Programming Data Driven Web Applications with ASP.NET

by Donny Mack, Doug Seven

Paperback: 720 pages
Publisher: Sams
ISBN: 0672321068; 1st edition (September 14, 2001)

A revolution in developing software is coming and it's called the .NET Framework. This broad Microsoft strategy opens doors to exciting new concepts such as Web services, which deliver the software you create as services that dish out data via XML over the Net. ASP.NET and ADO.NET are key elements to this new approach, improving the efficiency of Web page coding and database access respectively. Programming Data-Driven Web Applications with ASP.NET provides an excellent introduction to this brave new world of database-driven Web development for seasoned and novice programmers alike.

The book dives into ASP.NET with a breakdown of its new features such as server side controls and event handling, Web services and session state management. It then clearly points out the advantages of ADO.NET--interoperability, a strong-typed programming model, higher disconnected performance, and better scalability. Readers will learn about managed providers and get a tutorial on ANSI SQL and the nitty gritty of database access. Plenty of example code is presented in both Visual Basic.NET and C#.

The book explains how XML and SOAP--the protocol for exchanging XML data--work together as the transmission mechanism behind the scenes of .NET applications. The centerpiece of this new architecture is the Web services feature, and this text covers this powerful Web-callable interface well. ASP.NET and ADO.NET require somewhat of a new programming mindset from previous coding platforms, but this easy-to-read tutorial provides an easy entry point.

Topics covered in Programming Data Driven Web Applications with ASP.NET:
• .NET overview
• ADO.NET managed providers, data binding
• DataGrid control, templates
• Web form server controls, validation controls, editing and filtering data
• XML and SOAP
• BLOB uploading and displaying
• Web services, authentication, data caching
• ASP.NET reference, and ADO.NET reference.

From the Back Cover: Programming Data-Driven Web Applications with ASP.NET provides readers with a solid understanding of ASP.NET and how to effectively integrate databases with their Web sites. The key to making information instantly available on the Web is integrating the Web site and the database to work as one piece. The authors teach this using ASP.NET, server-side controls, ADO+, XML, and SOAP. The authors will teach readers how to manage data by using ASP.NET forms, exposing data through ASP+ Web Services, working with BLOBs, and using cookies and other features to secure their data.

About the Author: Donny Mack, native of Washington State, is one of the co-founders of DotNetJunkies, the training company solely dedicated to ASP.NET and ADO.NET. DotNetJunkies is also a free online centralized resource Website used by .NET developers to feed their .NET passion. Prior to founding DotNetJunkies with Doug Seven, Mack worked at Microsoft Corporation as a Visual InterDev/ASP Support Professional. Mack's need for bleeding edge technology is such that he spends his waking hours, (and some of his non-waking hours), writing code and developing content for DotNetJunkies. Mack's real enjoyment comes from watching attendants of DotNetJunkies's training courses walk away as obsessed as he is with .NET.

Doug Seven, born and raised in Seattle, WA, is one of the co-founders of the .NET training company, DotNetJunkies. Doug comes to DotNetJunkies by way of technical roles _at Nordstrom, Microsoft, and GiftCertificates; and as a Training Specialist at Seattle Coffee Company. As the son of a programmer, Doug was destined to become a developer. Growing up around computers, his career began at the tender age of 11 writing "Choose Your Own Adventure" games in BASIC on a TRS-80, (unfortunately none of his groundbreaking work from this period survived). His first professional IT job was as a lead for the long-term data storage and disaster recovery group in a dual-IBM Mainframe environment at Nordstrom. After a seven-year sojourn as a rock star (seriously!) Doug took on the role of Technical Lead in Microsoft's Developer Support group. After leaving Microsoft, Doug worked as a developer in digital certificate enablement technology for GiftCertificates before leaving to pursue life running his own company. DotNetJunkies provides hands-on training in ASP.NET and ADO.NET data access.

Customer Reviews
Quick and dirty code source, November 27, 2001
Reviewer: Graham Dobson from Toronto
Allow me a stretched comparison. Some of the most important film works have been made from sub-literary pulp fiction rather than the great literary works. Programming Data-Driven Web Applications with ASP.Net is no work of art, nor is it one of the great works of computer science; yet while the adolescent quality of the writing and punk simplicity of some of its baldest statements can be very annoying, it is actually a very useful book to quickly learn Microsoft's latest data access technology-- ADO.Net. The design of the code examples are definately not production quality, but the simplicity is actually an advantage for learning the syntax and object models involved. The book is also code intensive and builds over a number of examples. Which also helps! While I doubt that it will prove to be a lasting reference on either ASP.Net or ADO.Net it is a quick and useful read.

Too many water, April 4, 2002
Reviewer: Eugene Zilberleyb from Daly City, CA USA
I was looking for a book for advanced developers. Unfortunately this one is just for the beginners. There are lot of code examples, but most of them just a slight modification of the code from a previous chapters. Also author spend time describing how to use ASP.Net components, not how to solve real problems.

Good introduction to Data Driven ASP.NET, March 31, 2002
Reviewer: A reader from Scottsdale, AZ United States
I found the content of the book is invaluable. You could save $[money] or more cost of formal training by only paying the price of this book. What i like about this book over Wrox's is that it's not written by too many authors where i found any repetitive or inconsistent writing styles within the chapters. I'm expecting the same with their upcoming book "Developing Server Controls for ASP.NET"

New to .NET, February 28, 2002
Reviewer: Jason Richards from Princeton NJ
I held off having anything to do with .NET until the release of the final version one month ago. This book has been a fantastic introduction to many different aspects of ASP.NET programming. If you've had a fair amount of experience using ASP and ADO previously, this book will get you up to speed with ASP.NET in next to no time.

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