Customer Reviews

Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Upgrader's Guide: C# Edition

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I returned home from a long day at the office a few days ago, to find a shiny new copy of Murach's latest offering on my doorstep. I've got to say it, I like their books, and this one does not disappoint the reader.

The same great layout of "paired pages" has been used, where the left hand page has an explanation of how to achieve certain goals, and the right hand side has guidelines, syntax and examples. These right hand pages make a great reference guide after you have initially read through the book.

At 500+ pages, this book is aimed at the C# developer who wants to upgrade from ASP.NET 1.x to ASP.NET 2.0. This book is based on Microsoft's Beta 2 release of ASP.NET 2.0, and should be compatible with Visual Studio 2005 when it is released.

What's Inside
The book is split into four sections, each comprising of several chapters. One of the most helpful chapters, often missed out in other books, is the appendix, which walks you through installing the software you need to get you creating asp web pages.

Section 1 - Introduction to ASP.NET 2.0

The book starts out by describing what is new in ASP.NET 2.0 both in the language and in Visual Studio 2005. Quickly you move on to develop a shopping cart application, which gives you hands-on experience with the new code-behind model, data sources, and cross-page posting. Finally this section covers the new master pages which make it easy for you to create web pages that have common elements. You can download chapter 3 - master pages for free from Murach's web site.

Section 2 - ASP.NET 2.0 Data Access


This section begins by covering SQL and XML. It then moves on to the new GridView control, that lets you display the data in rows and columns of a table, while making it easy to manipulate and maintain that data. Next, two new Views are introduced, the DetailsView and FormView controls. These are ideal for any application that displays bound data one record at a time. Finally this section shows you how to use object data sources to implement 3-layer applications in which the data access code is kept in data access classes and separates out the presentation code.

Section 3 - New ASP.NET features

This section begins by covering the new features that make it easy for users to navigate to the various pages in your site. It then moves on to the new Web Site Administration Tool and login controls. These control user access to a site without you having to write a single line of code. Next, you create user accounts with preferences in the shopping cart application. Next the new MultiView and Wizard controls are introduced, these let you divide a page into multiple views or steps that can handle data changes, and you can navigate between the views or steps without writing any C# code.

The next chapter shows you how to use themes to give a consistent look and feel to a web site. Then Portals (web pages that display modular content that can be customized by the user) are discussed. Finally the last chapter in this sections discusses some of the minor features and controls that you should be aware of but that you probably won't use every day.

Section 4 - ASP.NET 2.0 in practice

This section begins by showing you what is involved in converting your old ASP.NET applications to ASP.NET 2.0, including whether it is worth the trouble of converting them or whether you want to maintain them as 1.x applications. It ends by explaining how to use ASP.NET 2.0's configuration tools to control the ever-expanding web.config file.

Source Code
The accompanying source code can be found on Murach's web site. As ever, the source code is a great boon when learning, as it clarifies what the author has written.

Summary
This is a clear and concise book that will give you a good understanding of the new features of ASP.NET 2.0 using C#. A fine addition to any programmers bookshelf!

It's always a challenge to publish a meaningful upgrade guide. The reader needs to know the version differences in a quick, but meaningful manner. This book does exactly that. It continues the "paired pages" format: how-to on the left page and examples on the right. The new 2.0 code-behind-model, master pages, data access features, site navigation, login controls, profiles, themes, web parts, and other new 2.0 changes are covered. In addition, the new features of Visual Studio 2005 and new C# languages features are discussed.

As a professional developer, I need information that is accurate and easy to understand. This book qualifies on both counts.

Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 upgraders guide C# is a must have for developers moving to ASP.NET 2.0. The book covers all the important new features of ASP.NET 2.0. The chapters do an excellent job at explaining exactly what has changed, and what this means for the developer. For example, the chapter about the GridView explains how this will replace the DataGrid. Although the DataGrid will still be available, the GridView is preferred and offers much more functionality.

The book was very easy to understand especially since the material was broken down into very clear sections. After explaining a point such as Master Pages, the authors reinforced the ideas by including a summary of what they talked about. This was helpful because sometimes it made it much clearer seeing the concept in another manner. The code samples were easy to follow and will be helpful for any future code I write.

The best feature of the book is the coverage of the new data sources. The authors cover XML, SQL, object, and Access data sources. In the object data source chapter the authors clearly illustrate how this new data source fits into a 3-tier design. This could be very helpful to developers looking to follow best practices.

I would recommend this book for all developers, not just developers migrating to 2.0. After reading this book I can't think of any topics that the authors left out that I would like to see. I have seen a couple of books that have already come out for ASP.NET 2.0, and this one is by far the best one I have seen. After reading the book, I think this will be the only book I will need for ASP.NET 2.0 reference. I would give this book 5 out of 5 stars!

Murach ASP.Net Upgraders Review

I just got Visual Studio 2005 and installed it. Equiped with Murach's ASP.Net 2.0 upgrader's guide I am ready to upgrade two existing websites and continue using a 1.1 application without upgrading. The Murach book has an entire chapter devoted to this process. The book is concise and to the point about your options in running these applications. You can run ASP.Net 2.0 only, ASP.Net 2.0 and 1.x on the same server or run ASP.Net 2.0 and ASP.Net 1.x under ASP.Net 2.0. I did find the depth here to not be sufficient to correct one of the problems I had; though the information allowed me to have a general idea of where the problem was and resolve it after a focused search on the internet. Overall I would rate this chapter an eight out of ten.

Now with the sites upgraded they were still stuck using ASP.Net 1.1 controls and concepts. I now needed a firm understanding of what the new features were in ASP.Net 2.0 and C#. Chapter 1 made quick work of bringing me up to speed on the new code-behind model and several new features:

- Partial classes
- Master Pages
- Login Controls
- Themes
- Web Parts

It also introduced me to the changes in the IDE. It emphasized that the IDE would no longer make unwanted changes to hand coded HTML and that the grid layout was gone (hooray!). The first chapter also briefly introduced generics, iterators, nullable types and static classes. I was properly primed to forge ahead and learn more.

The book covered the basics of creating a site. Solid coverage was given to the new method of accesing databases, using cross-page posting, creating master pages, and testing on the development server. The Murach "paired pages" format (how-to and general information on the left and code examples on the right) makes it exceptionially easy to learn once and later refer to the material.

Despite being labeled as an upgrader's guide the book would not all short for someone new to ASP.Net and C#. The topics were covered with enough detail and plain talk to ensure that novice programmers would be able to follow the material.

Murach has done it again and produced another book that will have a place on my small desktop bookshelf; now I just have to figure out which book will get pushed to the bookshelf across the room.

I highly recommend this book to those upgrading to ASP.Net 2.0. I buy a lot of books and don't necessarily want to be tied to the computer while reading. I found the "paired pages" format (Extra explanation on the left page with figures and other essentials on the right) to be really helpful if I'm away from Visual Studio. (I take it to out with me for coffee for example.) I also liked the very fine grouping of topics and the organizational thoughtfulness that went into this volume. In other words it's very easy to skip around to new ASP 2.0 areas of interest. I downloaded the book files from the publisher web site and those that I've pulled up have worked perfectly. The only problem I had was when I didn't use the default directory and initially installed these files elsewhere. I had a problem attaching the database to SQL Server Express version. Using the default directory fixed it.

I am an MCT who teaches C# courses, and I unequivocally recomend this book to students. Murachs books are always excellent and this one is no exception. If you ware trying to migrate ASP apps and you use C#, you must have this book. The coverage is thorough, yet easy to follow.

I purchased this book a few weeks ago and I'm done with it. Here is what I like about it and what I think could be improved:

Bottom Line: If you want a how-to book focusing on just the new features, this book does decent job and there are far worse books out there. This book fills a needed void for quality how-to treatment of ASP.NET. However, if you are looking for a short, concise, and elegant treatment of new ASP.NET features, you may want to look elsewhere. Problem is, you may not find anything better.

Likes:
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- Best thing I like is that it is virtually without typos. This is huge. Murach has done a great job of editing their product. I have purchased my fair share of garbage texts rushed to market and filled with inexcusable typos, dumb mistakes, and jokes. The authors, editors, publishers have done a great job in this regard. Murach was truthful in stating that book is not released until it ready.
- The code examples actually work.
- The book really does stay to what is new.

I'm listing the following Dislikes, but they shouldn't cause you to not buy this book - the book is decent. Here is what could be better in my opinion.

Dislikes:
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- This is personal preference but I really don't like the alternating page format. This has the effect of greatly increasing the bulkiness of book with marginal improvement (my opinion)
- I have found that there are two general styles of books - those that focus more on the "why" of something and those that settle for the "how-to" of something. Both are important, but I like to learn the "why" more than the "how". This book does a decent job of explaining the "how" and I can recommend it for doing that. This is harder to do and often requires a editor looking at the product in this light. I just think it could have taken a step back at points to give a better overview of features and explain them better at a higher level instead of immediately going through the sometimes boring details of this property and that property, etc. For example, the chapter on login controls should have, in my opinion, explained the various controls as a group up front and should have explained the nature of the admin config tool vs the CreateUserWizard control. Each control was instead explained individually in a rote how-to fashion. Even though this book is positioned as a how-to book, I'd like the publisher to add more background on why things were done the way they were and how the whole framework hangs together before getting into the details.

I've recently completed reading Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Upgraders Guide. It's a fairly recent book that deals with the new features of ASP.NET 2.0 and targets an audience that has quite some experience with ASP.NET 1.0. As an experienced .NET developer I was looking for a book that would bring me up to speed with the latest and the greatest of ASP.NET 2.0. I tend to get bored easily, so I need a book that gets to the point immediately. This is where it failed for me.
It does cover all the important aspects such as Master Pages, DataGridView, DetailsView and Role and Membership Providers. And does do that well since I learned a lot of new stuff (even though I keep a tight lease on the MSDN site). It even explains how some solution was implemented in ASP.NET 1.0 and why the new solution is so much better. But what bothered me was that a majority of the book is explaining basic concepts that should already be imprinted in your mind. Moreover, the book is organized in way that on every few pages a new concept is explained in two different ways. The right page usually contains a large bullet list with an explanation and some examples, whereas the left page basically contains the same information but written out. For me, it was annoying to start reading the summary (because the text starts by referring to it) and then discover that the left page is not adding anything substantial. One of the two is sufficient for understanding the technology, so I wonder what the author had in mind.
Anyway, I would give the book three out of five stars. The content is really good, but should have been more compact.

I am a big fan of Murach books and their paired page format. This however is the best. Without this book I would not have appreciated Object Data Sources. I learned database design patterns using the ObjectDataSource control that I have used in several projects.

The sample code is worth the price of the book alone, but the clear concise explanations are also invaluable. This is the book that sits on your desk as you program.

Written especially for professional programmers, Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Upgrader's Guide C# Edition is a no- nonsense, in-depth resource that packs everything a programmer needs to know when making the jump to ASP.NET 2.0. Chapters cover how to use new ASP.NET features such as master pages, tips and tricks for getting the most out of new data access features including GridView, DetailsView, and FormView controls that can develop professional applications with little or no C# code, labor-saving improvements, how to configure and deploy new 2.0 applications especially when converting from ASP.NET 1.x, and much more. Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Upgrader's Guide C# Edition succeeds admirably in its mission to be the best possible resource on its chosen topic; explanations, examples, sample code, recommendations, suggestions, and painstaking attention to detail make for an indispensable resource.