ADO.NET in a Nutshell [Paperback]

Matthew MacDonald (Author), Bill Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Series: In a Nutshell (O'Reilly) | Publication Date: April 2003

Written by experts on the Microsoft® .NET programming platform, ADO.NET in a Nutshell delivers everything .NET programmers will need to get a jump-start on ADO.NET technology or to sharpen their skills even further. In the tradition of O'Reilly's In a Nutshell Series, ADO.NET in a Nutshell is the most complete and concise source of ADO.NET information available.

ADO.NET is the suite of data access technologies in the .NET Framework that developers use to build applications services accessing relational data and XML. Connecting to databases is a fundamental part of most applications, whether they are web, Windows®, distributed, client/server, XML Web Services, or something entirely different. But ADO.NET is substantially different from Microsoft's previous data access technologies--including the previous version of ADO--so even experienced developers need to understand the basics of the new disconnected model before they start programming with it.

Current with the .NET Framework 1.1, ADO.NET in a Nutshell offers one place to look when you need help with anything related to this essential technology, including a reference to the ADO.NET namespaces and object model. In addition to being a valuable reference, this book provides a concise foundation for programming with ADO.NET and covers a variety of issues that programmers face when developing web applications or Web Services that rely on database access. Using C#, this book presents real world, practical examples that will help you put ADO.NET to work immediately.

Topics covered in the book include:

• An Introduction to ADO.NET
• Connections, Commands and DataReaders
• Disconnected Data
• Advanced DataSets
• Transactions
• DataViews and Data Binding
• XML and the DataSet

Included with the book is a Visual Studio .NET add-in that integrates the entire reference directly into your help files. When combining ADO.NET in a Nutshell with other books from O'Reilly's .NET In a Nutshell series, you'll have a comprehensive, detailed and independent reference collection that will help you become more productive.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bill Hamilton is a software architect specializing in designing, developing and implementing distributed applications using .NET and J2EE technologies. Over the last ten years, he has provided consulting services in B2B, B2C, B2E, data integration, and portal initiatives for banking, retail, accounting, manufacturing, and financial services. An early technology adopter, he frequently evaluates, recommends, and helps his clients use new technologies effectively. Bill has designed and helped build several award winning software packages. Bill is the co-author of O'Reilly's ADO.NET in a Nutshell and author of ADO.NET Cookbook.

is President of ProseTech, a software documentation consultancy, and a project manager at VoiceIQ (http://www.voiceiq.com/), a provider of software for interactive voice-enabled applications and services. Matthew is a coauthor of the ASP.NET in a Nutshell (O'Reilly), and a contributor to the C# in a Nutshell (O'Reilly) API reference.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596003617
• ISBN-13: 978-0596003616
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,556,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Microsoft MVP 2005 - Visual C# loves this one, July 25, 2005

By 

Robbe D. Morris "Robbe Morris" (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ADO.NET in a Nutshell (Paperback)

I own over 50 books on .NET including several on ADO.NET. This book is my favorite on ADO.NET. Thus, it is the one I use most often. It has a great blend of discussion, documentation, and code samples. It is much easier and more thorough than much of the MSDN documentation or most other books. I've yet to run into a situation where the answer I need isn't either in this book or gives me a great starting point to find that answer.

Virtually every ADO.NET oriented class, method, event, and property is covered.

This book is definitely worth purchasing.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for beginners, academic interest for advanced., December 10, 2003

By 

Clive Sinclair (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ADO.NET in a Nutshell (Paperback)

The first third of the book discusses, with code samples, how the component parts (connections, data providers, data readers, data sets etc.) fit together. This is interesting.

The next third analyses the classes themselves but can be seen as a help rehash (altho' this is a little harsh since it does go into more detail than the standard help).

And the last third lays out the namespaces themselves and shows the classes within them, tabulating their members without further comment. Not useful.

In the end, I still didn't feel confident enough to develop even a simple application (except with the data grid, as in many samples). Why would I want to merge two data sets, and why do I get duplicates in the data set but not the underlying data base? What exactly happens when I Update, or EndEdit()? When I do a Fill() on a dataset, am I really sucking the entire data into memory?! Is this efficient, what is Best Practice on this?

ADO.NET puts a large, complex, flexible abstraction between the developer and the database itself, and what is needed is someone to show the "correct" way to use all these bits in real-world programs.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible!, April 28, 2004

By 

Keith (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ADO.NET in a Nutshell (Paperback)

I've owned this book for 3 days and cannot put it down! I have not been a big fan of O'Reilly over the years, but this book is "incredible". It goes into the detail that most books seem to omit and it's those details that we "developers" desperately need.

I would recommend this book to ANY and ALL .NET developers who are writing code that hits against a database. There are topics covered in this book that Microsoft's own MSDN and VS.NET help system seem to fail at properly explaining. It's because of this that I've found myself (all too often) going to codeguru.com and google groups to get answers to ADO.NET questions that this book actually covers.

My hat goes off to authors Matthew MacDonald and Bill Hamilton on a job well done.

Coming from a Visual Basic background and now working in VB.NET and C#.NET, this book should satisfy both the VB.NET and C# developer.