Developing Web Applications with Visual Basic. NET and ASP.NET [Paperback]

John Alexander (Author), Billy Hollis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471085170 | ISBN-13: 978-0471085171 | Publication Date: April 15, 2002 | Edition: 1st

John Alexander and bestselling author Billy Hollis show programmers how to develop enterprise-level Web applications using Microsoft's popular programming language—Visual Basic.NET.

• Features the incomparable insights and programming know-how of two popular Microsoft insiders, arming developers with proven tips and workarounds to use in their own projects
• Provides step-by-step instruction for creating business Web applications using ASP.NET and VB.NET
• Companion Web site contains all the code for the sample application

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The must-have book for experienced Visual Basic developers who need to build enterprise-level Web applications

Written by two well-known and respected Microsoft insiders, this book is essential for today's VB developer who is tasked with building enterprise-level Web applications using the core .NET technologies-- ASP.NET and VB.NET. After a brief overview of the .NET technologies, they launch right into practical information on how to be immediately productive within ASP.NET from an experienced VB programmer's point of view. They also walk you through an enterprise prototype application that accesses an enhanced version of Microsoft's NorthWind Database.

They arm you with tips, tricks, and workarounds that can be used in your own projects, including:
* Changes to ASP.NET development
* Object-oriented changes and enhancements to VB.NET
* Using DHTML and server-side controls
* ASP.NET Pages and Web forms
* Page navigation, validation, data access, and client-event handling using ASP.NET WebControls
* Creating and testing Web services
* Scalable data access with XML Designer and ADO.NET Data Set Designer

The companion Web site contains all the codes described in the book.

Wiley Computer Publishing. Timely. Practical. Reliable.

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/
Visit the companion Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/alexander

About the Author

JOHN ALEXANDER is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), as well as a Microsoft Regional Director. He currently works as a marketing technologist at G.A. Sullivan.
BILLY HOLLIS is a Microsoft Regional Director and an independent consultant. He is also an author and frequent speaker at COMDEX and VBITS.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (April 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471085170
• ISBN-13: 978-0471085171
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,998,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good info, poor proofreading, June 25, 2002

By 

"manonash1894" (Pleasanton, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Developing Web Applications with Visual Basic. NET and ASP.NET (Paperback)

I read this book cover to cover, and worked through virtually all the examples. There's a lot of good information here, but proofreading is poor, and more information is needed to get some of the more complex sample code (provided at the author's web site) operational on one's local machine. That's rather frustrating after making a large investment in studying the text.

Most of the textual content of the book is well-written and helpful. Chapter 6, "Using ASP.NET Web Controls", is a bit garbled and buggy.

The web page for downloads related to the book currently has no errata section, in spite of the existence of plenty of errata. Perhaps one reason there is no list is that no easy way is provided to contact the authors or publisher with bug reports.

For a five-star rating from me this book would need:

(1) Another proofreading pass, with emphasis on making sure code examples work (with thought given to conditions on local machines that might cause particular ones not to work); and

(2) An active feedback loop between readers and the author. A discussion forum for reader-to-reader interaction would be helpful, too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but needs an update, October 5, 2004

By 

William C. Faulk (Sandy, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Developing Web Applications with Visual Basic. NET and ASP.NET (Paperback)

This book gave me a good understanding of the methodology of ASP.NET as well as the concepts behind it. The organization of the book is good for someone new to ASP.NET and C# as it starts simple and proceeds forward in a logical manner to more complex topics.

However, I agree with a previous reviewer that an updated version or an errata page on the publisher's web site are sorely needed. This too kept me from giving it 5 stars.

This book was started with a pre-release of Visual Studio.NET 2002 so the example code won't match the code you generate yourself; most people should be able to figure out which parts of the sample code are relevent. A few of the samples won't work as-is but that shouldn't stop experienced programmers from figuring out how to get it to work.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff, October 12, 2002

By 

V B Chick (K.C., MO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Developing Web Applications with Visual Basic. NET and ASP.NET (Paperback)

I found this book to be very helpful! It is an excellent source of information for the VB6 developer making the transition to .NET. The OOP chapter was great. It's great for learning to use the IDE and other related features. In reference to the last review: I found that there are revisions and a feedback loop available at the website.