Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 [Paperback]

Andrew Mumford (Author), Mike Cai (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999 | Series: Beginning

This book explains and demonstrates how to create web applications, using Microsoft's premier web development tool - Visual InterDev 6. In this book you'll learn what a web application is, look at the major technologies behind web development, including object oriented programming and how to incorporate data from databases into your pages using Active Server Pages and ActiveX Data Objects, and be taken through all of the major features of Visual InterDev 6. From installing the necessary software and a basic guide to HTML, to writing your own VBScript pages and JavaScript ActiveX components, you'll create lots of useful samples for your real-life applications and will be encouraged to practice at every step of the way.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Written for those with minimal programming experience, Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 puts serious Web programming within the reach of any newcomer using an effective tutorial demonstrating the tools and technologies needed to use Microsoft Visual InterDev effectively on the Windows platform.

The best thing about this book has to be its common-sense approach to essential APIs and tools needed for Web development today, centering on Visual InterDev. It contains what you need to know about HTML (and DHTML), ASPs, VBScript and JavaScript, as well as database programming with ADO.

The title excels at showing off the features of Visual InterDev (and other tools) with hands-on exercises. There are dozens of screen shots here for installing and configuring not only VI but also SQL Server, Personal Web Server (PWS), and MTS. This book also has a good sense of the choices Web designers must make between universal access (and pure HTML) versus other features (like cascading style sheets, DHTML, and client-side script) that will add functionality while restricting browser access.

As it progresses, this text turns to Microsoft's recommended strategies for scalable design, namely using MTS-enabled COM business objects built with VB. In all, it's the thorough and efficient tutorial on essential Web standards (from HTML to XML, with excellent coverage of the support for JavaScript and VBScript available in VI) that make this book a success.

It used to be that the best way to learn programming was to concentrate on a single language like C, C++, or Visual Basic. But today's programmers must learn a variety of languages and standards to begin working on the Web effectively. Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 covers a number of the key Web technologies, with enough depth to get you started but without bogging you down in overwhelming detail. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Web application and HTML/HTTP basics, managing browser incompatibilities, ASP basics, Visual InterDev 6 installation and feature overview, layouts, themes and site navigation tools with VI, database basics with SQL Server 7 and Access, Design-Time Controls (DTCs) and data binding, VBScript and JavaScript tutorial, DHTML basics, using ActiveX components, ADO databases, introduction to XML, error handling and debugging, VB COM components, MTS and transactions, VI deployment.

From the Publisher

Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 is aimed at anyone who wants to learn how to create their own web applications, be it for a company intranet or a site on the World Wide Web. No prior knowledge of any programming language or web development is needed, although a basic familiarity with the Microsoft Windows environment is assumed. The database examples in the book primarily use SQL Server, although Access is also demonstrated as an alternative. To use this book you need to have any edition of Microsoft's Visual Studio 6.

Product Details

• Paperback: 617 pages
• Publisher: Peer Information Inc.; 1st edition (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861002947
• ISBN-13: 978-1861002945
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,682,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good start, but not really an introductory text, December 15, 1999

By 

Dennis Wallick (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 (Paperback)

I've been looking for a good book on Visual Interdev (VID) for some time, and even though I only give this book 3 stars, it's clearly a good choice for people who already know some web development basics.

Therein lies the problem: Visual Interdev can be so complicated that it really needs something beyond an introduction. This book goes half way. It explains the basics of how to use the VID interface, how to attach a database, how to write script, but falls flat when your data connection doesn't work right, when you can't figure out where to write a simple script on your web page, etc.

To use VID properly, you really need to know at least a few of the existing web technologies (HTML, SQL, ASP, JScript, VBScript) each of which merits an introductory text of its own (and are also available from Wrox Press). If you're looking for an introductory book to teach you how to build web sites, this is not the one, because it really is an intermediate text. If you already know HTML and one or two other web technologies, then this book will introduce you to a powerful (but buggy) web development tool.

That last point -- buggy -- deserve more merit from the author. VID has more bugs than I've seen in any development package. I would have given this book an additional star if the author had spent some time detailing some of the fundamental bugs in areas like data connections ans scripting errors.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Accomplishes its goals, but fails to meet expectations, October 30, 2000

By 

Beowulf (Laguna Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 (Paperback)

The scope of this book is very aggressive: Mumford attempts to cover just about every Microsoft-sponsored Web technology within 446 pages (despite boasting 700 pages, the non-appendix content only comprises 446 of those). This wide focus means that no one topic is covered in sufficient detail.

I'll give you the summary up front: as an introduction to Visual InterDev 6, this book shines (4 stars). This book also makes an excellent primer for Web technologies. However, I think a true beginner would be better served by focusing on a single area and gaining some confidence first, and then returning to this book for an idea on where to go next. As such, its value is somewhat limited (2 stars).

I'll move on to the content of the book. The order in which these subjects are presented is well-conceived.

Chapters 1 through 3 introduce VI6, and how you can create Web pages through the design interface-think FrontPage. We are introduced to Design Time Controls and site maps for navigation. We create a quick form, and enter a very short (four-line) JavaScript function. Mumford does not elaborate on forms, for example the differences between the GET and POST methods, nor does he spend any more time with JavaScript.

Chapter 4 covers the use of Themes for style, and introduces Design Time Controls (DTC's) and Site Maps for navigation. Themes are essentially out-of-the-box style sheets. Mumford does not delve into style sheets, or describe how you could customize themes.

Chapter 5 is about Database Basics. This is a great chapter that describes how VI6 can be used to develop databases. Some of the Web pages are built using DTC's. A couple of quick hits: at this stage, Mumford hasn't admitted that DTC's are ill suited for heavily trafficked sites. Nor does he mention that client-side DTC's expose all of the database connection information (including server name, user name, and password) within the HTML source that is sent to the browser.

Chapter 6 focuses on Client Side Script. After a brief admonition that JavaScript is a more suitable scripting language for use on the Internet, Mumford plows ahead and provides examples in VBScript. VI6 has some excellent tree controls for creating skeletal form handlers, and support for IE-specific DHTML. Of course, we aren't given a rigorous treatment of either scripting language. The chapter finishes up with using ActiveX controls, but fails to mention Java applets.

Chapter 7 is a decent introduction to Active Server Pages. Mumford touches upon the Response object, the Request object, and even the FileSystemObject. He discusses session state and briefly mentions server-side includes.

Chapter 8 revisits DTC's. The dirt finally comes out about them. I would advise you to avoid them altogether.

Chapter 9 is a good chapter about using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) to connect to a database. VI6 can provide some of the same "IntelliSense" features that are available in Visual Basic.

Chapter 10 is a concise, high-level introduction to XML. VI6 does not have any native support for XML, but Mumford does a good job of presenting the benefits of this new standard. I found the exercise of embedding an island of XML data within an HTML document, and using client-side script to navigate its recordset to be very interesting.

Chapter 11 is an admonition to include error-handling routines in your programming. If the stars are properly aligned, you might even get the server-side scripting debugger to work.

Chapter 12 discusses the benefits of moving business logic code from the ASP's into COM objects. There are several worthwhile statements made throughout this chapter with regard to Web application design. A very preliminary introduction to MTS is provided.

Chapter 13 starts out well with many valuable comments about designing your Web application's architecture. It then bogs down with a cursory discussion about Visual SourceSafe, and wraps up with the "Visual Component Manager."

Chapter 14 is the last chapter, and it is a case study for an internal help desk Web application. This is a great example to work through. It typifies real-life development in a Microsoft environment: mostly hand-coded pages, no DTC's, themes, or site maps, using ADO, and creating COM objects.

The appendices are relatively useless. The Visual InterDev menu reference can be discerned within the application itself, and the HTML, VBScript, and JavaScript references can be readily found in a multitude of electronic and hard-bound locations.

A better title would have been "An Introduction to Visual InterDev 6," for that is the aim this book sets out to achieve. I believe this book accomplishes this task very well. However, a beginner who purchases this book with the expectation that she will be a full-fledged Web developer by its end will be sadly disappointed.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Found it very useful, February 10, 2000

By 

M Britnell (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning Web Development with Visual InterDev 6 (Paperback)

This book treads the borderline between a beginning and intermediate text - and succeeds. It starts somewhere close to the beginning by introducing the basics of web development using the Visual Interdev environment, and progresses to explain how to use COM objects to make your site more robust and responsive. The book is a good example of the Wrox Press "Microsoft Technologies" approach, and gives a thorough understanding of not just the Visual Interdev product, but also of the many technologies used in a professional web site, namely ASP, VBScript, JavaScript, databases, and COM. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn this excellent product - it is well written and does not bog you down with unnecessary detail. It is clear, precise, and to the point. The examples are well thought out, and the book delivers all that it promises. Well done Wrox - once again!