Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Microsoft Programming) [Paperback]

Rick Dobson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735615357 | ISBN-13: 978-0735615359 | Publication Date: June 29, 2002

Learn how to turn data into solutions with SQL Server 2000, Visual Basic .NET, and XML. Get a fundamental grasp of SQL Server 2000 data access, data manipulation, and data definition T-SQL programming techniques, Visual Basic .NET language enhancements, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment advances, and the state-of-the-art technologies of the .NET framework. If you're looking for expert insights on how to build powerful, secure solutions with SQL Server 2000 and Visual Basic .NET, this is the book for you.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (June 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735615357
• ISBN-13: 978-0735615359
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,193,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an author/trainer/webmaster. My area of specialization is database development. Among the programming topics that I like to prepare content about are SQL Server, T-SQL, Access, VBA, Visual Basic .NET, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET. I especially like working on the intersection of two or three of these topics at once.

I have been working with personal computers since the early 1980's. In the late 1980's, I started a part-time computer consulting practice, and I devoted myself to the practice on a full-time basis starting in 1991. I initially started consulting with 1-2-3 and Symphony before migrating to Microsoft Access as my main consulting tool. Microsoft selected me as a Microsoft Access hero to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Microsoft Access (http://www.microsoft.com/Office/previous/access/10years/dobson.asp).

Starting around 1999, I added coverage of Microsoft SQL Server. In fact, I spent a lot of time focusing on advanced ways of using Access and SQL Server together, and I authored a book on these topics. In early 2002, I added coverage of Visual Basic .NET, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET. I eventually authored two books and two DVDs on these topics. Most recently, I focused on SQL Server 2005 Express, Visual Basic Express, and Visual Web Developer Express. My most recent book describes how to build database applications with these three tools.

In addition to authoring books, I regularly write for computer periodicals. In the past several years, my articles appeared in such publications as SQL Server Magazine, Smart Access, Visual Studio Developer, SQL Server Professional, and SQL Server Solutions. My favorite approach in books and articles is to explain and demonstrate new or difficult topics in a way that makes them easy to use by beginning and intermediate level developers and professionals who create their own database solutions.

I have always enjoyed making presentations on computer topics. Starting in the early 1990's, I presented sessions at computer conferences. In 1999, I started sponsoring my own seminar training events. My sixth annual seminar training event consists of 21 hours of database development training for SQL Server Express, Visual Basic Express, and Visual Web Developer Express (http://www.programmingmsaccess.com/seminar2006).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Value is more in the SQL coverage than the .NET coverage, June 9, 2002

By 

Bryan Geary (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Microsoft Programming) (Paperback)

First, the book starts with a pretty thorough coverage of SQL Server. It then gives you an overview of the different ways you can utilize SQL server from .NET. It talks some about Windows applications, some about ASP for Internet and closes with XML and Web Services.

Personally, I thought the SQL coverage was really good - including security and stored procedures, but that the VB.Net coverage didn't provide as much detail as I had hoped.

The main reason I bought this was to try to find some answers to holes I felt other authors had left - deployment strategies and examples (including the SQL portion), dealing with text and binary objects and maximizing application performance. These topics were covered very lightly or not at all in this book.

I also thought the author spent too much time on details that aren't really useful. Its pretty interesting that you can modify table structures on the fly, but how many production applications actually do that? I would have appreciated much more time on reading and updating data than all of the stuff surrounding manipulating the schema. My normal mode of operation is to modify the table in the Enterprise manager and let it generate a SQL script for me to build the database. I don't plan on writing programs to modify the database structure; I'd rather program to modify its contents. He also spends a chapter on views from SQL, but views aren't used in any VB code anywhere in the book.

My final criticism is this - the SQL material and VB material are too separate. For instance, he spends a lot of time on stored procedures and their power. He mentions some of the ways they can be used in VB. That would have been a great time to show VB and utilize the procedures he just developed. Instead, the utilization happens about 200+ pages later. I think the author could have developed a great book, but instead we just got a good one.

Here's the summary - it is a thorough treatment of SQL. If you're looking to understand SQL Server there is a lot of good material here (a little too much sometimes, but I'd rather have that than fall short). You will learn all about views, stored procedures, user defined functions and even security. This stuff makes it worth the price of the book. But if you are looking to figure out how to develop for SQL Server from VB.NET, there are better books - try ADO.NET Step by Step instead or Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases. In the mean time, I'm going to keep looking for something that answers my specific questions better.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A .NET book for SQL Server Developers, October 15, 2002

By 

Rick Dobson "Rick Dobson" (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Microsoft Programming) (Paperback)

I am the author of Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, and I am writing this review to offer an alternative perspective from the one Mr. Geary's review presents. I aimed to ceate a book that had special relevance for those creating solutions for SQL Server 2000 with Visual Basic .NET.
The book has two main sections. The first section takes you through typical database developer topics, such as creating tables, programming data access, and managing SQL Server security. This section also devotes space to other traditional topics, such as data manipulation and stored procedure programming. More space goes to views, triggers, and user-defined functions. Nearly all the programming samples in the first section are with T-SQL. The second section demonstrates how to invoke T-SQL code via Visual Basic .NET.
One special feature of the book is its coverage of SQL Server Web releases that focus on XML functionality. The first part covers two Web releases, and the third Web release gains focus in the book's second part. In addition, another whole chapter in the second section demonstrates how to program XML via Visual Basic .NET.
The second section drills down on .NET and how to apply it to SQL Server 2000 databases. This part contains over 50 percent of the book's page count. Instead of focusing narrowly on Visual Basic .NET, it takes a broad perspective and addresses topics such as .NET concepts, creating Windows applications with Visual Basic .NET, and ADO.NET. In addition, the book includes a couple of chapters on ASP.NET and XML Web Services. Despite the wide scope of the second section, the section provides scores of code samples that convey basic coding techniques for creating SQL Server solutions with Visual Basic .NET. You will discover samples on programming class inheritance, event programming, and error handling. Other samples demonstrate how to perform data access and data manipulation for SQL Server databases with code behind Windows forms and Web pages. The book's final chapter presents four samples demonstrating how to create and consume XML Web Services. Two of these samples demonstrate the use of the SQL Server 2000 Web Services Toolkit.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five-star book - Six-star author, April 8, 2003

By 

Rabih Charara (Beirut - Lebanon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Programming Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Microsoft Programming) (Paperback)

Rick's book is the best one I read on VB.NET with SQL Server. The flow of the book is unbeatable. Every chapter is clearly written and well planned to backup the chapters that will follow it. Executing stored procedures from VB.NET is the best part of the book because when I ran the code it worked. Other books I bought (too many of them!!!) do not compare to this book.
The other thing about the author is that he replied to my email about an issue not mentioned in the book as soon as he received it. I strongly recommend this book.