Learning ASP.Net 2.0 with Ajax: A Practical Hands-on Guide [Paperback]

Jesse Liberty (Author), Dan Hurwitz (Author), Brian MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0596513976 | ISBN-13: 978-0596513979 | Edition: 1st Ed.

With this book, web developers can build engaging and interactive sites and applications using Microsoft's latest web development tools -- ASP.NET 2.0 and the new ASP.NET AJAX framework. You learn to create applications that have all the great tricks you see on popular commercial web sites, such as order forms and the ability to interact with a database. And you can build pages that display information interactively without a page refresh. This straightforward tutorial explains how.

Learning ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX helps you master the concepts and techniques of Microsoft's tools with plenty of annotated examples, review quizzes, web construction exercises and chapter summaries, so you can practice new skills and test your understanding as you go. With it, you'll learn to:

• Master the fundamental skills of ASP.NET 2.0 to build professional quality web applications



• Integrate new Ajax tools and CSS with ASP.NET 2.0 for flashier and more interactive sites



• Build applications with minimal coding using Visual Studio or its free counterpart, Visual Web Developer



• Connect your site with a database so that users can retrieve, interact and save data



• Debug your application, deal with unexpected problems, and protect your site from malicious users



• Use the community-maintained ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit to extend the controls that come with ASP.NET AJAX



• Use personalization tools to give your site a customized look for each user

Ideal for beginning web developers, or those who are new to ASP.NET, this book gets you involved with your own learning through hands-on lessons that are clear and to the point. You get the chance to try out new techniques on the spot. Want to join the world of modern web development? This book will get you started.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jesse Liberty, Microsoft .NET MVP, is the best-selling author of O'Reilly Media's "Programming ASP.NET", "Programming C#", "Programming Visual Basic 2005" and over a dozen other books on web and object-oriented programming. He is president of Liberty Associates, Inc. where he provides contract programming, consulting and on-site training in .NET. Jesse is a frequent contributor to O'Reilly Network web sites as well as many industry publications and has spoken at numerous industry events. He is a former Distinguished Software Engineer at AT&T and Vice President for technology development at CitiBank.

Dan Hurwitz is the president of Sterling Solutions, Inc., where for nearly two decades he has been providing contract programming and database development to a wide variety of clients.

Brian MacDonald has edited programming and networking books for major publishers on topics ranging from securing Windows servers to PHP web programming to running an eBay business. He also coauthored O'Reilly's Learning C# 2005 and Learning ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st Ed. edition (October 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596513976
• ISBN-13: 978-0596513979
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,369,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Silverlight Geek. (Senior Program Manager, Developer Community Liaison; Microsoft.) Helping to build a Silverlight developer community at http://SilverlightGeek.me.

Author of two dozen books on .NET and object-oriented programming including Programming C#, Learning ASP.NET with AJAX, Programming .NET 3.5 and forthcoming Programming Silverlight 4.

Queer Activist since 1971, father since 1989, avid reader since forever, eclectic music and film tastes, amateur photographer, programmer, writer, and loudmouth.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle but Complete Getting Started, October 11, 2007

By 

Brett Merkey (Palm Harbor, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learning ASP.Net 2.0 with Ajax: A Practical Hands-on Guide (Paperback)

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I am impressed at how well-paced and explanatory this book is. Usually the big problems I see in coding books have very little to do with the quality of the code and very much to do with care (or its lack) in pacing and organization. The result here is a book that thinks through and accounts for the questions beginners will have.

The authors direct themselves to developers asking the question "What is the quickest way for me to build real Web applications with the least handcoding?" They stick to that so closely, anyone worrying about the VB versus C# thing should not feel any hesitation on that account in getting this book.

The examples use Visual Studio or its free counterpart, Visual Web Developer. An appendix guides you through their installation and configuration, as well as that of SQL Express.

The book has a nice addition for the serious student: each chapter has a quiz and exercises -- with the answers provided in the back of the book.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding ASP.NET AJAX Learning Guide!!, March 20, 2008

By 

Daniel McKinnon "Dan" (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Learning ASP.Net 2.0 with Ajax: A Practical Hands-on Guide (Paperback)

'Learning ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX: A Practical Hands-on Guide' is another gem of a book by heavy technology author Jesse Liberty et al.. If you know about recent web advances over the last couple of years you know about AJAX which has revolutionized the Web 2.0 world, allowing for real apps to be made on the web. The user doesn't have to wait wait wait any more, as they can make decision/choices and get the feedback that they are expecting right away. AJAX technology basically splits pages up into "virtual divs" where instead of displayed content being control, handshakes and communication behind the scenes is what is modified. Early AJAX code was a bit flaky but Microsoft has made things easier with their ASP.NET AJAX set of controls and classes. In order to learn how to use these tools the user needed a book that laid things out in a logical fashion and did so in a tight, useful package, this book is the result!!

This ~500 page book is broken up in the following way:

01. Intro
02. Web Apps
03. AJAX Web Apps
04. Saving/Getting Data
05. Validation
06. Style sheets, Master Pages, Navigation
07. State & Life Cycle
08. Errors, Exceptions, Bugs
09. Security & Personalization
10. Epilogue

If you have a read a Jesse Liberty book in the past you know that you are getting a top notch quality product. He's so good at writing tech friendly books it's like sitting down with him. Examples are spaced out well and content is described in a VERY user-friendly manner.

If you develop with ASP.NET and want to implement AJAX on your site, PICK UP THIS BOOK. The only disclaimer is the code is written in VB but if you are a savvy programmer it shouldn't be very difficult to make the switch to C# if that is your flavor of the month.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable even for experienced Developers, January 13, 2011

By 

Lisa (Petersburg, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Learning ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX: A Practical Hands-on Guide (French Edition) (Kindle Edition)

I admit that just knowing Jesse Liberty wrote a particular book makes me want to read it. I just bought it, even though it addresses an older version of the .Net framework, because I knew I'd learn something. I am trying to add Ajax to my applications, and the books out there are a real mixed bag. I figured Mr. Liberty wouldn't let me down, and I was mostly right.
I usually read technical books by putting the Kindle for PC screen up on one monitor and working along with the book on the other. This book is so well-written and easy to read that I carried it around with me and read it like a novel. Some of it was old hat to me, since I am an experienced ASP.Net programmer, but I still learned a thing or two that will help me out a lot. Jesse Liberty has a way of explaining things that demystifies them, and the examples in the book build on one another clearly and effectively. By the end of it, you have a working site that implements a lot of useful ASP.Net stuff. My biggest complaint is that there wasn't more Ajax in it. That was a bit misleading. Mostly it is good old server-side ASP.Net programming. I would like to see this author produce a work specifically aimed at ASP.Net developers who want to add jQuery and Ajax to their sites. That's a book I'd buy for the Kindle AND on paper.