Customer Reviews

Programming Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

As another said, you need to know everything about everything before reading this book. I cannot decide what this book is supposed to accomplish. What is its purpose? Is it a technical book or an MS advertisement? After a couple hundred pages, I found myself tired of hearing "You can"...this and "You can"...that, only to find that the how is usually left out. Considering that web page design is a relatively simple task (compared to, for example OS design,) this book proves that it is possible for man-kind to mess up just about anything. The one good thing I discovered from reading this book is what not to look for in an InterDev development book. At best, it's a confusing introduction. I wish I took more time to sample this book before plopping down my cash. Do yourself a favor: get all the O'Reilly books having to do with web design and piece things together; the documentation that comes with InterDev is, I dare say, more usefull than this book.

I couldn't disagree more with the low scores on this one...When I got the book, I sat down and read over a hundred pages of it in one sitting... In a time when nincompoop illiterates put out how-to manuals, this book had a clear and engaging style. I liked the detailed instructions on VI setup.

It is one the best computer how-to books i have ever read. JB

I read what the other reviews said and must say that they miss the point. Visual Interdev is not the same as FrontPage98. It is not for beginners. What the reader should be seeking is a way to add database interaction to a website (which is not the same as interactivity!). I found myself turning to this book again and again as I switched to Interdev. I had to fight with coworkers over the CD from it. I would say it is a "must have" book for its intended audience.

I saw author's comment that this second edition has so much improvement over the first, so I bought one copy. I haven't read the first edition, but this second edition is hardly an improvement over anything, IMHO. I think the problem is that this book doesn't talk about problem solving, nor provide any insight to the product (VI 6)inner function. Ironically this is a book from Microsoft press.

Of the 4 Visual Interdev books I have read, this one is the best. Good discussion of Design time controls and how to script them and of passing parameters.

I was asked to develop some simple web pages for a database project using Visual Interdev and Active Server Pages, which I had never worked with. I usually learn a new RAD tool by taking code examples from a book an adapting them to my project. After becoming flustered with the lack of helpful examples in the "Using Visual Interdev" book, I switched to "Inside..."

I skipped to the chapters on the data form wizard and database development and got list and form pages up within a few days using the Data FOrm Wizard and other development tools. It did a good job of explaining the basic idea behind ASP and how Visual Interdev works.

It does waste time covering the basics of things like menu navigation, but I did like the step-by-step through the code generated by the Data Form Wizard.

I would recommend this book to database developers making the switch to web development who need a jump-start, but not to the seasoned developer who will find the majority of introductory chapters a waste.

This book is a very trite and superficial treatment of Visual InterDev. It is somewhere between nothing and the documentation. Microsoft Press should be embarrassed to be associated with this book. As a professional developer and trainer, I recommend to my students MSDN and the Site Builder Network.

My copy on InterDev came with Visual Studio 6.0. Using my copy of InterDev 6.0, I could not follow the examples in this book.

It's too little for the abject beginner, and not nearly enough for even a novice user. Microsoft clearly is depending on third party vendors to write the manuals for their software.

This book goes nowhere on actually teaching someone how to build an interactive site. The authors would have served everyone better if they took the time to walk someone thru a project.