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Rating: 
Summary: Misleading and not up to date
Review: I bought this book hoping that I as a hobbyist I would get some insight on how real database programs look and work. I program exclusively in Visual Basic .Net and only care to use SQL Server 2000 at this time. So, the description mentioned using .Net and I thought I had found what I was looking for. I was wrong.
First, while some of the examples in the book use VB.Net, it is based on the beta version. A lot has changed since the beta versions, and this book really needs to reflect those changes.
Secondly, all of the examples use the old way of connecting to and working with the database, i.e., ADO. With .Net has come a new and more effective (in my opinion) way of handling database interactivity, which is ADO.Net. I have no need for the old way of doing things. To leave ADO.Net out of this book just seems lazy to me. This is my main disappointment.
Lastly, six chapters are devoted to using Access as a front end. This is why I believe the title is misleading. While many people use Access for this purpose, I do not and would have liked to know that one third of this book was devoted to this topic.
For the most part, this book is filled with a lot of examples and information. Unfortunately, it falls short with the newer .Net technologies. If you want to use up to date technologies, this book is probably not for you. Unless you want to take the time to port all of the code from ADO to ADO.Net and from beta coding standards to current standards. Otherwise, it might be a good investment.
Rating: 
Summary: A great reference book for developing SQL applications
Review: I now posess five (5) of Mr. Buczek's books. In this book, as in all the rest, it remains evident that Greg has a genuine concern that the reader learn from his printed material and urges further learning by manipulating solutions that he has presented. Chapter 1 does a great job of reviewing the basics of working with SQL Server and the SQL Server Enterprise Manager. As a programmer, I have designed an application using VB as the front end to SQL Server. Chapter 3 provided invaluable information. I found the Solutions provided by Mr. Buczek as real-world, and code examples were easily transposed to meet my programming needs. The Visual Basic Quick Reference in Appendix A and the T-SQL Language Reference in Appendix B are more than worth the price of this book. I will be eagerly waiting for the next release from Mr. Buczek.
Rating:
Summary: Instant SQL Server 2000 Apps Review
Review: I now posess five (5) of Mr. Buczek's books. In this book, as in all the rest, it remains evident that Greg has a genuine concern that the reader learn from his printed material and urges further learning by manipulating solutions that he has presented. Chapter 1 does a great job of reviewing the basics of working with SQL Server and the SQL Server Enterprise Manager. As a programmer, I have designed an application using VB as the front end to SQL Server. Chapter 3 provided invaluable information. I found the Solutions provided by Mr. Buczek as real-world, and code examples were easily transposed to meet my programming needs. The Visual Basic Quick Reference in Appendix A and the T-SQL Language Reference in Appendix B are more than worth the price of this book. I will be eagerly waiting for the next release from Mr. Buczek.
Rating:
Summary: Good - but Not all Code Works
Review: I purchased this book more for the quick and dirty SQL applications than for the detailed 'How-To'. Unfortunately some code examples were created with a very early version of Visual Studio.NET. The code is now obsolete, so you must spend a fair amount of time repairing the code and bringing it up to the latest VisualStudio.NET conventions. Even then you might not get it working. I wish the publisher would make code corrections and errata available on their web site, but they do not.
Rating:
Summary: Good - but Not all Code Works
Review: I purchased this book more for the quick and dirty SQL applications than for the detailed 'How-To'. Unfortunately some code examples were created with a very early version of Visual Studio.NET. The code is now obsolete, so you must spend a fair amount of time repairing the code and bringing it up to the latest VisualStudio.NET conventions. Even then you might not get it working. I wish the publisher would make code corrections and errata available on their web site, but they do not.
Rating:
Summary: A great reference book for developing SQL applications
Review: The strength of this book is that is teaches through examples, and for someone like myself who knows a little about SQL and needs concrete examples to solidify understanding, this is an excellent resource. Mr. Buczek does an excellent job of breaking down the code in his examples and explaining what each line does. The book also has a good introduction through the first several chapters that help you get your feet wet if you have done little with SQL Server before.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Book !!
Review: This book is unbelievable! I had been looking for a book explaining stored procedures. I had bought four or five books on SQL Server but they turned out to be very disappointing: only one chapter on stored procedures and only examples that were less than convincing on the use of stored procedures. This book shows you real life examples where stored procedures are used. I understood right away what other authors were trying to explain. Mr. Buczek's book consists of small but complete real life applications. By using complete projects, we understand how and why using stored procedures. But the book is not only about stored procedures; using defined functions and triggers are also used. What makes this book stand-out among other books on SQL Server, is the coupling of SQL Server with a user interface: each applications use an interface: some of Mr. Buczek applications use VB6, others use VB.Net (beta 1: at that time VB.Net beta 2 had not been launched), others use Access and others use ASP pages. This is the book you need if you are tired, as I am, to throw your money through the windows by buying computing books that are written by people who should never have written books at all. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Buczek is the only person who desserves the right to write computer books. He is the only one who knows what he is doing.
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