1) How to use kixtart to talk to COM objects (access,excel,ie,adsi,etc).

2) Understanding the OLEDB object model. Which isn't necessary tied to just Microsoft Access, you can talk SQL to Oracle, SQL7, Foxpro and a host of others. It's a generic object model for interfacing with any DB that provides a driver.

3) Understanding SQL. We use the OLEDB object to establish connections and retrieve recordsets, but formulating SQL queries is a huge subject in itself (not to mention any Access specific extentions to the standards).

4) Understanding how to Automate Microsoft Access (the application). It's easy to confuse the two (automating queries vs automating the app that services the queries). Automating the app (building forms and databases (not tables), changing settings and customizing the GUI is something I would suggest is out of scope and usually not required. One would normally just manually start the app and customize the gui that way.

So having said all that, where would you like to start ? (Whew)

-Shawn