Customer Reviews

Dreamweaver UltraDev 4: The Complete Reference

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is one of a kind. My reference here is to the fact that it is actually a well written technical book. Usually these books are slapped together and thrown on the shelf. This book actually taught me scads. I am still reading it, but had to go to Amazon and let everyone know that this is the book to get if you want to understand Dreamweaver UltraDev.

I am a web designer and haven't any programming background. I was a bit frightened of getting into the data driven side of the web until I got Dreamweaver UltraDev. I found UltraDev hard to learn until I found this book. I bought two other books first, but they were not written in a way that put things together for me.

From the first page this book made sense! For me one of the best things were the tutorials on the CD. They did not assume I knew anything (smart!). I went through them without a hitch and gained an understanding of how UltraDev works, then I hit the book. I am learning like crazy. I have never bought a technical book that explained things in a way that was so accessible to me. This book deserves 6 stars not 5!

Raymond Fornsworth...

As a newbie to UltraDev I was glad to hear of this book as I found the Macromedia documentation to be a little thin. This book filled in some of the gaps but still left questions unanswered, some pretty common questions! The SQL chapter spent too much time on specifics like formatting responses and didn't touch on common useful queries like Union Select. I was also hoping to have more instruction on the graphical interface side of UltraDev, but unfortunatly the authors like to do much of their development in the code view. This is helpful for learning about ASP, CFML, etc. but doesn't really embrace the concept of UltraDev which is marketed as a graphical development environment. Some examples appeared useful at first glance, but then as you walk through it you discover at the end it won't work on your particular configuration. Large type and repeated, unnecessary graphics make the book appear to have more content than it actual does - also you almost have to rip the back cover off to get the CD envelope out of the book! I was also hoping to learn how to use Flash in UltraDev, but this didn't get touched on either. All that being said, this is still probably the best reference out there, and the authors write in a concise, lucid style. It's saved me on more than one occasion! If you want to learn more about UltraDev though I recommend picking up a Dreamweaver 4 book as well...

'Dreamweaver UltraDev 4: The Complete Reference' covers all of the technologies you need to understand in order to begin building interactive sites with UltraDev: beginning SQL, database design, web page layout, scripting, and application servers. ColdFusion, ASP, and JSP all receive equal time, and beginning developers should feel at ease with the introduction to app server and database concepts. Advanced developers will benefit from almost 200 pages (!) covering extension and object development.

My shop uses UD to build web applications and "The Complete Reference" is the best single resource I could recommend for UD developers of any skill level. This book takes a place on my shelf alongside Ben Forta's 'ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit' as a model of lucid, useful technical writing. Thanks, guys.

It's funny that when you read the reviews of this book (which I thought was excellent, BTW) that one person says it was too code heavy and the next says it was too basic. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that's what makes the whole of these reviews useful. The diversity probably means that the book hit its mark as a complete reference targeted at many levels of users.

To express your opinion about the book is one thing. To insult the authors and their website is uncalled for and petty. If you want to know how much these "kids" know, spend one day in the Macromedia newsgroups and see the help and support they offer and how respected they are. Their site offers some of the most advanced (and, I believe, award winning) extensions available for the product.

Listen to the multitude of other reviewers who have offered tremendous praise for this book and get it if you want to learn UltraDev front to back. Yes, it shows you the basics, but it contains material more advanced than is available anywhere else for this program. It is not perfect, but it is indeed a Complete Reference.

Unless you came from the right programming background, picking up Ultradev out of the box and knocking out DB driven websites wasn't an easy task. Sure UltraDev is loaded with great things, but figuring out how to use them was a bit of a mystery. Well, this book sets that all straight and really gives utility to a great piece of software.

I am not from a programming background, and only started trying to work on our company website last year. I struggled trying to learn things as best I could, but really made progress once I got this book. It clearly lays out just about everything you'd need to know, and more (i.e. extensions, etc). It reads well, seems well organized, and has bits of humor here and there.

If you're planning on using UltraDev, spend the money to get this book. You'll definitely make good use of it.

The complete Reference Dreamweaver UltraDev 4 book is MORE than just a simple resource book that covers the basic bells and whistles that many resource books tend to follow. I've been a fan of Dreamweaver for the past four years making most my websites with limited information on the more technical aspects of Dreamweaver UltraDev. This book however has some of the most advanced techincal experts using UltraDev showing you the inner workings of this powerful program. This book supplies covers every aspect of UltraDev from configuring your site to utilizing the powerful languages of ASP, Java, and Cold Fusion. There is even an extensive information on building server behavior extensions, objects, queries and e-commerce applications. This book rates high on my list of books to read relating to cutting edge web development.

Had this book for about three days and love it! Quite a bit stuff included and well worth the price. I appreciated the reference included for ASP, and UltraDev was covered very well. If you're trying to excel at UltraDev and learn some of it's great features, you'll find this book a welcome addition to your arsenal. Thanks to Ray, Tom Allen and Tom Muck as well for their support within Macromedia's newsgroups, and congrats on a job well done with this book. Look forward to the Complete Reference on UltraDev 5 :) (if it indeed does happen)

This book does slightly better than other references in explaining the technologies that UltraDev exploits, but it is actually weak in terms of actual information about UltraDev. Unfortunately for those who are new to UltraDev, you will find that the information is not presented in a learner-friendly style. I would recommend this book to a middle-of-the-road UltraDev user who does not have a strong background in coding. All others, look elsewhere.

This book is an Ultradever's dream. It's well organized - completely covers applications and is versatile enough to read cover to cover - or a section at a time for the problem you need solving. The excellent examples and server behaviors on the accompanying CD are the icing on the cake. This book has saved my skin on three different projects already. It comes complete with a web site to answer individual questions and get further help. If you can afford only one book on Ultradev 4, make it The Complete Reference!!

I had a background in Dreamweaver and I knew a little asp, after reading this book from cover to cover I am not only confident in constructing data driven sites with ultradev, but I have improved my knowledge of asp sql, and database design quite considerably.

This book goes into details on things like database design and security, and constructing sql statements. The book also gives an overview of the three different server models that UD uses (asp, jsp, cfm) and gives an overview of VBscript, JScript, Java and ColdFusion scripting languages. It even explains how to write your own extensions for ultradev.

The book doesn't really delve into UltraDev until after the halfway point in the book but when it does it explains how to use all features and hoe to use them well. The last chapter shows you how to construct an eCommerce application with UltraDev.

If you are looking for a book on UD then but this book - great for the beginner or the expert, a lot of thought went into this one. I can't think of anything this book left out it really is a complete reference.