Microsoft® ADO.NET Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)) [Paperback]

Rebecca M. Riordan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Step by Step (Microsoft) | Publication Date: January 30, 2002

ADO.NET—the data-access component of the Microsoft .NET Framework—works with any component on any platform that understands XML. Get a solid handle on ADO.NET and learn how to exploit the database functionality of Microsoft Visual Basic® .NET and Microsoft Visual C#™ .NET with this step-by-step primer. You’ll be working in ADO.NET right away with easy-to-grasp examples drawn from the real-world challenges developers face every day. Learn about the ADO.NET object model and how to use it to develop data-bound Windows® Forms and Web Forms. See how ADO.NET interacts with XML and how to access older versions of ADO from the .NET environment. Throughout, you’ll find insightful tips and expert explanations for rapid acceleration of development productivity, faster applications, and more powerful results. Topics covered include:

• Getting started with ADO.NET
• Creating connections
• The Data command and DataReader
• Accessing data with the DataAdapter
• Working with DataSets
• Working with DataTables
• Controlling table views with DataViews
• Editing and updating data
• Data-binding in Windows Forms
• Data-binding in Web Forms
• Using the XML Designer to modify data structure
• Reading and writing XML with ADO.NET
• Using ADO from the .NET Framework

CD features: * Examples of real-world solutions developed with ADO.NET, including sample code in Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET

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].

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

With twenty years experience in the field, Rebecca M. Riordan has earned an international reputation for designing and implementing computer systems that are technically sound, reliable, and effectively meet her clients' needs. Her particular area of expertise is database design and she is a five year Access MVP. Rebecca has also authored several database books and served as a senior technical support engineer for Microsoft's database products. As a Microsoft employee in Australia, Rebecca was the Senior technical support engineer for Microsoft's database products.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; Edition Unstated edition (January 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735612366
• ISBN-13: 978-0735612365
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,427,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Intro to ado.net, May 25, 2002

By 

Bryan Geary (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft® ADO.NET Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)) (Paperback)

First, this book assumes you are already familiar with either vb.net or c#.net. This may be the reason some others have had problems, as her examples require some familiarity. An example from early in the book is "Add a call to the RefreshValues procedure to the end of each of the CheckedChanged event handlers." If you don't understand that sentence, you will have a hard time getting through this. You will want to start with one of the vb.net books (I recommend Coding Techniques for Microsoft Visual Basic .Net by John Connell for starting out).

Otherwise, all of the sample code has worked fine and the errata listed on Microsoft's web site only has a few code sample problems.

So why 4 stars instead of 5? I think that she could have explained some of the topics and code a little more for those of us who are newbies to ADO. She seems to assume that the reader is familiar with ADO and is moving to ADO.NET and as a result does not explain some things quite as well as she could. One example of this is in DataTables. There is a table showing dofferent forms of the Tables.Add Methods. In the table, it shows 4 options and the text describing the entries in the table pretty much matches the table exactly. Then the examples only show 1 of the options and the remaining three options are never further explained or demonstrated.

The other problem I had was that there seems to be no point to the code. You will add a foreign key to a table and the code will add it and then display the name of the key you added. But then it is never used again in he program. There's a lot of how, but not very much why.

Still, I have used this book a few times now as a reference. It is the most complete book I have found so far in showing you how to do something in ADO.NET, so the technical content is very complete.

So, here's the summary. If you're already comfortable with VB.NET or C#.NET and especially if you are moving from ADO to ADO.NET, then I would recommend this book. If you are just starting with .NET programming, start elsewhere and then come back here. At the very least, it makes a good, complete reference to ADO.NET.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment, December 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft® ADO.NET Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)) (Paperback)

Normally I wouldn't give a bad review on a book just because it was too advanced for me. This case is different, however. I am one of the people who came from the fabulous visual basic.net step by step book. It really got me interested in microsoft press. VB step by step stayed true to it's title. ADO.net, however, failed miserably at this. Although it does follow a weak numbering system, it isn't really step by step at all. The flow pattern is horrific. I must admit I was excited after reading the first chapter. It was extremely easy to follow. All hell broke loose though when chapter two came about. There is plenty of room on the market for this book, as I am sure there are many who are ready for this high level of understanding. But please don't publish a step by step book which doesn't follow the usual beginner to intermediate content of other MSpress step by step books. I suppose I will go with the old standby and give vb.net database programming for dummies a try. Perhaps that will cover the foundation needed to give this book another try.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible Text, December 6, 2004

By 

Albert J. Mangini - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft® ADO.NET Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)) (Paperback)

I read the first five chapters and gave up. The book is poorly writen and very difficult to follow. Most of the samples have problems which leaves you spending the majority of your time debugging the code. Many of the programs won't run with Option Strict on. I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone and yes, my copy is for sale.