Professional ADO 2.5 Programming (Wrox Professional Guide) [Illustrated] (Paperback)

~ (Author), James Conard (Author), Brian Matsik (Author), (Author), Ian Blackburn (Author), James Conrad (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Filled with late-breaking information on new APIs and standards, Professional ADO 2.5 Programming will make an invaluable resource for anyone who programs with databases on the Microsoft platform. Written for those with some previous experience with ADO, this richly presented text can definitely extend the reach of your database programming skills.

The best thing about this book has to be its comprehensive tour of Microsoft database APIs over the years (from ODBC, DAO, and RDO) to today's Universal Data Access (UDA) strategy centered on OLE DB and ADO. This book also shows where UDA fits in with Microsoft's recommended approach for building applications on the Web (which take advantage of multitiered architectures). If you want to manipulate database objects (such as modifying databases and tables), you'll want to look at the sections on ADOX. And if you find yourself having to write a custom OLE DB Provider, tutorial sections will show you how (plus there's a working sample of a custom provider that hooks into the Windows Registry).

There is plenty for the enterprise programmer, with coverage of the new Active Directory in Windows 2000, plus background on LDAP and using the ASDI interfaces for programming with corporate directory information. The book culminates with a useful case study on business-to-business e-commerce (for an online florist with virtual suppliers). Most of the code uses Visual Basic, though there is mention of Visual C++ as well. Reference sections on all ADO APIs (and constants) will help make this title a must for the working programmer.

There are many facets of today's database standards in the Microsoft platform. Professional ADO 2.5 Programming covers virtually all of them, with a detailed tour of a lot of useful information that can benefit any intermediate or advanced developer. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: History of Microsoft database APIs, native APIs, ODBC, Data Access Objects (DAO), Remote Data Objects (RDO), Universal Data Access (UDA), Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC), OLE DB providers and consumers, ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), ADODB and ADOR, using Visual C++ and Visual Basic with ADO, Remote Data Services (RDS), XML, Windows DNA and multitiered architectures, MTS, MSMQ, COM+, OLE DB Cursor and Synchronization Services, batch updates, persisting recordsets, asynchronous processing and event notification, data shaping and the SHAPE language, ADO and XML, Internet publishing, WebDAV and resource management, security, multidimensional data and OLAP, ADOX for manipulating database objects, performance tuning, ADSI and directory services, LDAP basics, Exchange Server 2000, and creating OLE DB Providers: guidelines and sample VB code, and an e-commerce business-to-business case study using ADO.

Product Description

All windows developers need to use ADO. ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) 2.5 is Microsoft's latest Data Access technology. It is used to enable fast and efficient data transfer between a database and the end users. What's more, ADO 2.5 works across a range of languages (VB, VC, ASP, Access, Office etc) and with a range of back-end databases - SQL Server 7, Oracle 8i, Access 2000 etc. Almost all developers work with some combination of these technologies, so they all need to know ADO.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (February 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861002750
• ISBN-13: 978-1861002754
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,834,504 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine book, but I'd rather see a more concise version, March 7, 2000

By	Eric L. Ma (Berkeley Heights, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This book covers ADO 2.5 pretty well, but I feel a smaller volume similar to "ADO 2.0 Programmer's Reference" is more useful. In my work most of the time what I need is to look up ADO connection string syntax, or methods and properties of the Recordset object, or names of ADO constants, and that's when a pocket-sized reference book comes in handy. Granted that ADO is a big topic, but WROX has so many other books (for example Professional ADO 2.5 RDS Programming with ASP 3.0 and Professional Active Server Pages 3.0) that cover the exact same topics as this book, and it is difficult to avoid repetition among books, when you have another full volume on ADO. For example, the chapters on XML, Data Shaping, RDS, ADSI, and Exchange Server have all been covered in other recent books by WROX with greater details and better examples. Therefore, I find the Appendices are actually the most useful part of the book to me.

Bottom line: I cannot throw away my "ADO 2.0 Programmer's Reference", even after I got this book, and to the editors at WROX: bring back my Programmer's Reference!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for mid-level ADO users, May 18, 2000

By	RAYMOND L HAYNES (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This book is great for any mid-level user of ADO. Beginners will have a little difficulty keeping up with some of the concepts due to the fact that it moves quickly and gets very techinical with examples. ADO Experts will probably find this book annoying since most experts in any programming practice usually look for good references. Good news for the experts though: the index is very detailed. If you are an expert, get a reference book. If you are a beginner, get the beginning ADO book, and if you are a mid-level user, GET THIS BOOK.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculously poorly indexed; writing's not much better, January 14, 2001

By	Graham Charles (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of those amalgamated code books that seems to have been put together for no other reason than to enrich the authors. It is not comprehensive, it provides no insights into best practices, and, worst of all, it can't even be used as an effective reference because of the really astoundingly bad index. Look at the Bill Vaughn book for something really worth reading.