Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express Database Applications with Visual Basic Express and Visual Web Developer Express: From Novice to Professional [Paperback]

Rick Dobson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2005

SQL Server 2005 Express is the database component of Microsoft's Express Suite of products. It is free of charge, inherits many (non-enterprise) features from SQL Server 2005, and comes complete with development and administration tools. As such, it is an ideal database for developers and administrators to use in prototype/evaluation projects. It is also a powerful development platform for database applications on nonprofit websites, e-commerce sites, and in small offices and departments.

Author Rick Dobson provides all of the installation, configuration, administration, and development techniques that you need to build applications quickly. He focuses on techniques that are easy to learn and transparent in their real-world translations. Topics include the SSMS-based query tool and T-SQL programming, and Visual Basic Express and Visual Web Developer, both with SSE, to build Windows Forms applications and to develop ASP.NET web applications.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rick Dobson has authored six books on database development with Visual Basic .NET, SQL Server, and Microsoft Access. In the past few years, he authored three DVDs on Visual Basic .NET, ADO.NET, and T-SQL. In addition, Dobson has written countless articles for computer periodicals, including SQL Server Magazine, Visual Studio .NET Developer, Visual Basic Developer, SQL Server Professional, SQL Server Solutions, Inside Microsoft Visual Basic, and Smart Access.

 

Dobson is also the webmaster for several web sites. His most popular site, ProgrammingMSAccess.com, focuses on the needs of VB .NET and SQL Server developers as well as Access developers. This site gets over one million page views annually, and thousands of site visitors register to receive a newsletter summarizing new developments and opportunities on the site. Dobson also founded the Database Developers Group, an international association of Microsoft database developers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (December 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590595238
• ISBN-13: 978-1590595237
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #979,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an author/trainer/webmaster. My area of specialization is database development. Among the programming topics that I like to prepare content about are SQL Server, T-SQL, Access, VBA, Visual Basic .NET, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET. I especially like working on the intersection of two or three of these topics at once.

I have been working with personal computers since the early 1980's. In the late 1980's, I started a part-time computer consulting practice, and I devoted myself to the practice on a full-time basis starting in 1991. I initially started consulting with 1-2-3 and Symphony before migrating to Microsoft Access as my main consulting tool. Microsoft selected me as a Microsoft Access hero to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Microsoft Access (http://www.microsoft.com/Office/previous/access/10years/dobson.asp).

Starting around 1999, I added coverage of Microsoft SQL Server. In fact, I spent a lot of time focusing on advanced ways of using Access and SQL Server together, and I authored a book on these topics. In early 2002, I added coverage of Visual Basic .NET, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET. I eventually authored two books and two DVDs on these topics. Most recently, I focused on SQL Server 2005 Express, Visual Basic Express, and Visual Web Developer Express. My most recent book describes how to build database applications with these three tools.

In addition to authoring books, I regularly write for computer periodicals. In the past several years, my articles appeared in such publications as SQL Server Magazine, Smart Access, Visual Studio Developer, SQL Server Professional, and SQL Server Solutions. My favorite approach in books and articles is to explain and demonstrate new or difficult topics in a way that makes them easy to use by beginning and intermediate level developers and professionals who create their own database solutions.

I have always enjoyed making presentations on computer topics. Starting in the early 1990's, I presented sessions at computer conferences. In 1999, I started sponsoring my own seminar training events. My sixth annual seminar training event consists of 21 hours of database development training for SQL Server Express, Visual Basic Express, and Visual Web Developer Express (http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/seminar2006).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still a bit rough, but useful, May 13, 2006

By 

Tom Pynchon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express Database Applications with Visual Basic Express and Visual Web Developer Express: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)

I've been a programmer for longer than most programmers have been alive, but I'm new to SQL Server and Visual Basic. This book looked like it would be the perfect introduction to both, but it seems to have been rushed to market. It appears that chapters 11 and 12 were once a single chapter, and were split without a lot of subsequent editing in either the book or the sample code on the website. On the second page of Chapter 12, for example, it says "The samples to this point in the chapter...", but there haven't been any samples to this point in the chapter. This is somewhat understandable in a printed book, but as I write this (5/13/2006) the book has been out for almost 5 months, and the sample code on the website still has all the code piled together in a folder called "Sample code for chapters 11 and 12". This makes it harder than it needs to be to find the code the author is referring to when one wants to get some context for the snippets of code in the book.

I don't have a problem with repetition in a book like this, because if you use books like this the way I do, you go straight to the table of contents or the index and then to whatever topic promises to solve the coding problem you're facing. A little repetition makes it more likely that all the information I need will be there in one place. With this book, that was generally the case -- I wasn't flipping back to Chapter 3 to understand a concept the author was discussing in Chapter 10.

The book has been useful to me in understanding SQL Server Express and how it can be used with Visual Basic Express. I wish it had more information about the VBE IDE and the files it generates, but the sample code appears to compile and work, and the explanations are clear and easily understood. There is also no real discussion of regular expressions, which (for me) is one of the new features of VB that made it worth reconsidering. The author dismisses them with the equivalent of "lots of people still don't understand them, so stick with String expressions", which just seems boneheaded to me.

I liked the fact that information about T-SQL and sqlcmd is included alongside the GUI alternatives. With the exception of regex info, most of what I needed to go from knowing nothing to knowing enough to get my work done was in the book and sample code. Considering the short shelf life of books like this one, and the tremendous effort that must go into writing and publishing them, I'm surprised that there are so many of them. While not perfect, I consider this to be one of the better ones.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review from a beginner's point of view, April 18, 2006

By 

James Akers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express Database Applications with Visual Basic Express and Visual Web Developer Express: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)

I have just a little experience in access 2000 so the thought of moving to SQL databases was scary. Rick Dobson did a great job of taking the fear out of SQL with his book Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express. He takes you step by step through the process of working with SQL Server 2005 Express. The lessons are paced for the beginners and the code examples work, that in it self is something new. He starts you at the beginners level and then brings you to some of the advanced topics.

I am only a few chapters into the book and I'm already starting to feel comfortable working with SQL databases. If you are just starting out in databases then this book is a must have.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars could be better, July 11, 2006

By 

Daddy Longlegs (Fairview, Tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning SQL Server 2005 Express Database Applications with Visual Basic Express and Visual Web Developer Express: From Novice to Professional (Paperback)

The main problem I have is with the lack of editting. His choice of words can really leave you confused sometimes. I keep having to cross out unneeded words and correct his grammar so that the puzzle will be solved if I need to come back and read the same part later.

And like one reviewer said, it's true: the author repeats a LOT of stuff. The book is frankly boring, so getting repeats of boredom is a double whammy.

And one other thing, it's not a project book. It's more like a random collection of summaries of projects he's done, as if you should know what he's talking about. The first real project doesn't begin until page 371. And even then, it's more like a review of notes he took while learning, instead of an explanation designed to elighten new learners.

I'm sure the author is very intelligence and very skilled with SSE, but I would like to see a better book. I'm sure the author is very intelligence and very skilled with SSE, but I would like to see a better book. Hehe, I just imitated his style with that repeat ;)