Customer Reviews

ASP.NET MVC Framework Unleashed

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Disclosure: I do not own this book, but the review is based on reading the first 4 chapters from my Safari subscription.

This book is a really, really great starting point for learning ASP .NET MVC. An important caveat is that you need to do the NERD DINNER tutorial first before ANYTHING! I'm real particular about my learning style and had baulked at the mere 10 reviews the book had received, but really, don't let that dissuade. This is a great book and the author breaks things down into easy to understand chunks. I will say that he isn't as detailed as the Nerddinner tutorial in explaining the Visual Studio features for adding Views & Controllers, but the description's for doing so should suffice.

Some people may not like that the code examples are in both C# & VB .NET; however, I don't mind this. It certainly adds to the size of the book, but I haven't found many books going through this stuff and showing VB .NET code, so that can only be a plus. Another gotcha is the book uses the Entity Framework for data access. I don't mind this since I haven't had exposure to it, but I think that might turn off some people. To be perfectly honest, I don't think there's a book that explains the basics of ASP .NET MVC in conjunction with NHibernate or ORM's outside of LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework. I did look at ASP.Net MVC in Action on Safari and I can tell you that it is definitely not a starter book; however, if you want exposure to using third party frameworks with ASP .NET MVC, that might be your book.

Okay after making to about chapter 19, I've come back to this review and bumped it down to 4 stars. My main bother here is that there isn't a published errata and their needs to be one. Thankfully, this doesn't come into play until Chapter's 17 & 19. The mistake made in both chapters is they start using classes without A) defining the code for the class b) without mentioning the class anywhere outside of a code example that assumes their prior creation C) a & b.

This isn't a huge deal, just download the book code and know that you will have to copy the code for the following classes:

UnleashedBlog.Models.BlogEntry (Chapter 17)
UnleashedBlog.Models.BlogServiceBase (Chapter 19)
UnleashedBlog.Tests.Factories.ControllerFactory (Chapter 19)

The last 2 really ticked me off because there is absolutely zero mention of their creation until they are magically used in code. Despite this, they aren't complicated classes and you can still understand what they are doing without the book having to elaborate.

Despite it all, I still recommend this book. I've gone through most of the chapters at this point and have found it a really good jumping off point for learning ASP .NET MVC.

I've always been a fan of Stephen Walther's [...]Unleashed book (arguably one of the most popular[...]books ever) and his latest [...]Unleashed book doesn't disappoint. As with his previous book, Stephen takes the time to walk through a lot of nice details that other books tend to skip over such as creating data repository classes and interfaces, integrating data repositories into controllers, tips and tricks that can be used during unit testing, building custom HTML helper classes, [...]using caching, adding jQuery into the mix, plus much more.

If you're interested in a book written by someone who really understands how to explain technology and who knows the [...]framework inside and out then I'd highly recommend getting this book. Stephen Walther knows his stuff and explains the technology in a way that's easy to digest. Code samples are provided in both C# and Visual Basic.

I own asp.net mvc in action as well as this book but I have to say this is much more organised in terms of flow and explanation. Small pieces of code to illustrate each concept works great for me. On contrary, asp.net mvc in action talks of a code camp app and might not be the first book you want to read since you might get lost if you are new to MVC. Nothing against asp.net mvc in action since it is a good book as well but you will grasp much more if you read this first and then dive into "in action".

this book is really great for any one who wants not only to learn ASP.NET MVC but also apply it to real world projects.
the author even describes how to implement real world design patterns and how to produce neat code. I really love that.

This is an OK ASP.NET MVC book. The structure of the book is that first Stephen describes various features of the ASP.NET MVC framework with shorter code examples and then in the later 6 chapters of the book we are building a larger blog application. I think the idea of first decribing the ASP.NET MVC features in shorter code examples and then later employing them in a larger app is good. It makes it easier to understand. All the way through the book Stephen is consistently testing his code with Visual Studio Unit Testing, so it's cool that you also get an introduction to this practice. When we are building the blog app in the second part of the book, Stephen is practicing Test Driven Development. Her start each chapter with some user stories (Use cases) which he wants to implement. The initial tests he then also generates from the user stories. So it's also cool to get an introduction to TDD. Stephen is an OK teacher. I think it's cool how he ties use cases, to tests to coding. The picture Stephen is painting is simple and clear. One drawback to the book is that Stephen is using some projects (RouteDebugger and MvcFakes) for test and debugging, which he don't explain the code of. It maybe falls outside the scope of the book, but I think I would have liked to understand how the codes of these projects worked. The book is a rather quick and light read. If you pick this book up to get introduced to the ASP.NET MVC framework you will be OK.

Have you ever read the book "ASP .Net Unleashed" by the same author and did you like it ? If so, you will like

this book by the same author. The author explains MVC by simple examples using understandable sources. The topics covered includes : Controller, Views, Models, HTML Helpers, Action Filters, Model Binders (Default, Custom), Action Routers, View Engine etc. Also the author introduces concepts like Unit Testing, Mocking, Good software design principles like DRY, SOLID, Repository design pattern etc. There is a couple of chapter explaining jQuery and AJAX. I also like the appendix which explains the new language features in Visual C++ which are fundamental for MVC framework, and the tools like mocking tool etc.

After introducing the MVC concepts the author then moves to the second part where he is creating a Blog application from the scratch reinforcing the concepts we learnt in the first part.

Overall I would recomment this book to everyone as it helps in understanding MVC clearly by using simple examples.

I typically do not review books as a) I feel often very unqualified to do so and b) most of the books I buy already have tons of comments. This book, however, is so good and has helped me so much that I felt it was time to go "out of the norm" and post a review. I first bought Palermo's book and while it's thorough, it dived into topics that were out of scope for the title and also over my head. While I've been developing ASP.NET since it's inception I haven't had the time to dive into some of the third-party tools and methodologies that Palermo's book relished in. Walther's video tutorials offered much more "beginner's guidance" and then escalated and built upon each other. So I took not such a large gamble and bought Walther's book. This turned out to be a very great decision. He has helped move me from the ASP.NET mindset and into an MVC one. He does eventually get to some of the complexities that Palermo's book offers but only after he has primed you for it and shown you the basics. Great job Mr. Walther and keep putting them out there. I will keep your name on my radar when seeking another technical book.

By far, this book is the best of the ASP.NET MVC books currently available. While at first it was a bit difficult with both VB and C# code in the examples, I soon got past that, and came to appreciate why both .NET languages were included. What I especially like is the detailed instruction on how to use LINQ 2 SQL and/or the Entity Framework in building an MVC site. The included Generic Repository code is great.

The examples are clear, the writing is concise yet very explanatory. Best of all the code just works. I run the Inland Empire .NET User's Group (www.iedotnetug.org), and we are teaching a free MVC class to the community. I wish this book had been available when we were planning the class. We will probably suggest this book for future classes.

This is the first book by Stephen I have read, and I look forward to reading his other and future books.

James Johnson
Founder and President, Inland Empire .NET User's Group
Microsoft MVP, Client App Dev

I have read many of Stephen Walther's books and this one--like the others--is written for the real world developer by a real world developer. I love the fact, that unlike competing books that are written by a gaggle of writers, this one is written by a single person which means much better focus and direction. If you buy one ASP.NET MVC book, this should be it, with examples thoughtfully written in both C# and VB.

Stephen Walther continues a SAMS tradition in the "Unleashed" series for professionals, including books on AJAX, Silverlight, WCF, LINQ, SQL Server Analysis Services, and others. The series covers both the essentials and the detailed implementation of a successful strategy in implementing the technology.

In ASP.NET MVC Framework Unleashed, Walther uses both prominent ASP languages, C# and VB.NET to illustrate each point. Though this takes up more space than most texts, it provides real, duplicable code to use in accomplishing tasks.

Walther moves deftly between providing simple examples that demonstrate key points, and providing complete coverage of all options available for topics like the types of HTTP operations available, and how AcceptVerbs relates to this in controllers. He also introduces the breadth of external resources available that interact with MVC, such the NHaml view engine.

He walks you through a simple "Hello World!" application, a simple data enabled application, then goes through each of the key components of a successful MVC application. Finally, he pulls it together with a complete blogging application.

ASP.NET MVC Framework Unleashed gives a practical exposition of a complex topic. It includes just the right blend of workable code and reference material. It is a fine way to learn MVC.