Book Review – Advantage Database Server: A Developer's Guide 2nd Edition

I'll say right up front that I was a technical editor for this book so my opinions might be a bit biased. That being said I highly recommend this book if you are an Advantage developer or are considering using Advantage Database Server with an application. The book covers all the features of Advantage in a concise format with plenty of examples. It is a must have for an Advantage developer.

The book is broken down into three parts two of which are included in the book and the third is available for download. Part one introduces the Advantage server and includes step-by-step examples for creating a sample database which demonstrates the various features. Part two discusses using SQL with Advantage including an entire chapter on using SQL scripting. Part three includes chapters on accessing data through Advantage from various development environments. All of the chapters in part three are available here.

In part one, Advantage and the Advantage Data Architect, there is a comprehensive overview of all the features in Advantage. After the introduction to the features and functionality of the server itself the following chapters break down specific tasks. Step-by-step exercises walk the reader through creating data dictionaries (databases), tables, indexes, constrains, referential integrity, and views. Then more advanced server functionality such as triggers, stored procedures, replication and notifications are covered.

Part two, Advantage SQL, includes an introduction to using SQL with Advantage. This includes many examples as well as a discussion of specific SQL requirements. Chapters also discuss performing common operations, SQL scripting and a discussion of obtaining metadata using SQL. I highly recommend reading chapter thirteen which is a discussion of the various SQL tools available with Advantage.

As mentioned above the chapters for part three are available online. Each chapter in the final part cover accessing data using Advantage from a different development environment. The following chapters are available:

• Advantage and Delphi
• Advantage and ADO.NET
• Advantage and Java
• Advantage and Visual Basic ( MDAC, OLE DB, ADO )
• Advantage with ODBC, PHP and DBI

The bottom line; Hopefully you will look past my bias and pick up a copy of this book. It is an invaluable resource for any Advantage developer. It can also provide an excellent guide for new developers who are just getting started with Advantage. Cary has done a great job in writing an easy to read book with many easy to follow examples that walk the reader through many of the common database functions.