Microsoft® ADO.NET (Core Reference) (PRO-Developer) [Paperback]

David Sceppa (Author)

Book Description

Series: PRO-Developer | Publication Date: June 15, 2002

Microsoft ActiveX® Data Objects .NET (ADO.NET) is a set of libraries included with the Microsoft .NET Framework that helps you communicate with data from .NET-based applications—including XML data. Discover how to access, sort, and manipulate data in Web-enabled enterprise applications with this book. You’ll get expert guidance and insider tips from a leading database and ADO authority about how to write, test, and debug database code with the tools and wizards in Visual Studio .NET. You’ll also learn about the improved ADO.NET object model, its XML features for Web extensibility, its enhanced integration with Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000, and more.

Topics covered in this guide include:

• Overview of ADO.NET
• Building applications with the Data Form Wizard
• Connecting to your database
• Querying your database
• Working with DataAdapters
• Storing data in DataSets
• Filtering and searching data in DataSets
• Working with relational data
• Submitting updates to your database
• Advanced updating scenarios
• Using strongly typed DataSets
• Interacting with XML data
• Building effective Windows® database applications
• Building effective Web database applications

INCLUDED ON CD-ROM:

• A fully searchable electronic copy of the book
• Sample code in C# and Microsoft Visual Basic® .NET (also available from the link on this page)

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735614237
• ISBN-13: 978-0735614239
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,200,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book on ADO.NET, September 2, 2002

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This review is from: Microsoft® ADO.NET (Core Reference) (PRO-Developer) (Paperback)

I read through the entire book over the course of about a day and a half. It is nice to find a technical book that is enjoyable to read.

This is currently the best ADO.NET book on the market. While there are a couple of areas where I believe some other books have provided better coverage (concurrency handling, for example), I know of no book that covers the whole of ADO.NET as well as this tome.

The flow of the book is very nice. Starting you out with DataConnections, the book logically moves through commands, readers, adapters and DataSets, which it further breaks down into its constituent parts. The last few chapters cover updates, transactions, XML and a few other advanced topics.

While the writing makes this book easier to read than the competition, I would not rate this as a beginner's book. If you are just getting into ADO.NET, and have not coded many data-driven apps, you will do well to revisit this book in a few months.

The strongest section in this book is probably the extensive coverage of the DataSet. Learning how to manipulate data with a DataSet is core to success with ADO.NET.

One of the biggest disappointments, for me, is the reliance on the System.Data.OleDb namespace. While certainly the most flexible, there should have been a few more SqlClient examples. In all fairness to the author, the SqlClient, OleDb and Oracle providers are covered in the Appendix. The author also warns you about differences between OleDb and SqlClient that you will have to take into account moving your code from one to the other.

I also wish the author had taken a little more time setting up a web application, as most of the application development I do is for the web. As the models for Windows applications and WebForm applications are very similar, this is not a major beef.

The highlight of the book is the bits and pieces the author has inserted into each chapter on the best way to code for performance. While performance is not the only aspect of application development, it is nice when you can write high performance code without creating an overly complex application. Most of the examples shown are as easy, or close to as easy, as the lower performing versions.

As an additional plus, the CD that comes with the book has an electronic copy of the book. As this book will make a good reference, and it is hardbound, it is nice to know you can carry this information around without breaking your back.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, August 19, 2003

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S. Miller "ksarrow" (Wichita, KS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Microsoft® ADO.NET (Core Reference) (PRO-Developer) (Paperback)

I bought this book only knowing a little about ADO.NET. I had been frustrated by other books' sterile explanations and examples that only include the most rudimentary data aware setup using wizards. But this one delivered, including a set of tutorials in the back that cover ADO.NET strategies for Windows, and Web/ASP VS.NET development. And not only did it cover setting up these strategies for using data aware components, but it stopped afterward and then admitted that in most cases you wouldn't use completely data aware solutions and it showed how to do the same thing manually in code. Now that is not what I expected.
So why only four stars instead of five? I got lost in the tutorials once. I was creating the app from scratch according to instructions when it deviated to overview of outstanding points of the code rather than exhaustive examination of the code. Then I had to open the sample projects and divine some of it from the code and compare to mine. That was probably my fault but it was distracting. Also the naming conventions are hungarian notation for some variables and control names (which is discouraged in newer C# VS.NET documentation) and the C# code had VB-type Pascal-case rather than correct Camel case. This is typical in most C# Microsoft documentation in books and online, which is obviously ported from VB to C# examples and doesn't follow documented recommended naming conventions (sorry, a pet peeve of mine).

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can I give it 6 stars?, March 10, 2003

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Sahil Malik - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Microsoft® ADO.NET (Core Reference) (PRO-Developer) (Paperback)

Ok, I have read a lot of good books on MS tech. I am myself a MCSD/MCDBA/MCSE, and I can tell you, it doesn't get much better than this.

Here is why.

First of all, I never review without reading a book cover to cover. I read this book cover to cover, and I love the way the author keeps the text anything from dull. I love it the way he puts in small jokes, which still are somewhat pertinent.
Secondly, I love it's practical touch. He points out specific problems that I have faced, and this book puts me right in the forefront as far as problems I will only know about, after having worked with ADO.NET hardcore for 2-3 years.
Thirdly, it's relevance. Most books start beating around the bush, atleast in certain topics they do. This book picks very pertinent issues, and gives practical explanations including criticisms as and when appropriate.

BUY IT. :)