Suitable for most any programmer who wants to master ASP.NET with an eye toward real-world development, Programming ASP.NET is an excellent resource that mixes good coverage of APIs with actual programming techniques and advice using Visual Basic .NET and C#. The combination places it in the forefront of currently available titles on ASP.NET.

Written in part by veteran computer author Jesse Liberty, this book offers an excellent mix of coverage of important ASP.NET features that you will absolutely need to use for real-world programming. Readers with previous ASP experience will appreciate early sections that compare an older ASP sample with the new ASP.NET to highlight what's new and improved, with good explanation of the ASP.NET event model. The pace of this book is just excellent. The authors first move through the essentials, like basic ASP Web controls and data binding, before delving into data-driven applications using the (slightly complicated) ASP.NET database APIs. It also helps that the authors let you use Notepad (or another text editor) to create your ASP.NET programs first. (Later, they cover the details of Visual Studio .NET, pointing out how this tool can sometimes make it difficult to see where your code is generated.) There's also coverage of debugging and tracing techniques.

Standout sections on the calendar, Repeater, DataList, and DataGrid controls (all presented in good detail) will help you master these important controls. Coverage of techniques and support for validating user input in Web pages will also help you use these essential features.

The author's well-measured tutorial on Web services (much touted by Microsoft) is as good as any. Their demos (using a well-traveled example of a stock ticker server) will show you what all the fuss is about. They cut through the hype here and manage to show why Web services are a potentially better way toward distributed computing. Later sections look at deployment, configuration, and performance (as well as caching) options that you'll need to deploy and run your ASP.NET programs successfully. Coverage of security options in .NET rounds out the tour of what you'll need to create real applications.

Illustrated throughout with samples from VB .NET and C#, Programming ASP.NET is a worthy addition to the O'Reilly lineup and one of the best available titles for learning ASP.NET. The authors have achieved an excellent balance of practical, hands-on examples and essential programming techniques with the most important APIs and features, all without getting bogged down in the richness and complexity of .NET itself. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Introduction to the .NET platform and ASP.NET; basic programs in HTML; ASP and ASP.NET compared; events in ASP.NET (application, session, page, and control events); HTML and ASP controls compared; basic ASP controls APIs (including in-depth coverage of calendar support); code behind forms; using the Visual Studio .NET IDE; tracing, debugging, and error handling; validation controls in ASP.NET (including built-in and custom validators, plus regular expression support); basic data-binding techniques; list and DataGrid controls; ADO.NET tutorial (basic APIs and programming techniques); calling stored procedures; updating database records; Repeater and DataList controls used with ADO.NET; custom ASP.NET controls (including derived, composite, and full custom controls); overview of Web services (including SOAP, WSDL, and other standards); creating and consuming a sample Web service for a stock ticker; ASP.NET caching techniques explained (including fragment and object caching); security options in ASP.NET for authentication, authorization, and impersonation; configuration and deployment options in ASP.NET (including XCOPY deployment); and an appendix with a quick tutorial on database design.


From Book News, Inc.
This guide shows developers how to use both C# and Visual Basic .NET to create data-driven web sites and services. It covers each type of server control, including server web controls, HTML server controls, and custom controls. The book also includes a tutorial of Web Forms. Liberty is a programmer and trainer, and Hurwitz is a consultant.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Book Description
ASP.NET, successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP), is so complete and flexible that a web developer's main difficulty may lie simply in weaving the pieces together for maximum efficiency. The new edition of Programming ASP.NET shows developers how to do just that. Updated for Version 1.1 of the NET framework and Visual Studio .NET 2003, the second edition of this bestselling .NET title will show you how to create dynamic, data-driven web sites and services using both C# and Visual Basic .NET. In Programming ASP.NET, Second Edition authors Jesse Liberty and Dan Hurwitz cover everything you need to know to be effective with ASP.NET. The book includes a comprehensive tutorial on Web Forms, which, in conjunction with Visual Studio .NET 2003, allow you to apply Rapid Application Development techniques (including drag-and-drop control placement) to web development. Programming ASP.NET includes extensive coverage of each type of server control, including Web server controls, HTML server controls, and custom controls. New material covers creating ASP.NET pages for mobile devices. Since most web applications and web services involve retrieving data and returning it to a client browser, Programming ASP.NET Second Edition also offers extensive coverage of data access issues. These include topics such as using ASP.NET's list-bound controls; accessing data using the ADO.NET object model, and updating data with or without transaction support. Programming ASP.NET also discusses such advanced topics as:Caching and performanceSecurityConfiguration and deploymentIf you're already familiar with Active Server Pages technology, you'll appreciate the in-depth focus and straightforward, easy-to-read approach for developing web pages and web services. Succinct, direct, and loaded with examples, Programming ASP.NET, Second Edition will help users at every level master ASP.NET without getting bogged down in the complexity of its features.


Book Info
Authors teach everything you need to know to write web applications and web services using both C# and Visual Basic. NET. Softcover.


From the Publisher
This book is based on the first official release of Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

ASP.NET is the successor technology to Active Server Pages (ASP), the world's most successful development environment for building server-side web applications. ASP.NET leverages the power of Microsoft's new .NET platform to allow you to write dynamic, data-driven applications that run over the World Wide Web. In Programming ASP.NET, Jesse Liberty and Dan Hurwitz teach you everything you need to know to write web applications and web service. The book focuses on ASP.NET development using both C# and Visual Basic .NET, and coding examples are presented in both languages.

Programming ASP.NET includes a detailed tutorial on Web Forms, which, in conjunction with Visual Studio .NET, allow you to apply Rapid Application Development techniques (including drag-and-drop control placement) to web development. Programming ASP.NET includes extensive coverage of each type of server control, including web server controls, HTML server controls, and custom controls. Since most web applications and web services involve retrieving data and returning it to a client browser, Programming ASP.NET also offers extensive coverage of data access issues. These include topics such as using ASP.NET's list-bound controls, accessing data using the ADO.NET object model, and updating data with or without transaction support.

SYNOPSIS