Customer Reviews

Professional ASP.NET MVC 2 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

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

 

 

Starting with the ViewModel section of chapter 1, there is plently of errata which leaves you wondering. This is confirmed on the books official forums filled with people asking for answers.

In short, the book tries to use "TryUpdateModel" which doesn't work because you aren't using the Dinner model any more, but rather the DinnerFormViewModel. You have to use one of the overloaded TryUpdateModel methods in order for it to work. You can visit the book's forums for more details.

There are also a lot of errors in the map section of chapter 1 -- mainly in the ids you have to select using jQuery (#Dinner_Address instead of #Address, for example). You also don't get the CSS to position the map correctly -- you must make your own css to float the map to the right and position it.

EDIT: More errata: The C# code for finding the nearest dinners within 100 miles is not present in the book or the downloadable code. You get the sql code. However, like another function that they give you, you need SQL and C#. You can get the C# code at the forums.

Overall, it's a good introduction; however, the various errata in the advanced topics of Chapter 1 leave me doubting the quality of the rest of the book. Given that the problems are fixable (if you are willing to try and understand what it doesn't tell you and visit the book's forums for help), I am giving the book three stars.

The sample application code is filled with errors and omissions. You are better off waiting for the corrections to be addressed before spending your time on this book.

I am about 90 pages into the book and the errors are already starting to impede my progress.
There is no official errata available. I would not recommend spending money on this book.

Chapters 2 and on are well worth the read to explain the concepts behind models, controllers, views, and what makes them work together. I absolutely recommend reading these, and read them first (5 stars).

Chapter 1 (which is 1/3 of the book) tries to talk you through creating the NerdDinner application, which would be great if you could do it from this book. However, there are so many errors and ommissions that trying to create the application is a long exercise in frustration; every step of the way leaves you experimenting or searching online because the code you just typed in didn't work (even once you feel you understand the concepts). It's enough to make you hate MVC, but keep in mind it's the instruction that's faulty, not the technology itself. Chapter 1, you get 1 star.

What kind of professionals are these people? As many have mentioned, there are significant errors in the first chapter. The Errata on the wrox website (as of 10/11/2010) is severely lacking. You have to go into the wrox forums to find answers from other developers.

Yes, you can find the most updated NerdDinner at [...] but it's so overhauled it doesnt match the book anymore. A seasoned developer won't have much of a problem fixing these issues. But if you're a new to the web environment, the first chapter is a major pain, especially getting the bing map to show up correctly.

Although I did learn a lot, 1 star for numerous painful errors in chapter 1.

Most of the problems are listed in one posting: [...]

The rest of the issues are listed here: [...]

The text is disorganized and the code is full of bugs. It seems like none of the code was tested before it was published in the book.

The first chapter, although full of errors as everyone said, was really the best part of the book. I learn much better by example, and the 1st chapter was 160pages of it. The errors in the book, although inexcusible for something I paid money for, actually helped me learn more, because it forced me to debug the application and search for answers. I tend to learn more this way anyway, but it was pretty pathetic that these errors were published.

After chapter 1, I pretty much read the entire book in a couple of days, and learned almost nothing. Truthfully, I'm being a little biased, as I was reading Apress's Pro ASP.NET MVC 3 book at the same time. The only reason I bought this book was to see the difference between MVC 2 and MVC 3. I could've just bought Apress's MVC 2 book, but I wanted a different perspective. Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good one. Outside the first chapter, I really can't recommend this book. Look elsewhere. Apress's MVC 3 book is leaps and bounds better than this book, and goes far, far, far, into more detail than this book. However, it is twice as long. Both books fall short in that, like every other book, they only provide the simplest examples. It would be nice to see a book start like this book, right out of the gate, with a simple full web site example (btw, Apress's book spends the middle of their book and a full example as well); teach you meaning behind the example in the 2nd part, and then in a final 3rd part of the book, build a very real, detailed, hard-core, full-fledge website by example, just to nail it all down.

I bought this book almost 9 months back but now only got the time to read it.The book starts with a real world example and explains the theory later. I din't know anything about ASP.NET MVC .So what I did was read some of the theory behind Model ,View and Controller and started doing the Nerddinner project. Then I started realizing that as the authors say "The best way to learn a new framework is to build an application with it.". This is very true. You might see some errors in the code as a lot of other people complain.But if you ever worked with ASP.NET web forms, its all manageable.You can find the whole source code in codeplex [...].This is what I refferd to when ever i come across some error in the code.Of course , we don't expect the Gurus to make any mistakes in their book(lol)..
Also i found that they really explain very well all the concepts (Model,View and Controller).So my opinion is that if you want to get a real undestanding of what ASP.NET MVC is and don't mind searching codeplex or Wrox P2P forums for that matter, this book is all for you.

RJ
Jacksonville,FL

Using Nerd Dinner sample application as a consistent thread for the book, authors of this book have covered some important development aspects of MVC2 programming concisely: routing, model, view, controller, ajax, filters, unit test, and security. For anybody want to have a solid understanding the MVC2 development, this book has a good coverage. On the other hand, the code samples and the sample application itself is light-weight. I think a more appropriate book title would be "Programming ASP.NET MVC2" instead. You may need to supplement with other readings and/or working experience to complete your real world programming tasks.

I must have gotten an updated copy of the book, because I've not come across all of the issues that other reviewers are posting about.

From the get go, this book has been a fantastic read on using ASP.NET MVC 2. Having decided to code our new site in MVC, it was imperative that I learn it ASAP. Looking over the books that exist out there on the subject, I found this book to be one of the best. The other was an Apress book (hint - it's their MVC 2 book).

The writing style is fun and entertaining and they present a real world example that presents the types of scenarios you will need to solve when developing your own site.

Working through creating a site for the NerdDinner site, you learn all about Models, Views and Controllers (MVC). Along the way you pick up tips and tricks for handling your models, building your views, creating and reusing partial views and how best to secure your site against all of the idiots out there seeking to ruin your day.

I read the book straight through and have dogged pages that I am going to use for reference while coding my own site.

If you want to learn ASP.NET MVC2 and are trying to decide on what book to buy, don't look any further. Get this one and save yourself a lot of headache.

This one belongs on every MVC 2 developers bookshelf. I'm can't wait to see what they do for MVC 3!