Drumbeat 2000 For Dummies [Paperback]

Gayle Kidder (Author), Stuart Harris (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764506242 | ISBN-13: 978-0764506246 | Publication Date: September 17, 1999 | Edition: 1

Trial version of Drumbeat 2000 on CD-ROM!

Your shortcut to database-driven ventures on the Web!

Power your site with Active Server Pages or Java Server Pages no coding required! If you're excited by the prospect of an interactive, database-driven Web site, but dread all the complex coding involved, relax! With this handy guide and the point-and-click, no-code scripting of Drumbeat 2000, you'll soon be creating easy-to-maintain, fully interactive ASP-or JSP-powered Web pages that port your existing databases to the Internet. all this on the bonus CD-ROM Trial version of Drumbeat 2000 DrumNote — Various mini Drumbeat sites with demonstrations of components Web Remote Control Version 1.0 from Interland, Inc. Evaluation version of Paint Shop Pro 5.X For details and system requirements, see the CD-ROM appendix Plus leading Internet software

Discover how to: Connect any database to your Web site Build Active Server Pages or JavaServer Pages like a pro Create interactive pages with custom scripting — automatically Use style sheets for pixel-perfect designs

Get smart! www.dummies.com

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Harnessing Web development technologies can be quite a daunting task, and products that help ease the burden are all the rage. Elemental Software's Drumbeat 2000 falls into this category, and Drumbeat 2000 for Dummies is as plain-speaking a guide to the tool as you'll find.

Drumbeat 2000 for Dummies explains Drumbeat's features, organized by task. Since Drumbeat encapsulates the features of many established technologies such as HTML, ASP, JavaScript, and JSP, the focus of the book is on Drumbeat's unique functionality and terminology and not the details of the code it creates under the covers. For a really comprehensive understanding of what's going on, you'll want to pick up a basic Web development title after you've mastered Drumbeat with this Dummies guide.

This tutorial is organized wisely: a look at the basics is followed by a section on database design and advanced concepts for tighter control. Drumbeat is especially useful in creating database-driven ASP and JSP Web sites, and the authors ease you gently into the process. They show you how to organize various media "assets," create a database, and hook the whole mix together as a Web site.

Each topic is presented with bite-size numbered exercises that teach through hands-on tasks such as "Setting Up the Submit button." The book includes a CD-ROM that contains, among other things, a trial version of Drumbeat 2000. (The overall presentation of this book is engaging and entertaining; however, seasoned Web developers will have to adapt quickly to Drumbeat's one-of-a-kind terminology.)

The book finishes off with a novel case study--a one-day Web site that acts as a tongue-in-cheek psychiatrist. While an unconventional topic, it illustrates well the possibilities for rapid development. If you're looking to leverage Drumbeat 2000 to build top-notch Web sites without the steep learning curve, Drumbeat 2000 for Dummies is the logical place to start. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: Creating basic Web sites, quick styles and effects, frames and styles, ASP/JSP database connections, forms, database searching/filtering, scripts and contracts, database basics.

About the Author

Gayle Kidder is a technical writer and editor. Stuart Harris is a software designer and coauthor of Internet Secrets^®. Together, they've written several books on HTML.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (September 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764506242
• ISBN-13: 978-0764506246
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,160,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A flawed book that is still helpful, December 22, 1999

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drumbeat 2000 For Dummies (Paperback)

I like the dummies books -- they help you get your foot in the door quickly, usually in an afternoon. I didn't find the book as bad as many other people here have, but many of the problems mentioned here (ie., especially those with the cd) are real and significant.

Before anyone buys this book, I'd strongly suggest they download the demo copy of Drumbeat if at all possible, and look at the docs that come with it. It's a big download (60MB), so that might not be possible for everyone. But the demo product comes with a quick start guide and a full manual, and both of them are very well done. I think they're much better than the Dummies book, they're official, and they're free. In any event, I've gotten more use from them than I have from this book.

If you compare the value of your time to the cost of these books, you'll find that you don't need much value from a book to make it worthwhile. So my feeling is that if you want to master Drumbeat, you might as well buy this book, even if it is flawed, since it's the only one out there, and another perspective on the subject is helpful. But I don't think it's the best way to learn the product from scratch.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for BEGINNERS in lack of other books, beats the manuals, October 1, 1999

By 

Bharat Suneja (Fremont, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drumbeat 2000 For Dummies (Paperback)

Drumbeat 2000 is a great idea, but not a very mature product at the moment. Hopefully, Macromedia's acquisition will do good things - the support is already improved.

Domain knowledge of databases (Access & SQL or other ODBC-compliant), queries, etc., AND Active Server Pages (for Intermediate/Advanced Users) is required to effectively use DB2K. There are not many books/references available. This is what the Dummies book benefits from.

By the very fact that it is the first and only book (as of now) on a very powerful and complex tool, it deserves to be on every DB2K users bookshelf/desktop. It beats the manuals. There are a lot of visuals which really help in navigating through DB2K's extensive set of menus and dialog boxes.

Dummies books tend to oversimplify things, and this book is no different. However, The authors do try very hard to make DB as easy as possible for the newbie and cover a lot more ground than the documentation. The Dummies writing style and typography is just about tolerable, since we have nothing else to turn to.

Overall, a GOOD BOOK for BEGINNERS/INTERMEDIATE users. Advanced users should stay away. The CD does not contain any new Contracts/Interactions.

Why the 4 *? It's the first DB book. Goes further than the documentation.

Awaiting more Drumbeat books - well written, in-depth, well-designed books with lots of "How-To"s and case-studies from start to finish, step-by-step, which give complete details of constructing complex real-world web sites with Drumbeat & SQL Server.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it., December 27, 1999

By 

David A. Stott - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drumbeat 2000 For Dummies (Paperback)

Lesson 1. Drumbeat 2000 is NOT for Dummies. On the contrary, it is for tough guys. No weenies allowed. It is powerful, but commands respect. it works like nothing else, but you don't need nothing else to use it.

Lesson 2. Tough guys need documentation too. They just don't read it. Unless they have to.

Lesson 3. There are no other forms of documentation, just 60mbs of greek (the built-in doc.) Tough guys can read greek. But sometimes they like english too. This is english.

Lesson 4. Whilst you are pulling your hair to become a Jedi DB2K Master, you will consider the 30 bucks to airfreight this to your door, the best deal since Anakin pulled that fast one.

Lesson 5. Maybe you think you don't need this. Maybe you're a tough guy and a friggin genius too. Then go install SAP while me and the boys are getting down with DB 2000.