Customer Reviews

Visual Basic(r) 6.0 Internet Programming

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This book is usefull if you want to spend 3x the cover price to write an internet app. The custom control that the author used is pricy. For the money you could buy a good book on winsock programming (or a set of them)!

To the authors credit this book is a well written reference on what commands internet servers are expecting and what to expect for responses, and for that alone it deserves three stars.

Personally, I would have prefered if the author had put the primary focus on using the controls/tools that came with VB (the winsock control is not that difficult to use), and not some third party control that will cost you extra to really use.

If you need a reference of commands and responses and a general introduction to internet programming, this is a good book. If you are looking to publish applications then you're better off looking somewhere else.

I realize that Carl Franklin is a VB authority, which is part of my disappointment. He's the kind of guy that an intermediate guy like myself would love to have around to ask questions and seek guidance from. Overall it's not a bad book, but I was VERY put off by this one thing: When you buy a book titled "Visual Basic 6 Internet Programming" you would think it safe to assume that it would teach you using the tools made available by VB6. Not so. Instead, (and you have no way of knowing this until after you buy the book) it dismisses the winsock tool made available by VB6 altogether and teaches you using a shareware control that you have to purchase if you're serious about using it. In other words, you pay for the book only to learn that the book is useless unless you are also willing to pay for the shareware. Which might be a good thing to do, but you feel cheated by the fact that you're not given that option up front. It wouldn't be so bad if Carl had at least spent some time explaining the use of the winsock control on some level, but instead he dismisses it completely. It felt like a cheap marketing ploy for the shareware. That might not have been Carl's intent, but it felt that way.

That is true. When I bought this book, I thought I am going to learn *efficiently* the Visual Basic Internet Programming. But, actually, I was dissapointed as the book, generally speaking, just explains the different uses of the accompanying shareware that it has on the CD. IMHO, I think this shareware software is expensive (it is called dsSocket.OCX). So far, I finished reading the first 3 chapters and all the examples I went over, are dependent on this shareware. I believe the author should have spent more time explaining Microsoft Winsock since it is already available to WINDOWS users. I am really dissappointed with this book and I feel it is like a *cheap* way of advtertizing about the dsSocket.OCX. I do not recommend this book unless you are willing to buy the shareware. I wish that I had not spent a penny on this book. Please, BE AWARE! I wish that that the author can read my notes and use my recommendation to use Winsock in the next edition of his book.

I can't believe I spent $ to learn how to use Dolphin System's OCX control. Now I'd have to shell out another $100 if I want to use the OCX without the annoying splash screen. This is the worst case of fraud as you have to slip through TWENTY-FIVE pages before you're told the book is based on a third-party shareware tool.

If you must use an OCX control, buy it from the developer directly and save yourself the $ for this book.

Not what I expected at all. The first part of the book was okay - the history and building of the internet. The rest of the book - including sample code - was a discussion of how to use the control the writer created. If you want to spend another $300+ to be able to do your own FTP application, this is the book for you. That's what it costs to buy the software that will allow the sample code to run.

Carl Franklin has significant credentials and I expected to see a full description of WebClasses and other VB6-specific features in this book. What's there instead is a sloppy update of his VB4 book and poor to non-existent coverage of the power new features VB6 provides. Carl has gone the way of other authors who make minor changes to existing content with each new VB release. Because VB6 adds so much to internet programming that wasn't there before, this approach borders on being dishonest. Shame on you, Carl!

This book should be retitled "Internet Programming w/ VB 6.0 and a $200 Plug-In". When I buy a book on Visual Basic programming, I expect to learn how to program using Visual Basic, not Visual Basic and some ActiveX plug-in made by a 3rd Party vendor that I have to buy separately (for $200). Don't buy it.

The author has the irritating habit of using custom controls rather than concentrating on VB6. Some of the source code won't compile or doesn't work. The book refers to material that is not even on the CD. Nevertheless, there is so much good material that the book deserves 4 stars.

This is a well-thought-out book.

The topics are well organized and the basic concepts are clearly explained. The author leads the reader through the functions and explains the implementation of the code. The CD is a valuable source of usable material.

A number of previous reviews have complained about the reliance on a third party tool, I don't object to this; in fact, that's the nature of the beast. Developers develop, right? VB6 is a great product, and developers enhance its functionality with items like this one.

On the other hand, it should be made clear to the potential buyer that this is the way this book functions. There is a significant shareware cost to be able to follow the author's preferred way. Full disclosure is the only fair way.

If not for that, I'd give it 5 stars. Book is great; cover needs to give the information on the plugin.

I brought this good to learn how to use Winsock. What I receive was a dsWinsock control and a lecture from Carl about why he doesn't like WinSock. HEY CARL GET A GRIP. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.