ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) (Paperback)

by Michael Kittel (Author), Geoffrey LeBlond (Author)
Key Phrases: grid view, solution add, publish date, End Sub, Page Language, End Namespace Example (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Completely revised for ASP.NET 2.0, this new edition of the best-selling ASP.NET Cookbook has everything you need to go from beginning to advanced Windows-based web site development using Microsoft's popular Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 developer tools. Written for the impatient professional, ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook contains more than 125 recipes for solving common and not-so-common problems you are likely to encounter when building ASP.NET-based web applications.

The recipes in this book, which run the gamut from simple coding techniques to more comprehensive development strategies, are presented in the popular Problem-Solution-Discussion format of the O'Reilly Cookbook series. As with the first edition, every solution is coded in both C# and Visual Basic 2005.

Among the additions and revisions to this new edition are:

• Three new chapters, including 25 new recipes for Master and Content pages, Personalization using Profiles and Themes, Custom Web Parts, and more
• New code for every solution, rewritten to take advantage of features and techniques new to ASP.NET 2.0 and available for download

The ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook continues to provide the most comprehensive coverage you'll find anywhere of:

• Tabular controls, including the new GridView control
• Data validation, including the new ASP.NET 2.0 validation controls, as well as techniques for performing your own validation programmatically
• User and custom controls
• Error handling, performance tuning, and caching

Whether you're new to ASP.NET or an experienced Microsoft developer, with ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook, deliverance from a long day (or night) at your computer could be just one recipe away.

About the Author
Michael Kittel has nearly 30 years experience in the software industry. He has been working with Microsoft technologies for more than 10 years and with ASP.NET since the alpha release of 1.0. He has been the system architect and led the development of applications for Lexis-Nexis, Plow & Hearth, ReturnBuy, and many others. Michael has a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer certification and is currently a senior consultant at Dominion Digital, Inc. (www.dominiondigital.com), a firm that specializes in helping companies envision and achieve maximum business value from investments.

Geoffrey T. LeBlond is the co-author of "Using 1-2-3", the first computer book that sold over 1 million copies. Geoff is the author of numerous computer books, and was the developer of Oriel, an early scripting language for Microsoft Windows. More recently, Geoff has been focusing his attention on developing web applications using ASP and ASP.NET.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1014 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (December 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596100647
• ISBN-13: 978-0596100643
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #161,681 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book for some purposes, not quite cooked, January 20, 2006

By	William Addington "William Addington" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are lots of tips and tricks in this book on ASP.NET 2.0 presented in a "Problem: Solution" format that make it a worthwhile timesaver for experienced developers. Code is shown for both VB.NET and C#.

The problem I have is that is little or no discussion of alternatives or the circumstances when a particular recipe should be used. This means inexperienced developers might implement recipes that work for their immediate problem but add maintenance, performance or architectural issues down the road.

For example, there are 72 pages on using the DataGrid control. Except for backward compatibility there is no valid reason to use the DataGrid in ASP.NET 2.0 -- use the GridView control instead. I'd go so far as to say use of the DataGrid in 2.0 is deprecated -- don't do it in new code.

Likewise the data binding examples use SqlDataSource -- never XMLDataSource or, importantly, ObjectDataSource. ObjectDataSource is the way to go when we want to build a modern architecture application where we have separated business logic, data access code, and the UI.

It appears that this book was written quickly to get something out for the 2.0 market before the "2.0ness" of the recipes was fully baked in.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars ASP.NET 1.1 with a bit of 2.0 patched on, August 9, 2006

By	Kevin Ireland (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Much of the content was clearly taken from earlier 1.x versions of the book without being re-written to take advantage of 2.0. Yes, the samples may compile and work, but they are often not 2.0 best practices.

While there are several 2.0-specific sections, much 2.0 function is ignored. You'll learn more from other books.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Way to Get Started with ASP.NET 2.0 - Wish it had more advanced topics, January 15, 2007

By	R. Walling (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For those transitioning from ASP.NET 1.x this is a fantastic introduction to learning how things should be done with 2.0. The book is well-written, concise, and easy to absorb the concepts it presents.

I've always loved the "Cookbook" format, which is to present a list of tasks 100 or so tasks that you might want to accomplish, and then give detailed instructions on how to accomplish each one. The one thing I would like to have seen, and the reason it didn't receive 5 stars, is that the book focuses on introductory tasks. Since I've been working with 2.0 for several months I already knew how to do most of the items they discussed.

Overall, this book will serve as a great reference.