Customer Reviews

Database Access with Visual Basic® .NET (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If there is one book that I, as a professional developer recommend that anyone interested in VB, let alone data-access should have, it is this one. The book is extremely well structured, very readable, packed with examples and above all, a true developer handbook. You'll find what you want in here, from SQL and DAO to ADO and OLE. Great bit on class programming too. I know the new edition is out but sometimes you do not always work on the best platforms as a developer. You need a reference - I've got another 3 or 4 for VB and they do not cut it compared to this. If there is a slight detraction, it is the extensive coverage of 3rd party controls...I seldom bother with CD-demos, they're already out of date. However, as important as the book is Jeff's accessibility, he's never failed to answer an E-mail (except when I mentioned Kenneth Copeland) on a technical query and also runs a good web-site.

I have been coding in ADO .NET with C# for about a year before I picked up this book. My new project is in VB .NET so I saw this book as a chance to brush up on VB .NET syntax. I found the book easy to read and also found many places where I was introduced to new concepts and easier ways of accessing data than I had discovered on my own. I have recommended this book to several people already and will continue to do so.

This book is a good fit for those looking for precise practical information on building datacentric applications with vb .Net
From database design to Xml web services, through SQL queries, ADO .Net, Winforms and web forms, this book is extensive in scope, easy to read, and practical to the end

I struggled for a long time to wrap my head around the new data access methodology of VB.Net. DataConnections, DataAdapters, DataSets, DataTables, DataGrids, DataViews, etc. It was all very confusing. This book divides up each of those components and shows how they stand independent of each other. Most helpful was how it introduced the dataset without using any database. Only when the concepts of the dataset were understood, did it tie in the dataset together to a database source. That approach is what got me past the confusion that was holding me back.

I didn't like the way the authors prefer to set everything in code instead of using the property pane and the designer but I got past that. Also, generally the code examples were more to demonstrate the principles being explained than to actually implement a technique one would like to do in a real-world application. That's not such a bad thing, but sometimes it's nice to have that too. I recommend this book for someone that needs to get the fundamentals of ADO.Net.

This book helped de-mystify ADO.NET for me. Database access in .NET is a complex topic that was handled elegantly in this book. It's clear, concise, easy to read, and has a good mix of prose and step by step instruction that one needs to get a jump start with ADO.NET. I recommed it highly.

I bought this book at a time when I needed to gain a better understanding of Access programming using VB and I was not disappointed. I now have a far better understand of ADO, DAO and SQL queries. I must thank Mr. McManus for his use of practical "real world" examples. Some are not as in-depth as I would have liked, however they do give you a solid foundation to start with.

The book is well layed out and clearly written. It can be read out of sequence. Each chapter is self contained. It shows how you can get a free copy of MSDE sql server 2000 and deftly outlines the versions and how to get started using it. It begins with a good recap of basics of database. It follows with basics of sql. Then does excellent job of enabling you to handle administrative tasks of sql on your machine and getting started. It talks about new interface ADO, ASP Net and ties in xml. Well done. Got me going from startup.

This is the book I have found the most helpful and practical. I found the example is so easy to follow. One of the most strucking point of this book is efficiency. You learned a lot in the shortest time.

To put this simply: I had never designed software via DB access tools (training doesn't count, I refer to paying development), and I had to prototype software to access a test table (MS Access) with multiple tables and queries. Note: I had limited experience with Access, and Data controls, and no experience with SQL, and I had 3 weeks to develop a prototype. This book was used extensively! The examples were clear (maybe too basic in spots) and extremely practical. The SQL examples in this book were actually more concise than the "SQL Language" book I was using! I STRONGLY recommend this book for programmers who must dive into DAO or RDO. P.S. The prototype was successfull and translated to VB6 perfectly. Thumbs way up!

Very useful and clear explanations, methodological, covering all the important aspects that any developer would need for accessing data base with Visual Basic.net. highly recommended