Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Denise Gosnell (Author), Matthew Reynolds (Author), Bill Forgey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2001

This book has been fully tested on and is compliant with the official release of NET.

Almost all applications have to deal with data access in some way or another. This book will teach you how to build Visual Basic .NET applications that make effective use of databases. Visual Basic .NET is the latest version of the most widely used programming language in the world, popular with professional developers and beginners alike.

Starting with a guide to the basic principles of database design, we then examine how to query databases and how to access their data - both in Windows applications and remotely using the Internet and Web Services. Every new concept is explained thoroughly with Try It Out examples, plenty of code samples, and end-of-chapter questions to test you.

This book covers:

- The basic principles of relational database design

- Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine

- Querying the database with the T-SQL language

- Visual Studio .NET and the Server Explorer

- ADO.NET and the DataSet

- Data binding, updating the database, and conflict resolution

- XML's role in ADO.NET

- Accessing data with ASP.NET and Web Services

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is aimed at people who already have some limited experience with the language, and are now ready to start programming database applications.

About the Author

Denise Gosnell, a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, works for Microsoft as a consultant in the MCS National Retail Consulting Group. She received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science - Business (summa cum laude) from Anderson University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University in Indianapolis. Denise is an attorney licensed to practice law in Indiana and is an active member of the Indiana and Indianapolis Bar Associations. She recently co-authored the MSDE Bible published by IDG Books in December 2000. Denise has worked in the computer industry for over 7 years. She hopes to find unique ways to utilize her diverse background in law and technology.

After working with Wrox Press on a number of projects since 1999, Matthew Reynolds is now an in-house author for Wrox Press writing about and working with virtually all aspects of Microsoft .NET. He's also a regular contributor to Wrox's ASPToday and C#Today, and Web Services Architect. He lives and works in North London and can be reached on [e-mail].

Bill Forgey has several years of consulting experience in software design and development. He has created many applications using ASP, Delphi, Pascal, Visual C++, and Visual Basic and specialized in n-tier architecture using SQL, ADO, and COM development. Bill currently works as the Technical Lead at a large bank introducing project methodology, new technologies, and training to different development teams throughout the bank. Bill can be contacted via e-mail at [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 695 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (December 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861005555
• ISBN-13: 978-1861005557
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,060,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew Baxter-Reynolds is an independent software development consultant, trainer and author based in the UK. His favourite way to communicate with like-minded technical people is Twitter: @mbrit

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, December 31, 2001

By 

Robert A. Reding (Lindenhurst, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases (Paperback)

Background ...

Prior to reading this book I read Beginning Visual Basic.NET, Professional VB.NET, Visual Basic and the .NET Platform, Programming VB.NET, and Moving to VB.NET.

If you are considering the Wrox series of VB.NET and ADO.NET books, I recommend reading the books in this order: Beginning Visual Basic .NET, Visual Basic .NET Databases, Professional VB.NET, and Professional ADO.NET.

Review ...

This is one of the best written programming books I've read. The authors did a great job in organizing the concepts and sample VB projects so that they built upon one another in a logical manner. The book focused on how to apply concepts rather than rehashing MSDN online documentation. I liked the approach of "here's a concept", "let's write some code", and "here's how the code worked". The diagrams were very effective in showing visually how things work.

The authors have a good understanding of the types of problems developers run into when storing and retrieving data for their first windows forms or web forms applications. They are also very effective writers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good, some bad, February 3, 2003

By 

tim (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases (Paperback)

Since this book has 3 authors, it would be interesting to know who wrote what parts. Some parts are very good, with understandable examples and clear explanations. Other parts I just scratched my head and wondered.

It's not that I didn't understand what they were doing, it's that I wondered why they were doing it. It seems they went out of their way to make parts of the code complex and confusing.

The main program developed in the book, the Product Management System, took 4 chapters. It could have been a great example of a simple program that taught the main points of database programming.

However, parts of the code was poorly designed and written, resulting in the program being overly complex and not functioning like a professional program should.

I feel that if you are teaching someone, you should show them the right way to do it. As a beginner in VB I am looking at the whole picture. Just because this book is about database programming, the authors should not ignore the quality of the rest of the language in their example code. Is it too much to ask the professional programmers who write books to write professional quality programs?

I currently don't have a better book to recommend. I've started reading another book I got from the library, but I don't have an opinion yet. To bad the library doesn't have more books on VB so I could try before I buy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book., April 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases (Paperback)

Visual Basic.NET Databases is a good book for learning how to use DOT with database for example SQL Server which this book is focused on. It also contains a good description on ADO NET. But its not a book for pure beginners, its best to have some knowledge of of VB6 with some objects before buying this book. This is new technology and Wrox done a good job and it's worth 3 stars.