemented with ASP and Access 2000. My most recent book describing how to code the sample is Programming Microsoft Access Version 2002 (yes, the sample works with Access 2002 and Access 2003 as well as Access 2000).
Our favorites page gives you a selection of links that we think you are likely to want to visit if you value the content at our site. We regularly add and drop links from this page. If you haven't visited it in a while, take a look and see what's there.
As you may know, the site is named after the webmaster's first book for Microsoft Press. The book's title is Programming Microsoft Access 2000. Since then, I have gone on to author 5 other books, and I am currently working on my seventh book. My interests have strayed beyond just Access, but I continue to target intermediate to advanced Access developers -- especially if they are willing to grow professionally and try using other technologies along with Access. For example, I liked the Access project capability for creating SQL Server solutions introduced with Access 2000 so much that I wrote another whole book on the topic (Professional SQL Server Development with Access 2000). Links to the two most popular books among site visitors since the beginning or April appear below. You can follow the links to learn more about the books with a detailed table of contents as well as chapter summaries. The bookmarks at which the links point make it easy to find Amazon.com links for buying either or both books.
Programming Microsoft Office Access 2003
Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET for Microsoft Access Databases
Several years ago, ProgrammingMSAccess.com started offering site visitors and Database Developer Group (DDG) members prizes. During the January-March quarter, we gave away 11 prizes. We have already given away our first two prizes during the April-June quarter. There are two ways to win prizes.
First, you can just sign our Guest Book to gain eligibility for some prizes, including copies of SPAM Blocker. Peter's Software is also offering a copy of LASsie, its light application security package for Access. You can find out more about the prizes for Guest Book registrants from the site's Free Stuff section. These prizes are awarded at the end of the quarter.
Second, you can join or renew your membership in our DDG. Any new or renewing member from May 1 through May 31 becomes eligible to win a copy of OfficeWriter from SoftArtisans or The Access Workbench from vb123.com.
OfficeWriter targets the authoring of web-based reports with any database directly from Word or Excel. You can learn more about OfficeWriter, including what it does and how to win it from our site.
We have both a short synopsis of the great toolkit of features along with how to win the The Access Workbench as well as a product review authored by Charles Loprinzo, one of our DDG members. If you need to administer Access database files, there is an excellent chance that you will really value this prize. You can learn more about The Access Workbench, including what it does and how to win it from our site.
There is a modest fee for joining the DDG, but we strive mightily to make membership more than worth the membership fee even if you don't win a prize. For example, you gain access to our proprietary library of white papers, book excerpts, and code samples that go well beyond the free content at ProgrammingMSAccess.com. In fact, the more recent presentations at ProgrammingMSAccess.com have their full code sample content available exclusively to DDG members. ProgrammingMSAccess.com has a recently updated list of DDG library entries.
For many years, I received a steady flow of technical support questions. While I personally want to answer these questions, my chores as a full-time author and webmaster just do not allow me to provide free technical support to those who send me questions over the Internet. For the past couple of years, I have been forwarding technical support and full-scale consulting project requests to DDG members. Many of these members have their own full-time or part-time consulting practice. Others work full-time for leading businesses and organizations.
The ProgrammingMSAccess.com technical support process works as follows. Send a message with your specific technical support question or consulting need to webmaster@databasedevelopersgroup.com. Make sure that you insert in you message that you are willing to pay for professional support. Next, we'll forward your message to the DDG membership. Those members with the time, interests, and expertise to solve your problem will nominate themselves to you by replying to your email. You can then select the DDG member with which you prefer to work on such criteria as their grasp of your problem, how you like interacting with them, and, of course, their fee for providing tech support and consulting services. The whole process is that simple.
Thanks for reading this message through to the end. Please take a moment to share this message with your favorite newsletters as well as your friends and colleagues. Consider forwarding this message to several of your colleagues right now. One of your friends is almost surely going to thank you for passing along the good news about our site’s content and prizes. Others may really appreciate learning about our solution to blocking spam or the books that they can learn about from the site. If you no longer wish to receive messages from ProgrammingMSAccess.com, just reply with Remove in Subject field.
Rick