Essential ADO.NET [Paperback]

Bob Beauchemin (Author)

Book Description

Series: DevelopMentor | Publication Date: May 28, 2002

Discover what makes ADO.NET uniquely powerful -- and how you can use it to solve Web development problems that couldn't easily be solved with previous data access technologies. Beauchemin begins by outlining the tasks a contemporary data access API must address, explaining the ADO.NET capabilities that are truly novel, and describing the data storage styles and application types ADO.NET is best suited for. Next, using simple examples, he introduces each key component of ADO.NET: its data providers, DataSet object model, and XML data access model. Beauchemin explains how ADO.NET varies from the provider model common to traditional data access technologies, and introduces new features such as connection pooling and automatic distributed transactions. He presents in-depth coverage of ADO.NET DataAdapters, and offers detailed guidance on when to use a direct-from-the-database stream (the ADO.NET Data Reader) and when to use an offline cache. The book contains extensive coverage of data binding, XML and data access integration, XML data providers, data consumers moving from other data access APIs, and finally, the future of data access. For everyone building database applications with Microsoft technologies -- including more than two million Visual Basic developers who rely on ADO and need to understand the technology that is supplanting it. Foreword by Tim Ewald.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Essential ADO.NET is a comprehensive guide for developers of data-aware applications who want to transition to Microsoft's new .NET data access architecture. If you want to dig deep into the how's and why's of ADO.NET, this book will prove to be a worthy guide."

—Omri Gazitt, Product Manager of ADO.NET and Product Unit Manager, XML, Microsoft

"Bob Beauchemin packs a career's worth of knowledge into ten well-organized chapters, each one dense with information and insights. If you work with databases on Windows, buy this book."

—David Chappell, Principal of Chappell & Associates

Microsoft's ADO.NET enables Windows-based applications to access many types of databases from a variety of different vendors. This technology offers the advantage of cross-database flexibility that is essential for Internet and distributed-computing success.

Essential ADO.NET presents a thorough explanation of ADO.NET, exploring in depth the capabilities of classes, interfaces, properties, and methods. This book also examines the structure of data and demonstrates the ways in which ADO.NET can solve data access challenges. In particular, the discussion focuses on how ADO.NET effectively balances the need for generic functionality with efficiency, and how it is specifically designed to address today's need for scalability, concurrency, and robustness. A convenient reference for programmers moving from other data access APIs, including OLE DB, ADO, ODBC, and JDBC, Essential ADO.NET correlates classes and functions from these other APIs to those of ADO.NET.

You will find practical information on:

How the ADO.NET model can be used to access relational data stores

The DataSet class for in-memory data representation

How ADO.NET handles concurrency conflict-resolution problems

Guidelines for deciding when to use an online stream (DataReader) or offline cache (DataSet)

How to map database information using ASP.NET WebForm

How ADO.NET integrates relational data storage and XML representation with Microsoft's SQL Server

Essential ADO.NET is the most complete source of information for this crucial piece of the new Microsoft platform. Whether you are new to this application or have used it before, this book will help you to understand and get the most out of ADO.NET.

0201758660B05132002

About the Author

Bob Beauchemin teaches and develops courses on Microsoft database and enterprise technologies for DevelopMentor. He has 20+ years experience as a developer, sysadmin, instructor, and course author.

0201758660AB04152004

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Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Education; 1st edition (May 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201758660
• ISBN-13: 978-0201758665
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,652,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of info but a disappointing read., October 29, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Essential ADO.NET (Paperback)

After reading the reviews of this book I purchased it and was disappointed. While Bob Beauchemin certainly seems to know quite a bit about databases and ADO.Net I found that his writing style made it hard for me to learn as much as I had hoped I would. He tends to just state facts (useful as they may be) without giving proper context. He never seems to explain why something is the way it is. Similarly, while each example covers the intended functionality, they are only rarely explained.

Having finished reading the book I feel an army draftee who is taught how to shoot and march and then dropped into a war zone without a clue as to actually survive.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely written by an experienced and knowledgable author, October 4, 2002

By 

Southern California .NET User Group (SoCalNETug.org) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential ADO.NET (Paperback)

This book is most suited for an experienced database developer who wants to learn ADO.NET. It distinguishes nicely between connected and disconnected access. Later chapters provide specialized material for users of other database libraries who are converting to ADO.NET. Most code is fragmentary but some complete programs are available online. The code could be more clearly identified with the corresponding text sections.

Although this book starts with an introductory chapter with a brief introduction to SQL and the relational model, most chapters dive into discussions that might drown novices unless more tutorial background was included. However those with some database experience would find a useful detailed introduction to ADO.NET.

The book is easy to read. Each chapter has many code fragments, and perhaps a few complete programs. All those I tried compiled without error. The examples in Chapter 2, ADO.NET Basics, assume SQL Server is the database. While it would be easy to convert the examples to another provider, the data would not be available and users of other databases cannot execute these examples. The downloaded code contains some Palm database files, but without any explanation of what to do with them.

Chapter 4 has only two complete program available for download. The first is included in the book on p. 165, but Chapter 4 starts on p. 127. The second refers to a brief section at the end of the chapter which has no code. It would be much more helpful to have complete examples from earlier in the chapter.

The code fragments from Chapter 4 are available for download. It takes a while to correspond the code to the text. My sleuthing found that Figure 4.3 in the code is Listing 4.1 in the text, Figure 4.4 is Listing 4.2 and so on. The fragments compile and execute, but are not as helpful as complete programs.

The book is nicely written and has lots of information. The author is clearly experienced and knowledgable. It would be a lot easier to learn from if more complete examples were provided and clearly identified with specific sections in the text. ---Reviewed by Art G.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're programming with ADO.NET, you need this book!, June 25, 2002

By 

Rob Steward (Winston-Salem, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential ADO.NET (Paperback)

There is no question that Bob Beauchemin knows his stuff! Anyone who has done any database programming and wants to learn ADO.NET should read this book. Bob obviously has an incredible knowledge of database access standards and ADO.NET is no exception. I have read a number of books on ADO.NET at this point, but none of them even come close to explaining it in the clear and concise way that Bob does in this book. Having programmed with ODBC, OLE DB, and ADO, I loved the chapters that compare the common concepts and point out the ways to accomplish the same tasks that I was familiar with from the other standards.