Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

One thing I am still not sure of with the whole Adobe - Macromedia merger is the status of Macromedia Press. Thier books are essential to any professional. When my Studio 8 came in the mail, the first thing I noticed was that there was no book inside. This book becomes paramount to now helping me through the changes with 8 with respect to Dreamweaver and it should for you too - especially if you like to thumb paper rather than scroll PDF's.

Like earlier versions of this book, it conctrates your learning by going through the steps of a project. The accompaning cd has all the tutorial files as well as a trail version of DW8 - so no excuses.

Depending on how long you have used DW, you might not find much in the first few chapters, but the lessons get intense quickly with lesson 3 having you set up a local server (note you best have Windows XP Pro to do this) and delving into dynamic web sites.

The book does a good job at explaining the CSS features of Dreamweaver, however if you do not know CSS, best you get a book on that first before getting into this one. This book is for those ready to hit the ground running... no standing still on this one.

Great trainging manual for introductory classes and intermediate and below users, though more advanced users could use it from the staff library to brush up skills or find an answer to the odd probelem associated with new releases.

I'll say something good first. I found the author to be well skilled in explaining the concepts as well as the procedure when using Dreamweaver 8. Each chapter is written like a good lesson plan, and takes you through the book task by task. I usually have to read more than one book on a technology because what one author fails to explain adequately, another explains very well. That is the case with this book, But don't buy this book.

When I did run into a problem with the code in the book, I went to the website and found that there was no erata page or anything else for this book, the last update was for Dreamweaver MX or some previous version. So now I have to figure out on my own why the code in the book is giving me errors. Unforgivable.

I also read "Foundation PHP for Dreamweaver 8", and of course it also had errata, but it was fully corrected on the accompanying site. I did not have the problems with the server as the other reviewer did, because I didn't use this book for it after reading about his problems. I used the Foundation book to set up the PHP/MySQL, and it worked just fine, although I haven't tested it on the remote server yet...

Anyway if he's not going to support the book by listing errata on an accompanying site (that he references in the book), then don't bother buying the book.

I found this book to be an excellent tutorial for using Dreamweaver as a development environment. I used PHP, Apache and MySQL. While I hit a few snags ("BIT" datatype generated an error when accessed in Dreamweaver and I had to search the Web for a Dreamweaver problem) I did the whole process and got a real feeling for the entire dynamic/databased Web application environment. If you haven't built many Web pages before, I recommend working through your errors without just loading the completed pages from the CD. The results of the errors are instructive as well.

I recommend also getting a reference book for Dreamweaver as this book doesn't cover every nuance of Dreamweaver (e.g. the History tab and undos).

My compliments to the author. I have been a user of Dreamweaver for a couple of years and have been designing websites for about 3 years, but i had a very limited understanding of server-side programming and PHP. This book provided a very clear explanation of the differences between static and dynamic websites. This book also provides the benefit of the tutorials provided in each lesson. The tutorials are very thorough and structured in a relevant order. I would definitley recommend this book to any current users of DW who want to get into PHP and SQL. a beginners knowledge of web-design and programming experience would be a plus before getting into this book, but not a necessity. After working through this book , i feel that i am well educated in the subject of PHP and SQL databases, enough so that i can move on to a more advanced book and learn the more detailed aspects of PHP.

Also, i only used the PHP part of the book, because of personel preference. However, the book also does a excellent job in covering the ASP and CFM technologies as well.

Author Jeffrey Bardzell does a great job of explaining the ins-and-outs of ASP, ColdFusion, and PHP use within Dreamweaver 8 in MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER 8 WITH ASP, COLDFUSION, AND PHP: TRAINING FROM THE SOURCE. Not only does the book cover the subject matter in an easy-to-follow style, but examples and sample files are also provided on the CD that comes with the book. As a person who learns more by doing than by just simply reading about it or seeing it in a diagram, I found this feature to be very useful.

MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER 8 WITH ASP, COLDFUSION, AND PHP: TRAINING FROM THE SOURCE was a great resource. Primarily, I used it to brush on PHP usage within Dreamweaver, and for this purpose the book certainly exceeded my every need! I've got PHP forms up and running on various client websites now, and would have had a much more difficult time building the complex forms without Bardzell's advice.

MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER 8 WITH ASP, COLDFUSION, AND PHP: TRAINING FROM THE SOURCE is definitely a book that you'll want to keep on your shelf for frequent reference!

Absolutely love it. I've not been happier with a 'project' book.
Starts by giving you a static tour website that is time consuming to update.

Explains the differences between ASP, ColdFusion and PHP and gives the code for all, throughout.

Starts by doing simple site adjustments using styles. Goes on to explain how to setup the server side of ASP, ColdFusion, or PHP. How and why you set up forms for GET and POST.- to bringing the entire site to a dynamic site.

I'm only half way through the book so far and just starting to hit the database section.

It was a little harder to start at first because it is a bigger, less visual book in color and appearance. But once you realize the direction, it's hard to put down.

I would buy this book all over again and will most likely get the Flash version, as well as the CS4 version just because.

The book has been great help with my current project and while I learn all about PHP and Dreamweaver.