I received a copy of Andrew Connell's new Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 book this week. As expected, Andrew's new book is excellent - well written with a ton of substantial content.

What I like about this book:

Chapter 5 dissects SharePoint's out-of-the-box MOSS 2007 Publishing Portal site definition. This chapter then covers how to create a Minimal Publishing Portal site definition which does not include the extraneous artifacts included in the somewhat bloated out-of-the-box version.

I particularly like Chapter 10 on Field Types and Field Controls. Unfortunately, there is little documentation and online resources available about creating custom field types. Andrew's book offers a complete chapter on the subject, with clear explanations and good examples.

Chapter 15 on Authentication and Authorization provides the reader with instructions to configure forms-based authentication for an extranet/internet-facing SharePoint site. Users often have trouble setting up FBA, but this book gives the needed instruction and guidance.

Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a must have for any serious SharePoint developer. I have been developing on the SharePoint platform for almost a decade, and this book will stay within arm's reach of my keyboard. Seriously, buy this book today.

-Tony Bierman [MVP WSS]

The SharePoint book that I have been waiting for the most has finally arrived. Back when I first heard that Ted Pattision and Daniel Larson were teaming up to write a SharePoint book, I got pretty excited. I knew these guys would have a knock-out book for SharePoint developers, and I'm happy to say I was right.

With this book, you will learn how to:

* Build application pages and site pages

* Develop and deploy reusable Web parts to enable customization and personalization

* Exploit Windows SharePoint APIs to deploy Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX components

* Use XML and Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) to create provisioning components

* Design and implement custom document libraries

* Use Windows Workflow Foundation to create applications that automate business process

* Create Site Definitions to aggregate components and package them for deployment

* Implement Code Access Security, Trust Levels, authentication, and authorization

Do yourself a huge favor, and spend five minutes ordering yourself a copy. It will save you hours down the road.