Professional ADO.NET 2: Programming with SQL Server 2005, Oracle, and MySQL (Paperback)

by Wallace B. McClure (Author), Gregory A. Beamer (Author), IV John J. Croft (Author), J. Ambrose Little (Author), Bill Ryan (Author), Phil Winstanley (Author), David Yack (Author), Jeremy Zongker (Author)
Key Phrases: subscription management application, binding input parameters, sales person report, Visual Studio, Throw New, Public Sub (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
ADO.NET revolutionized the way data was accessed through SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL. With Microsoft's release of ADO.NET 2, ADO and the .NET Framework are integrated with SQL Server for the first time-enabling you to program .NET applications directly within the SQL Server database.

Packed with sample code and recommended best practices for using ADO.NET 2, this code-intensive book explores the new data types that are available in the 2.0 Framework and discusses the appropriate time and way to use them. You'll learn how to make repetitive, mundane tasks much simpler and you'll walk away with a solid foundation for developing database-driven applications.

What you will learn from this book

• The basics of creating a connection, executing a query, and returning a result
• Best uses for Oracle in the ADO.NET Framework
• The many new features that are available for XML
• How to use the full text search capabilities of Microsoft(r) SQL Server 2005
• Methods for retrieving data and presenting it in various ways
• Why MySQL is a viable option for data storage

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced database developers who want to learn the latest release of ADO.NET 2.0. Knowledge of ADO.NET 1.0, general .NET development, and Microsoft SQL Server is necessary.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

From the Back Cover
ADO.NET revolutionized the way data was accessed through SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL. With Microsoft's release of ADO.NET 2, ADO and the .NET Framework are integrated with SQL Server for the first time—enabling you to program .NET applications directly within the SQL Server database.

Packed with sample code and recommended best practices for using ADO.NET 2, this code-intensive book explores the new data types that are available in the 2.0 Framework and discusses the appropriate time and way to use them. You'll learn how to make repetitive, mundane tasks much simpler and you'll walk away with a solid foundation for developing database-driven applications.

What you will learn from this book

• The basics of creating a connection, executing a query, and returning a result
• Best uses for Oracle in the ADO.NET Framework
• The many new features that are available for XML
• How to use the full text search capabilities of Microsoft® SQL Server 2005
• Methods for retrieving data and presenting it in various ways
• Why MySQL is a viable option for data storage

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced database developers who want to learn the latest release of ADO.NET 2.0. Knowledge of ADO.NET 1.0, general .NET development, and Microsoft SQL Server is necessary.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: Wrox (December 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764584375
• ISBN-13: 978-0764584374
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #753,671 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What a letdown, January 16, 2007

By	D. Nicholson "nicomp" (3-D space) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have 16 years experience as an adjunct instructor at a community college. I have a BS in Engineering and I'm 3 credits away from my Master's in Comp Sci.
I'm taking time from my class prep to write this review...
I have been assigned to teach a Visual Basic programming class with this book. Had I been given the opportunity to read the text beforehand, I would have fought hard to use some other book. The example code is formatted so poorly that I am embarassed to use it in class. Some of the example code in the book doesn't even match what's available for download on the WROX web site. The QC staff at WROX should be reassigned. I've QC'd many programming textbooks myself and I can see that this stinker was rushed to print without enough editing.
Don't be fooled by the title. The majority of the examples are SQL Server-specific. OK, Visual Studio has a SQL Server bent, given that both are Microsoft Products. That's no secret. However, if the title of the book references Oracle and MySQL, then all the examples should also. If a particular paradigm can only be implemented in SQL Server, then the authors have a responsibility to provide work-arounds for the other DBMS's that are listed on the cover of the book. Arrrgh.

Chapter 1 covers the History of Data Access. That doesn't fit with the remainder of the book. Part of chapter 2 covers normalization, also not a good fit with the remainder of the book. The authors even admit that the book is aimed at software developers who have prior knowledge of ADO .Net and SQL Server. That implies prior knowledge of normalization and database design.

Recently I was at the bookstore with my 11 year-old. I was agonizing over which ASP .Net book (both WROX titles) to purchase, so I held up two possibilities and asked her to help. She noted that one cover had 3 author's faces on it and the other had two. She concluded that the book with 3 faces must be better. I couldn't argue with that logic. This book has seven faces on it, but it just doesn't deliver.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just Show me Everything new!, February 3, 2006

By	August Wind (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

I was really looking forward to this book, for both ASP.Net and WinForms development, since I really thought that's what the book was really about. Boy was I surprised. if that was all it had, I'd probably be very happy. However - that was just the tip of the iceberg! It has quite a wide focus, so, in some cases, it was kind of dificult to know where the book is going.

However, The reader is somewhat warned right off the bat, that the book focuses mainly on the new features of ADO.Net 2.0, so prior knowledge of ADO.Net is expected, but I believe there is still a lot of text that covers a lot of the basics - just without a hand-held experience.

For those so inclined, there's quite a bit of information concerning subjects like usinc CLR objects, TSQL Enhancements, Notification Services, Service Broker and Reporting Services, though it's definitely not JUST about SQL Server. There is quite a bit on the popular open source databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL, along with a chapter on Oracle, just for good measure.

Many times, on different forums, I find questions concerning how to create a Database/table/etc, in code. Professional ADO.Net 2 has this plus a whole lot more about SQL Server server-side programming

Going into the book, I knew there were quite a few new features of ADO.Net, but I really had no idea concerning the extent of new features. This book contains 584 pages of great information. Though what I'd consider a bit wordy, at times, I'll definitely keep this book around.

If all you do is ASP.Net web page development, maybe this isn't the book for you - but if you do a lot more and really like 'nuts and bolts', and widening your experience, I think it's a go!

2.0 out of 5 stars No Professional Help Here..., January 22, 2006

By	M. A. Jones (Omaha, NE) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are like me, you struggle every time Microsoft changes ADO. We have to rely on "experts" and their books to help us through the ADO direction of year. Unfortunately, I would not use "ADO.Net 2 - Programming with SQL Server 2005, Oracle and MySQL" as one of them. After a slow start with database fundamentals not related to .Net, the book seems to start in the right direction and then quickly derails. The authors make a serious point about how ADO.Net 2 is suppose to help us develop against any database system, but then spends the rest of the pages bypassing this ability without informing the reader. So not surprising, the examples are confusing; not database agnostic, disconnected, abstracted and difficult to follow. Nearly all the example code only works for SQL Server 2005. The book attempts to recover with specific chapters for Oracle and MySQL, but is thin and short on examples.

I found something interesting from each chapter, but I personally would rather have just one reference book on each subject. With this book, you might end up needed additional references.