Customer Reviews

Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (Programmer to Programmer)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

For the past three years I've been teaching my high school computer science students webmatrix. In fact, I wrote curriculum for Microsoft and was the Technical Editor for some other asp.net curriculum. To keep up with the new technology, I realized I needed to start learning ASP.NET 2.0.
I started to read this BIG book and already I'm on Chapter 9 in only a week of reading. The book clearly explains the new features of ASP.NET 2.0 in a clear and concise manner. The screen shots and code examples in both C# and VB.NET are excellent. You can download the code from [...].
This is a great reference and should be on your christmas list!
Read more in my blog if you want:
http://www.geekswithblogs.net/bscarbeau

You know how you read through many books and now Blogs trying to find nuggets, but often than not you just want to find the go to place for good solid reference? Well it seems like I find that each time the technology is interated, like now to .NET 2.0. I think I latched on pretty early to my GoTo book, Professional ASP.NET 2.0 from Wrox. Thoses guys seem to always get it right when producing books that I can really dig my teeth into and get things done.

First they chose some solid authors, Bill Evjen, Scott Hanselman, Farhan Muhammad, Srinivas Sivakumar and Devin Rader. I know Hanselman's blog real well,but the other guys are well published Regional Director types. I like those types =>.

Anyway, to the book. I think it really does a good job of breaking up the important pieces of what is new in ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 into 29 action packed chapters with two good apendixes. I like this because I can just go to the chapter I need help on and get it, don't have to wonder or wander too much ti find the meat I need.

I found the chapters on Master Pages and Themes extremely well writen and helped get the concepts and start applying some advanced features pretty quickly to my latest sites (I will start posting reviews and links shortly). I was so relieved to see how these technologies work compared to creating skins for DotNetNuke, hey this is easy!

The next thing of importance to me was Users and Roles. Again this book hit a huge homerun with me. Within two or three days of coding and testing I had a pretty solid set of code for my web sites to reliably utilize the membership provider, which rocks by the way.

There are a lot of things that were merely reviews and introductions to new features of the VB framework, but I think those types of chapters are extremely important to have. I mean yah collections is not new, but generics are. I have not applied them yet, but I am sure I will.

The book is huge, well written, and worth every penny of the $33 it cost at Amazon! Which is another thing, books do not sem to be costing a small mortgage anymore, great!

This book has an outstanding balance. It introduces the new aspects of ASP.NET2 to developers while also going deep into items that have been with ASP.NET since the beginning - providing some good best practices. The authors do a good job of explaining complex topics and don't jibber-jabber too much - but instead get right to the point. That makes for a pleasant read. As stated in other reviews, this is a big book and covers A LOT of ground. ASP.NET2 is just plain huge now compared to ASP.NET1 and you need a book like this at your desk to reference. Since I have to work on projects sometimes in VB and other times C#, I was glad to see that the code example were in both languages. One important point of this book to realize is that this is a 'HOW-TO' book more than anything. There aren't long tables of objects and definitions like you see in other books. This book instead introduces topics and then usually shows you how to do it for yourself. That's my type of book!

In the classical Wrox Press approach this 1,000+ page volume covers a LOT of stuff. I approached this book as someone very familiar with 1.0 who just needed to get up-to-speed with 2.0. For that I whole-heartedly recommend it. I used this book for just-in-time learning I was architecting a new enterprise application and wanted to implement the ASP.NET 2.0 approach to master pages, themes and skins, roles and membership, site navigation, AJAX, and more. I found it easy to read each chapter on the particular technology and then put it in place in your own app. If you are completely new to ASP.NET, I probably wouldn't recommend this book to you. You will probably find that one of Jesse Liberty's books covers the learning curve at a better pace.

I have just switched from 1.0 to 2.0, This book allowed me to actually get all the examples working within one week. The only problems I had were SQL Server access rights, which I solved with the help of the WWW. This is one of the best books I have used to learn a new API.
Nice To have:
1. Instructions on solving the most common SQL access errors.
2. How to replace SQLExpress with SQL Server
It is packed book of very well explained examples!!!

The book covers a lot of ground and does most of it very well. It's both good as a reference and as a tutorial.

Unfortunately, some of the advanced topics are left out. When discussing Master Pages, the book does not mention how to get a strongly-typed Master property in the Page object. (Use the MasterPageFile page directive.) When discussing configuration of ASP.NET applications, the authors have one paragraph mentioning the possibility of encrypting configuration file contents, but omit showing how to do it. (Use aspnet_regiis -p[e|d](f).)

Overall, for such a thick book, I would have expected more advanced content. However, as a book for programmers with some experience to make the step to ASP.NET 2.0, I think it's right on the mark.

I bought this book before realizing that there was probably a newer edition "Professional ASP.NET 2.0 Special Edition" by the exact same authors released in Oct 2006 with 300 more pages. I haven't seen the new one, but I suspect it is this one in a newer release. Why this title hasn't been retired is a mystery, but I can't fault Amazon because it is still listed on the Wrox site as if it is a current book.

An addendum: Even the one above now has a newer edition: Professional ASP.NET 3.5 : in C# and VB