Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (Programmer to Programmer) [Paperback]

Bill Evjen (Author), Scott Hanselman (Author), Farhan Muhammad (Author), Srinivasa Sivakumar (Author), Devin Rader (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2005

All new, for ASP.NET 2.0, this bestselling book provides experienced developers with real-world examples of the powerful new time-saving, code-saving features in this new version. Seasoned author and International .NET Association founder Bill Evjen along with Scott Hanselman help developers make a smooth transition to this new version of ASP.NET with their clear explanations of even the most dramatic changes.

Helpful examples in both VB and C# clearly show how to build ASP.NET 2.0 applications.

Some of the key chapters and topics you'll find in this book include:

• 4 chapters on server controls, including an entire chapter dedicated to the controls that are new to ASP.NET 2.0
• A chapter each on the new Master Pages and Themes/Skins features in ASP.NET 2.0
• 2 chapters on data presentation
• Data Management with ADO.NET discussing some of the radical ASP.NET 2.0 changes incorporated in ADO.NET
• Personalization, Membership, and Role Management
• A complete chapter on Portal Frameworks and the popular new Web Parts functionality of ASP.NET 2.0
• Security beyond the built in membership and role management features
• Caching including the new SQL cache invalidation feature in ASP.NET 2.0
• Proper debugging and error handling techniques for yourapplications
• Building your own server controls and HttpHandlers
• Business Objects, Mobile Development, XML Web Services
• Configuring, Administering, managing, packaging, and deploying ASP.NET 2.0 Applications

According to Brian Goldfarb, Microsoft Product Manager - Web Platform and Tools Division, this book "... is a solid one, Professional ASP.NET 2.0 and I recommend to anyone who is serious about working with VS 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 -- Bill Evjen, Scott Hanselman, Farhan Muhammad, Devin Rader, Srinivasa Sivakumar all did a fantastic job putting together a great read with easy to understand examples and high-quality guidance. This is a must-have for every ASP.NET developers bookshelf (I already have 2 on mine :))"

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Professional ASP.NET 2.0

ASP.NET allows web sites to display unique pages for each visitor rather than show the same static HTML pages. The release of ASP.NET 2.0 is a revolutionary leap forward in the area of web application development. It brings with it a wealth of new and exciting built-in functions that reduce the amount of code you'll need to write for even the most common applications.

With more than 50 new server controls, the number of classes inside ASP.NET 2.0 has more than doubled, and, in many cases, the changes in this new version are dramatic. This book will alert you to every new feature and capability that ASP.NET 2.0 provides so that you'll be prepared to put these new technologies into action.

What you will learn from this book

• The idea of the server control and its pivotal role in ASP.NET development
• How to create templated ASP.NET pages using the new master page feature
• Techniques for debugging and handling errors
• The various frameworks that will enable you to extract, create, manipulate, and store XML
• Ways to package and deploy ASP.NET applications
• How to retrieve, update, and delete data quickly and logically

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced programmers and developers who are looking to make the transition to ASP.NET 2.0.

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.

About the Author

Bill Evjen is an active proponent of .NET technologies and community-based learning initiatives for .NET. He has been actively involved with .NET since the first bits were released in 2000. In the same year, Bill founded the St. Louis .NET User Group (www.stlnet.org), one of the world’s first such groups. Bill is also the founder and executive director of the International .NET Association (www.ineta.org), which represents more than 375,000 members worldwide.
Based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Bill is an acclaimed author and speaker on ASP.NET and XMLWeb services. He has written or co-written Professional C#, Third Edition; Professional VB.NET, Third Edition; and ASP.NET 2.0 Beta Preview (all Wrox titles), as well as ASP.NET Professional Secrets, XMLWeb Services for ASP.NET, Web Services Enhancements: Understanding the WSE for Enterprise Applications, Visual Basic .NET Bible, and ASP.NET Professional Secrets (all published by Wiley). In addition to writing, Bill is a speaker at numerous conferences, including DevConnections, VSLive, and TechEd.
Bill is a Technical Director for Reuters, the international news and financial services company, and he travels the world speaking to major financial institutions about the future of the IT industry. He was graduated from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, with a Russian language degree. When he isn’t tinkering on the computer, he can usually be found at his summer house in Toivakka, Finland. You can reach Bill at [e-mail]. He presently keeps his weblog at www.geekswithblogs.net/evjen.

Scott Hanselman is currently the Chief Architect at the Corillian Corporation (NASDAQ: CORI), an eFinance enabler. He has more than 13 years’ experience developing software in C, C++, VB, COM, and certainly in VB.NET and C#. Scott is proud to be both a Microsoft RD as well as an MVP for both ASP.NET and Solutions Architecture. Scott has spoken at dozens of conferences worldwide, including three TechEds and the North African DevCon. He is a primary contributor to “newtelligence DasBlog Community Edition 1.7,” the most popular open-source ASP.NET blogging software hosted on SourceForge.
This is the third book Scott has worked on for Wrox and certainly the most fun. His thoughts on the Zen of .NET, programming, and Web Services can be found on his blog at www.computerzen.com. He welcomes email and PayPal’ed money at [e-mail].

Farhan Muhammad is the Chief Architect of ILM Professional Service. He is also the Microsoft Regional Director (RD) for the U.S. North Central region. As an RD, he focuses on providing the vital link between Microsoft and the developer community. He has been a board member at the International .NET Association (INETA), where he actively helped support developers’ communities worldwide. He leads the Twin Cities .NET User Group, a developers’ community of more than 1,200 members in Minnesota dedicated to sharing .NET knowledge among developers. He has also written Real World ASP.NET Best Practices (Apress, 2003).

S. Srinivasa Sivakumar is a Solution Architect for Microsoft India. Srinivasa has co-written more than 15 books and more than 40 technical articles for major publications. A list of his published materials is available at www3.brinkster.com/webguru/.

Devin Rader is an Infragistics Technology Evangelist and is responsible for writing Infragistics reference applications and .NET technology articles, as well as the worldwide delivery of Infragistics’ technology demonstrations. Devin is an active member and leader for the International .NET Association (INETA) and believes strongly in the software development community. He helped found the St. Louis .NET Users Group in November 2000 and is a frequent speaker at community events nationwide. Devin writes the monthly ASP.NET Tips & Tricks column for ASP.NET Pro magazine, as well as .NET technology articles for MSDN Online. He has served as the sole technical editor for a number of works, including Web Services Enhancements: Understanding the WSE for Enterprise Applications, ASP.NET Professional Secrets, and ASP.NET 2.0 Beta Preview (all published by Wiley).

Product Details

• Paperback: 1253 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; 4 edition (November 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764576100
• ISBN-13: 978-0764576102
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding ASP.net 2.0 book!, November 10, 2005

By 

David Jones "Code Monkey" (Jackson, MS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

If you are looking for a great book for learning ASP.net 2.0 and Visual Web Developer 2005, then this is the book. Most of the Asp books I looked at still use notepad or something like that. This is one of the few the use VWD 2005. The book uses VWD that is part of Visual Studio 2005, but it is the same as one that you can download for free at www.asp.net (not exactly, but very close). I really like the fact that it spent a little time talking about VWD 2005, explaining the ins and outs of it. With such great tools that are available from Microsoft, both free and to purchase, it does not make any since to use anything else, in my opinion.

This book uses both VB and C# code in the book. It is nice having both sets of code in the book and not a separate download. At first I didn't like seeing both languages. But as I read the book and worked thru the samples, it was nice to be able to see how it is done in both using both. I am learning C# now, but I need to be able to work with VB also. So this worked great.

This book would work well for someone who is just starting with 2.0. I think as long as you have some programming experience, you will be able to follow along. But an experienced .net developer will enjoy this book also, because of the detailed explanation of advanced topics. It starts off talking about web forms and controls then moves to web services and validation controls. It has a detailed section on Master pages and themes, two of the really cool new features in 2.0. It has a great section working with data, roles, site navigation, security, debugging, business objects and overall administration.

I am coming from a classic asp background, and was a little nervous about getting a "professional" book to start with. But after reading it for a week now, this is the book that stays on my desk all the time when I am writing code.

To sum up,
* Great book
* Easy to read and follow
* Uses Visual Web Developer and Visual Studio 2005
* both VB and C# code in the book (not as a separate download)
* Starts off slow enough for beginners
* Has advanced topics for pros.

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great For Newbies And Veterans Alike, November 15, 2005

By 

Travis Illig "Software Engineer" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

Not a stranger to ASP.NET 1.1, I picked up this book in an effort to see what's new in ASP.NET 2.0 as well as have a source on hand with examples and such that I can refer to as needed.

I couldn't be more pleased.

For those new to ASP.NET, this book runs through everything from the development environment to the structure of an application and uses detailed code snippets to allow you to create simple proof-of-concept apps using the technology being discussed. For the old hands, the new material is covered well and in many cases is compared and contrasted with previous versions so you know what benefits you're getting by upgrading to 2.0. Entire chapters are dedicated to some of the new features like personalization and themes, making sure that both newbies and veterans alike are brought up to speed.

Code snippets abound and exist in both VB and C#, so it doesn't matter what language you lean toward, there's something here for you. The writing style is clear and easy to understand so you won't get too bogged down in jargon. Note that this is definitely more of a "how to" type of book than a reference - if you find yourself asking "How would I...?" then this is the way to go. If you already know what you're doing and want the annotated class reference with super detailed information about the trivial inner workings of the framework, you may want to look elsewhere.

My only real complaint is the typesetting. The text could have been bumped up a couple of points for those of us who rely on glasses and the like, but the book is already upwards of 1200 pages long and I understand that printing volumes of encyclopedias isn't so effective for transport.

If you're into ASP.NET, add this one to your shelf - you'll be glad you did.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Correcting an earlier review, November 22, 2005

By 

Jeff Deville (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)

A previous reviewer (Sven) mentioned that the book omitted some more advanced topics. 1 of the examples cited was how to access MasterPage properties from a content page. Not only is this information there (page 263), but there are 2 examples, and the specific location is referenced in the Table of Contents as "Working with Controls and Properties from the Master Page"

Just thought I'd mention this since I chose to go w/ another book because of that review, only to find as I sit here and browse this book that it does in fact go into a good amount of detail. I hope the one I did order is as good.