Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source [Paperback]

Jeffrey Bardzell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321336259 | ISBN-13: 978-0321336255 | Publication Date: November 21, 2005

Learn by doing! Follow along, step-by-step, as you upgrade a static HTML site that uses obsolete code to an XML standard-compliant, CSS-formatted dynamic site using Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), Macromedia ColdFusion, or the open source PHP. Create several integrated applications for a fictional travel tour operator, including a searchable listing for tour descriptions, country profiles, and a tour price calendar. In this official Macromedia guide, you’ll learn how to:

• Use a relational database—Microsoft Access or MySQL—as the driving force behind a site
• Use Dreamweaver’s built-in server behaviors and application objects to assist in the rapid development of dynamic Web applications
• Read and hand-code ASP VBScript, ColdFusion Markup Language, and PHP scripts well enough to understand how dynamic Web pages work, troubleshoot errors, and customize scripts
• Collect and  manipulate user-entered data, performing calculations on the fly
• Use SQL to pass information between your pages and the database
• Validate forms using client-side and server-side scripts
  

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jeffrey Bardzell is an IT Trainer and multimedia instructional developer at Indiana University. He has developed many courses and authored numerous books on Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and ColdFusion, including the previous edition, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source from Macromedia Press. He co-founded Allecto Media, an eLearning development and consulting company, with his wife.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Macromedia Press (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321336259
• ISBN-13: 978-0321336255
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,270,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing At Best, March 13, 2006

By 

Jesse DeBear - See all my reviews

This review is from: Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source (Paperback)

The book was good up until the 10th Chapter in my opinion. I went through the excercises developing on a remote server running PHP/ MySQL. Up until the 10th chapter the author made several minor mistakes in the hand code to insert for both PHP and also in how to modify the existing SQL file to upload it to a remote database server via PHP My Admin. I must admit that researching and solving these mistakes on my own was a valuable learning experience. The real problem occurred starting with chapter 11. After uploading and testing my pages after each step as coached to by the author I began getting MySQL syntax error messages prompting me to consult the manual for my version of MySQL. I verified that my hosting company was running the same version of MySQL that the author demonstrated to those developing locally to install so I loaded the completed pages for the lesson from the CD and they would not open at all. At least the pages I was developing would load and had some functionality so that tells me that there was not even continuity between the completed pages on the CD and the text in the book. I think that is pretty inexcusable that nobody bothered to make sure that the completed projects worked in all development environments both locally and remote. I would have to say that the book is a complete waste of time for the PHP/ MySQL developer. To be fair I plan to upgrade my hosting account to include Cold Fusion so I can go through the book again following the Cold Fusion steps. Maybe they will work fine, one can only hope. Right now I can't recommend the book as it was extremely frustrating to put in all the time I did in the earlier chapters only to run into an insurmountable roadblock. One other thing of note is that the author invited readers to visit his website for updates and errata but when you go there you find that it has not been updated since 2004 and doesn't even mention Dreamweaver 8. It also says that the author's company is out of business so I must assume that Adobe/ Macromedia just copied the MX 2004 book (errors that it had and all) and just put a new jacket on it and changed the label on the CD and put it to market. I would have expected more from a $45.00 book that supports a $500.00 program. There is a book called "Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8" written by David Powers that has received high reviews that I am going to try next.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You learn by doing, and I did., January 9, 2006

By 

Kevin Frost "kfrost23" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source (Paperback)

If your like me, you've only started with all of this dynamic web site technology. I am relatively new to PHP/MySQL and Dreamweaver 8 but I really wanted to start learning so that I could build a site where me extended family could post announcements, photos, addresses, etc. I also wanted to make sure that data would be secure. By doing the exercises in this book, I was able to do just that. As I went through them, I became very comfortable with using Dreamweaver to retrieve data from a database and use the included server side behaviors. It was great to see Dreamweaver write the PHP code. In addition is achieving a level of understanding of the HTTP protocol and using the GET and POST methods to send data between pages that always used to confuse me. This is the first book that made me truly understand. And the author writes this in a way that doesn't make me feel stupid. It's just the right amount of repetition that eventually, when he says to perform a step like setting up a recordset, you can do it without needing to read the individual steps. Get this book if your new to all of this. I guarantee that you'll learn alot.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great beginners book, tries a little too much on advanced topics, January 24, 2006

By 

Jason A. Farneth (Blacksburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 with ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP: Training from the Source (Paperback)

This book was an amazingly enlightening experience. I know a few web developers, and have heard them rant and rave about dynamic web development. After reading this book I understand exactly what they are talking about. This book did an amazing job on introducing the dreamweaver interface, although the main focus was explaining how different technologies (ASP, Coldfusion, PHP, and even SQL) can be used for web development in many different applications. I found the walkthroughs very informative, giving a professional perspective on the different technologies. Each lesson had a good purpose in contributing to the final goal, creating a dynamic tour site that employees could update.
I did encounter some issues with this book, however. I found that the author tried very heavily to force feed the coding; assuming those who were reading had no experience with the languages. It became slightly annoying when I reached the point where I could no longer keep up with the pages of new code that I had to program to make the sites work. By the end of the book I was so frustrated I just copied the code down just to get through the last few pages. I would DEFINATELY recommend going through this book, deciding which server technology you would like to work with, and pursue that through other books. Regardless of what server technology you decide, a good SQL book is a must. After I finish some other books I believe I will appreciate the knowledge this book gave me (perhaps to a 5 star level), but for now it gets 4 stars.