Serious ADO: Universal Data Access with Visual Basic [Paperback]

Robert MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1893115194 | ISBN-13: 978-1893115194 | Publication Date: August 8, 2000

From seasoned developer and trainer Rob Macdonald comes Serious ADO: Universal Data Access with Visual Basic, which teaches experienced Visual Basic developers how to make the most of ADO, Microsoft's flagship product for database access. Serious ADO covers the full range of uses for ADO, from basic use of the ADO technology to specialized topics and advanced techniques that will benefit even the most experienced developers.

The first part of the book provides thorough coverage of ADO's components and what they can do. Along the way, Macdonald offers real-world code examples along with complete explanations of exactly what is occurring at each stage of the development process. This part also covers some of the key concepts upon which ADO programming is based, such as locking and transactions, connection pooling, marshalling, and Inter Process Communication, among others.

The second part of the book addresses the use of ADO in real-world development scenarios. Here, Macdonald demonstrates advanced user interface creation, including new ways to control the binding process. You'll also learn how to use Microsoft Transaction Server of COM+ applications to create transactional component-based systems.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rob MacDonald is an independent software expert who specializes in enterprise system design and data access using Windows, COM+, ADO, and MTS. After nine years running a thriving software development company, he now works directly with developers as a designer, mentor, and trainer. He lives in southern England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 611 pages
• Publisher: Apress (August 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893115194
• ISBN-13: 978-1893115194
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,090,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks Rob, A Book that delivers MORE than it promises, October 31, 2000

By 

"joandawes" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Serious ADO: Universal Data Access with Visual Basic (Paperback)

I started reading what looked like a heavy book on ADO, and finished up really understanding how to use ADO in all kinds of applications. I now know about marshaling and MTS transactions, and how ADO was designed to work with these technologies. I really recommend this book to anyone who wants to go beyond typing in code samples. It explained so much more about how to put applications together, and my users are very happy with the improvements to my applications. I now feel like an expert!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is really good ADO book, September 18, 2001

By 

max power (Franklin, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Serious ADO: Universal Data Access with Visual Basic (Paperback)

I only have a few months to come up with an architecture for the front end. Personally, I prefer working with powerbuilder better because of their excellent product that works well with databases. I worked with VB 4 years ago and used RDO and DAO a lot. I was not impressed with them at all because you don't have a lot of control over the database issues.

I thought ADO was going to be the same and I did not have a good feeling about it. Having only a few weeks to get me up-to-speed, I thus bought this book. It was a very good decision. This book explains in details about the recordset, command, and parameter objects that you need to know before designing/developing your first app (in my case). My perception on ADO has changed 3 days after I started reading this book, thanks to this book.

This book teaches you how from the beginning especially on what methods to adopt when fetching, updating, deleting, or inserting records. You will find out all those chapters on connected/disconnected recordset to be very helpful.

In our new app, I am supposed to create a middle-tier and take advantage of connection pooling. This book also has a detail description on how you can go about implementing a three-tier.

A beginner may find this book to be a bit challenging since there are a lot of ideas need to be digested. However, for someone who has some ideas on design and need to find out what is the best way to execute it, in this case writing a good vb app, this is the book for you.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My bookshelf loves this book, October 9, 2000

By 

Greg James (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Serious ADO: Universal Data Access with Visual Basic (Paperback)

because here is one ADO text that replaces 5 ADO books with a red spine.

Having spent months trying to get my head round ADO, I have finally succeeded thanks to Serious ADO. It has explained everything I needed to know, and some things I had previously ignored. I love the layout - and the content - so full marks all round