Title "Microsoft Office 2000 Developer's Guide" Authors D.F. Scott Publisher M&T Books / IDG Books Worldwide Publication Date July 1999 ISBN 0-7645-3330-4 Price $49.99 (U.S.) Pros Provides examples and frameworks that can be implemented in a real business environment. Cons Lack of a glossary or language reference. Verdict A great overall programming resource for those looking to extend the functionality of Office 2000.

This guide targets programmers who need to extend the functionality of the Office 2000 application to meet specific business needs. By helping you understand such components as the Office 2000 Object Model and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), this book forms a knowledge base for those who need to surmount various tasks in Office 2000, like adding custom tasks to menus and toolbars, and using Active X controls to extend functionality.

Author D.F. Scott organizes the information in this text into two main parts. The first takes you through the ins and outs of VBA, concentrating on subjects such as controls, display devices, object models and other components. The second part takes a look at the object models of Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint, and builds examples throughout showcasing these applications.

While the beginning of the book deals mainly with understanding Visual Basic, the latter half proves the book is a worthwhile investment. By providing examples and frameworks that can be implemented in a real business environment, the author gives an extensive workout of how to integrate customizations into your current Office 2000 setup. The text deals significantly with automating tasks such as Access transactions, Excel data calculations, and even illustrates how VBA can be used to build integration applications between PowerPoint and the rest of the Office 2000 suite.

I found one significant problem with this book -- the lack of a glossary. In programming books it's worthwhile to have a language reference library to look up things like objects, functions and statements -- especially for those who are migrating from one language to another. However, I found the book accessible by reading from chapter to chapter, as well as being able to easily find topics I was looking for by just consulting that particular chapter.

With a $49.99 price tag, "Microsoft Office 2000 Developer's Guide" is a nice, concise volume for those of you looking into adapting your Office 2000 applications to meet specific needs. With most products of this type being marketed as "development kits" with price tags into and over the $100 mark, "Microsoft Office 2000 Developer's Guide" is strong as both a learning and reference tool and a welcome addition to your programming bookshelf.

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