Professional Community Server (Paperback)

~ Wyatt Preul (Author), (Collaborator), Jose Lema (Collaborator), Jim Martin (Collaborator)
Key Phrases: community server, blog theme, membership menu, Visual Studio, Web Installer, Standard Edition (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

• Community Server is one of the hottest Web site packages available today and runs many popular sites, including Microsoft's Channel 9, Xbox.com, Xbox's Major Nelson, and The Hive
• This hands-on guide teaches readers how to extend their implementation with themes, modules and add-ons through the use of helpful examples
• Explains how to troubleshoot installation issues, understand Community Server ASP.NET config files, implement kinds, modify custom controls, and work with master pages
• Explores ways to manage the point system, extend the database, write custom modules, and modify Community Server code
• Foreword by Rob Howard, Microsoft ASP.NET MVP and CEO of Telligent Systems

From the Back Cover

Built on the .NET 2.0 platform, Telligent's Community Server allows web developers to implement a robust community site where users can share, discuss, and interact in very powerful ways. With its open API and available source code, Community Server is customizable using available 3rd party modules, or you can write your own code to extend Community Server's functionality.

Inside this book, our Community Server experts guide you through the product's implementation and customization and will get you started with your first community site quickly. You'll learn methods for UI modification and enhancement, how to add new functionality through modules, and how to write your own custom module code. You'll also get tried-and-true advice for administering your Community Server site, creating reports, implementing security, building localized installations, and more.

What you will learn from this book

• Techniques for troubleshooting installation issues

• How to understand and customize Community Server's ASP.NET config files

• Tips for installing and configuring modules on your site

• Methods for enhancing your implementation with themes, modules, and add-ons

• How to write modules and modify Community Server code

• All about implementing skins, changing the look of custom controls, working with master pages, and more

Who this book is for

This book is for both experienced developers and general enthusiasts who are interested in building their site using Community Server. You should have prior experience in web server management and configuration.

Readers who wish to extend and customize Community Server should have previous experience with ASP.NET and related .NET technologies.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 311 pages
• Publisher: Wrox (March 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470108282
• ISBN-13: 978-0470108284
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #792,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good, but for an older version, October 29, 2007

By	Robin Evans "robinev" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This book deals almost entirely with an older 2.x version of Community Server. The current version, CS 2007 is massively different.

Although the authors seem to have made a few last-minute additions to cover some of the many changes made to CS 2007, the book is a poor introduction to the current version.

Telligent offers poor documentation for Community Server, so a book is necessary for anyone who wants to do more than make UI-supported changes to the app. This one isn't it for CS 2007. I'm hoping that 'Professional CS Themes' (which I have on order) will better serve the purpose.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Skims Over Everything. Nothing in Depth., October 11, 2007

By	S. Devasundaram "dssonthenet" (Cleveland,OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book doesn't cover anything in depth. Just gives a very brief overview of everything. If you have been on the net for a while, and did a couple of any other admin work, you can easily figure it all. Also, you have great resource in the Community Server forum etc.. make use of that. Nothin special in this book to make it a "MUST BUY". Have a look at it in the book store, before you buy it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not really as good as I expected, July 23, 2008

By	Luis Abreu (Funchal, Madeira Portugal) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

[also posted on http://msmvps.com/blogs/luisabreu/archive/2008/07/03/book-review-professional-community-server.aspx]

In the last week I've finished reading the Professional Community Server book. Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy it. Even though the book had several details, they were about older versions 2.X of CS and I got the impression that the authors were pressed to add one or two things about the latest release of the product (that probably was launched right before the book hit the streets).

Being in the Programmer to Programmer series and since it seems like the Professional ASP.NET 2.0 and Beginning ASP.NET 2.0 books were considered prerequisites, I was really expecting more in depth coverage of CS internals. In fact, I think that this book should have been called Beginning Community Server (instead of Professional Community Server) since the books will only introduce you to the main CS features.

Having said this, I can't really give it more that 5/10.