Product Description

ASP.NET 4 is the latest version of Microsoft's revolutionary ASP.NET technology. It is the principal standard for creating dynamic web pages on the Windows platform. Pro ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010 raises the bar for high-quality, practical advice on learning and deploying Microsoft's dynamic web solution.

This new edition is updated with everything you need to master the latest version of ASP.NET, including coverage of ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET AJAX 4, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, and Silverlight 3.

Seasoned .NET professionals Matthew MacDonald and Mario Szpuszta explain how you can get the most from these groundbreaking new technologies. They cover ASP.NET 4 as a whole, illustrating both the brand-new features and the functionality carried over from previous versions of ASP. This book will give you the knowledge you need to code real ASP.NET 4 applications in the best possible style.

What you'll learn

• Understand why ASP.NET 4 is so special, what its fundamental principles are, the basics of Visual Studio, and how ASP.NET controls are created and how they fit into ASP.NET pages, ultimately creating full applications.
• Become familiar with ASP.NET MVC, a new feature that is one of the biggest additions to ASP.NET 4, and understand how to use it and integrate it within your existing ASP.NET applications.
• Discover the intricacies of ADO.NET and how to perform data binding to many sources, from databases to file streams to XML.
• Learn the various forms of security available and how to best apply them. Once considered the Achilles' heel of all Windows web applications, security has vastly improved and is now a cornerstone of ASP.NET 4.
• Examine in detail advanced user interface techniques, including user controls, customer server controls, client-side JavaScript, GDI+, and Silverlight 3.
• Understand how to work with web services, an important skill in an increasingly connected world.
• Use ASP.NET AJAX 4, with an emphasis on contemporary web development techniques.
• Perform development using Internet Information Services 7, Microsoft's premier web hosting platform.

About the Apress Pro Series

The Apress Pro series books are practical, professional tutorials to keep you on and moving up the professional ladder.

You have gotten the job, now you need to hone your skills in these tough competitive times. The Apress Pro series expands your skills and expertise in exactly the areas you need. Master the content of a Pro book, and you will always be able to get the job done in a professional development project. Written by experts in their field, Pro series books from Apress give you the hard-won solutions to problems you will face in your professional programming career.

Customer Reviews (3)

Perfect!
This book is the best! I can't believe I hadn't heard about it before. Super well organized, the authors explain every topic in full detail, it is super easy to follow and understand!
Highly recommended! This book is definitely a MUST! I got the printed version and I am totally considering to buy the kindle version!

Very complete and detailed - Highly recommended

Book review - "Pro ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010,by Matthew MacDonald, Adam Freeman and Mario Szpuszta. ISBN-13: 978-1-4302-2529-4- Published by APRESS

Hi all, this is my book review of the new "Pro ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010 book". Since .NET framework 4.0 went into production in June 2010, I was pleased to see that an ASP.NET book targeting the .net framework 4.0 is out for publication. Also, I was pleased to see that the samples deal with C#.I believe that C# will be the dominant language in the .net framework arena for the foreseeable future.As one who programs in both C# and VB.NET, I would have to lean towards C# as the language of choice.We can see this trend also in the fact that most of the latest programming examples out there related to .NET framework are written in C#.
In general, we don't see a whole lot of new features in ASP.NET 4.0, but there are supposed to be improvements in performance and stability in ASP.NET 4.0.
New features worth mentioning include:
* Session state compressionfor out of process session state service (such as the venerable adStateServer sql server storage for session state)
* ASP.NET MVC - an alternative way (other than classic webforms way) to separate your website logic into three logical parts (Model, View and Controller).This MVC pattern has been around for awhile now, but it is now officially adopted into ASP.NET4.0. Some people love the MVC model and believe it simplifies while others believe MVC just adds extra effort.
* ASP.NET Dynamic Data - A way of quickly generating data-centric websites that focus on viewing and editing database records. The pages are populated by inferring the schema of the data model (Entity Framework or LINQ to SQL)It is based upon LINQ (language integrated query). The dynamic data model is supposed to also allow more advanced customizations, than you may have seen with this type of "easy, code-generation of database data for maintaining websites" in the past.

As I read through this book, I realized that ASP.NET 4.0 is still based upon technologies that have been around for years now.ASP.NET 4.0 is a very mature and powerful technology. Much of the content of this book covers topics that would be covered in earlier versions of ASP.NET.This is not a criticism at all because the authors of the book meant to give a "complete description and understanding of ALL of ASP.NET" and not just coverage of the new features in ASP.NET 4.0 (of which there are relatively few new features as I previously stated). This book is almost 1600 pages long and has excellent coverage of the diverse topics that fall under the umbrella of ASP.NET.
This book is a complete treatise on ASP.NET topics such as:

* Web forms
* Server Controls
* User Controls
* An explanation of the ASP.NET processing pipeline and how they work including HTTPMODULES.
* An explanation of ASP.NET state management (remember HTTP is a stateless protocol, so ASP.NET has including things like View State, Session State and Application State as an abstraction of state that helps developers build web applications).
* ADO.NET - how to talk to databases with the .net framework - also explaining the use of dataset objects in disconnected architectures
* Explanation of databinding (especially in terms of the objectdatasource/sqldatasource controls)
* How to use data centric server controls (read up ongridview /formview /listview /detailsview) server controls.
* An examination of LINQ (which is a relatively new topic to the .net framework and has to deal with being able to query and iterate through collections of data in a common way using a language known as LINQ (language integrated query)
* How to use caching to solve issues such as increasing website performance and scalability of your web applications.
* How to deal with XML and the many ways of getting at xml (XPATH/LINQ/XSL etc.)
* How to write and use USER Controls which are a way for developers to easily reuse "nuggets" of programming and presentation layer by encapsulating the content into a user controlA user control can then be "dragged" onto a page design surface and be used over and over within your website.
* Themes and Master Pages cover the ways that ASP.NET can enable reuse and standardize the "look and feel" of a website.
* Navigational Controls - (recommended readings are about sitemap /menus /multiviews)
* How to manage and deploy websites, whether it be simple xcopy, or use of web deployment packages).
* A very detailed explanation of ASP.NET security, including forms authentication and ssl.What I particularly appreciate about this book is it has very detailed information about the built-in security features that come with ASP.NET (these security features first came out in ASP.NET 2.0).This includes the ASP.NET membership api/forms authentication /role providers /profile providers and how to check principal permissions.There are more than 40 detailed pages on how to build your own custom membership provider which basically extends upon the provider model provided in ASP.NET.In my opinion, out of the box security concepts as provided in the membership/roles/profile providers are one of the most powerful and time-saving measures in ASP.NET.For example, I am building a custom "membership" portal that builds upon the standard forms authentication/membership provider/role and profile provider.This stuff is powerful and gets you up and running very quickly, much more quickly than if you had to roll your own authentication/authorization/user profile programming code.Believe me, I've been there and done that (wrote my own custom security code), but in today's fast paced software developer world, it's nice to be able to piggy back on ASP.NET security because it's powerful, well designedand easy to implement.I think this area is one of my most favorite topics of this book, because it has so much useful information here.
* The book goes on to deal with nice chapters on creating ASP.NET server controls, ASP.NET server controls are a way for programmers to build their own control that can be placed into the visual studio toolbox and used as a software component.Those of you who are familiar with Infragistics/Telerik and Component One know that server controls are powerful ways of allowing programmers to take advantage of nice web control suites to build very nice web interfaces.The companies mentioned above have written their own server controls that are available for programmers use.Microsoft also supplies ASP.NET server controls out of the box (textbox/gridview) etc.In this book, the chapter shows you the API that Microsoft provides so that any programmer can build their own server controls.
* How to deal with graphics and gdi programming as pertains to the ASP.NET world.Things like using pens/brushes as you would see in any type of graphics programming.
* JavaScript and Ajax get good treatment in this book as well, Ajax is an important technology in today's web environment for enabling very rich, responsive web user interfaces.
* Web parts are covered also in this book which is a neat technology, CMS systems such as SharePoint, make heavy use of web parts, so this is a must read for serious ASP.NET developers who also may want to leverage SharePoint and build custom web parts.
* MVC/Silverlight and dynamic data round out the rest of the book.Silverlight is an exciting technology that I expect to really get into in the near future, Silverlight 4 just came out and I want to see if we can build real business applications (LOB) with it.Dynamic data I have high hopes for, I haven't had a chance to play around much with it (Deadlines, deadlines), but I hope to see what dynamic data can do for me, this is one of the newest topics out in ASP.NET 4.0.

WHEW!This book has a LOT of useful information for any ASP.NET developer, even though I own at least 4 other ASP.NET programming books, I would definitely rate this book as a "must-have",it is chock-full of information that developers can use and take advantage of.As a full-time programmer, the more productive you can be, the moreversatile and valuable you can be (not to mention, the more income you can generate). I highly recommend this book for those of you who use ASP.NET, it is very complete and the authors did a very commendable job detailing the broad and diverse topic of ASP.NET programming!With this book, you can tell a ton of effort was put into it.Note that there is also a "beginning ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010" book also published by Apress, I haven't had a chance to look at it, but the "pro" book that I am reviewing here certainly qualifies as professional level, because of the depth and breadth of its content!
One thing the book DOES lack, however is a sample website or "final project" that I have seen other ASP.NET books provide.I downloaded the source code for the book and it has samples for every chapter in the book.This book rocks though for sure!!!
With ASP.NET technology, it is a proven platform for building web applications and Microsoft has built something very powerful over the years.ASP.NET (and in general the .net framework)along with the excellent Microsoft Visual Studio programmers IDE is, in my humble opinionthe best in class web programming environment out there.You can't go wrong by choosing ASP.NET as your web development platform of choice.

Great Resource and great book
I've been getting this same book (Pro ASP.NET X in C#) for years now. This is the third version I have. These books have helped me become a master in this technology. The authors always know what they're talking about and everything is well explained and concise. Both a good book to read and to use as a reference. ... Read more

Product Description

Author Steven Sanderson has seen the ASP.NET MVC Framework mature from the start, so his experience, combined with comprehensive coverage of all the new features, including those in the official MVC development toolkit, offers the clearest understanding of how this exciting new framework can improve your coding efficiency. With this book, you’ll gain invaluable up-to-date knowledge of security, deployment, and interoperability challenges.

The ASP.NET MVC 2 Framework is the latest evolution of Microsoft’s ASP.NET web platform. It introduces a radically new high-productivity programming model that promotes cleaner code architecture, test-driven development, and powerful extensibility, combined with all the benefits of ASP.NET 3.5.

In this book, the core model-view-controller (MVC) architectural concepts are not simply explained or discussed in isolation, but are demonstrated in action. You’ll work through an extended tutorial to create a working e-commerce web application that combines ASP.NET MVC with the latest C# language features and unit-testing best practices. By gaining this invaluable, practical experience, you’ll discover MVC’s strengths and weaknesses for yourself—and put your best-learned theory into practice.

What you’ll learn

• Gain a solid architectural background to ASP.NET MVC V2, including MVC and REST concepts.
• Explore the entire ASP.NET MVC Framework and take a detailed look at the official MVC development toolkit.
• See how it works with test-driven development in action.
• Capitalize on your existing knowledge quickly and easily through translation and comparison of features in classic ASP.NET to those in ASP.NET MVC.
• Learn about the latest security and deployment issues, including IIS 7.0.

Who this book is for

This book is for web developers with a basic knowledge of ASP.NET and C# who want (or need) to start using the new ASP.NET MVC 2 Framework.

Customer Reviews (22)

It was a lot of fun reading this book.
I had a great pleasure reading this book. After reading domain driven design by Eric Evans, it was a nice to see DDD put into actual work. Author is truly a master of his craft and shares a lot of knowledge. Even though I was familiar with MVC 1 and a seasoned developer, I've learned a lot from this book. This is a huge book, but it is also a fast read because it is written in a very easy to follow and interesting style. I'm a big fan of Steven Sanderson now, and looking forward to his next books.

Best book on ASP.NET MVC
I've read the book from Esposito, which is good but lacks practical tips and tricks this book offers. This book offers in depth guide trough ASP.NET MVC, that is even suitable for starters and has enough information for advanced users. I came to this book (actually the author), trough TekPub videos, and thought if the vids are good, the book has to be good as well. If you want a good book on MVC that will give you an objective view on the technology go and buy this one.

aprendes MVC y técnicas OOP
Este libro me parece fantástico, acabas dominando MVC con unos ejemplos muy claros, aprendes poco a poco y con ejemplos muy claros, además te enseña a aplicar las técnicas OOP en tus proyectos. Absolutamente recomendado para cualquiera que tenga que empezar un proyecto asp.net MVC...yo diría que de obligada lectura si quieres aprender mucho y hacer tu nuevo proyecto con calidad en la construcción..

Converts a Noobie into an Expert.
Before I read this book I had no experience with ASP.NET MVC.After reading half of it, everyone at work considers ME the expert and I have not yet had a question I couldn't answer.

The 3 things I love about this book are Structure, Testing, and Details.

This book does an excellent job of conveying the proper structure of an MVC application.It presents the philosophy and then detailed examples.This book will teach you the best way to structure your application so you don't waste any effort doing it the wrong way.

Secondly, a huge emphasis is placed on how you can test all the parts of an MVC application.For every piece that you build, you are given an example of how you can test it.These tests are placed conveniently is Side-Bars so that the test-savvy can quickly skip over them if needed.

Finally, every feature, class, hook-in point is explored in sufficient detail that you know exactly how they work and when you want to use them.Cookbooks like to give you 3 examples of how to do the 3 most common things.This book provides you with the foundation to accomplish anything.

I like to read a book from cover to cover and am about half way through this one.I felt a bit overwhelmed when I read the chapter on Routing.But after playing with routing for a little why, I went back and reread it and said "Ah-ha! I get it now.Ahhhhh... so that's how that works.Cool!"I am experiencing the same feeling in the chapter on Models so I'm giving a little time to sink in and then I'll go back and read that one again.

This book answers every question I can think of.The only drawback is that at 600+ pages, sometimes it took a little while to find it.

One of the best tech books I've read
When I saw Scott Guthrie was the first to review this book I immediately suspected the other reviews. I thought they might up vote it just because Scott did.

I've read it now, however, and it's one of the best tech books I've read. The material is well written and technically accurate. It's easy to follow along; The author knows which topics might cause trouble and provides sidebars with extra instruction.

I noticed one review mentioned this book isn't for the beginner or even intermediate developer. I would think the "Pro" part of the book's title would imply that. It does cover some fairly advanced ground, though, even compared to other "Pro xxx" books.

It was challenging but rewarding.

P.S.: I was a stubborn web forms developer who didn't "get" why I should switch to MVC. I do now. If you are an advanced web forms developer who is still holding back, don't. MVC will be very refreshing for you. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to build rich and interactive web sites that run on the Microsoft platform. With the knowledge you gain from this book, you create a great foundation to build any type of web site, ranging from simple hobby-related web sites to sites you may be creating for commercial purposes.

Anyone new to web programming should be able to follow along because no prior background in web development is assumed although it helps if you do have a basic understanding of HTML and the web in general. The book starts at the very beginning of web development by showing you how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer. The chapters that follow gradually introduce you to new technologies, building on top of the knowledge gained in the previous chapters.

Do you have a strong preference for Visual Basic over C# or the other way around? Or do you think both languages are equally cool? Or maybe you haven't made up your mind yet and want to learn both languages? Either way, you'll like this book because all code examples are presented in both languages!

Even if you have some experience with prior versions of ASP.NET, you may gain a lot from this book. Although many concepts from previous versions are brought forward into ASP.NET 4, you'll discover there's a lot of new stuff to be found in this book, including an introduction to the ADO.NET Entity Framework, the inclusion of jQuery, ASP.NET AJAX, the many changes to the ASP.NET 4 Framework, and much more.

This book teaches you how to create a feature-rich, data-driven, and interactive web site called Planet Wrox. Although this is quite a mouthful, you'll find that with Visual Web Developer 2010, developing such a web site isn't as hard as it seems. You'll see the entire process of building a web site, from installing Visual Web Developer 2010 in Chapter 1 all the way up to putting your web application on a live server in Chapter 19. The book is divided into 19 chapters, each dealing with a specific subject.

• Chapter 1, “Getting Started with ASP.NET 4” shows you how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer 2010. You'll get instructions for downloading and installing the free edition of Visual Web Developer 2010, called the Express edition. You are also introduced to HTML, the language behind every web page. The chapter closes with an overview of the customization options that Visual Web Developer gives you.

• Chapter 2, “Building an ASP.NET Web Site” shows you how to create a new web site and how to add new elements like pages to it. Besides learning how to create a well-structured site, you also see how to use the numerous tools in Visual Web Developer to create HTML and ASP.NET pages.

• Chapter 3, “Designing Your Web Pages.” Visual Web Developer comes with a host of tools that allow you to create well-designed and attractive web pages. In this chapter, you see how to make good use of these tools. Additionally, you learn about CSS, the language that is used to format web pages.

• Chapter 4, “Working with ASP.NET Server Controls.” ASP.NET Server Controls are one of the most important concepts in ASP.NET. They allow you to create complex and feature-rich web sites with very little code. This chapter introduces you to the large number of server controls that are available, explains what they are used for, and shows you how to use them.

• Chapter 5, “Programming Your ASP.NET Web Pages.” Although the built-in CSS tools and the ASP.NET Server Controls can get you a long way in creating web pages, you are likely to use a programming language to enhance your pages. This chapter serves as an introduction to programming with a strong focus on programming web pages. Best of all: all the examples you see in this chapter (and the rest of the book) are in both Visual Basic and C#, so you can choose the language you like best.

• Chapter 6, “Creating Consistent Looking Web Sites.” ASP.NET helps you create consistent-looking pages through the use of master pages, which allow you to define the global look and feel of a page. Skins and themes help you to centralize the looks of controls and other visual elements in your site. You also see how to create a base page that helps to centralize programming code that you need on all pages in your site.

• Chapter 7, “Navigation.” To help your visitors find their way around your site, ASP.NET comes with a number of navigation controls. These controls are used to build the navigation structure of your site. They can be connected to your site's central site map that defines the pages in your web site. You also learn how to programmatically send users from one page to another.

• Chapter 8, “User Controls.” User controls are reusable page fragments that can be used in multiple web pages. As such, they are great for repeating content such as menus, banners, and so on. In this chapter, you learn how to create and use user controls and enhance them with some programmatic intelligence.

• Chapter 9, “Validating User Input.” A large part of interactivity in your site is defined by the input of your users. This chapter shows you how to accept, validate, and process user input using ASP.NET Server Controls. Additionally, you see how to send e-mail from your ASP.NET web application and how to read from text files.

• Chapter 10, “ASP.NET AJAX.” Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX allows you to create good-looking, flicker-free web pages that close the gap between traditional desktop applications and web applications. In this chapter you learn how to use the built-in Ajax features to enhance the presence of your web pages, resulting in a smoother interaction with the web site.

• Chapter 11, “jQuery.” jQuery is a popular, open source and cross-browser JavaScript library designed to make it easier to interact with web pages in the client’s browser. In this chapter you learn the basics of jQuery and see how to add rich visual effects and animations to your web pages.

• Chapter 12, “Introducing Databases.” Understanding how to use a database is critical to building web sites, as most modern web sites require the use of a database. You’ll learn the basics of SQL, the query language that allows you to access and alter data in a database. In addition, you are introduced to the database tools found in Visual Web Developer that help you create and manage your SQL Server databases.

• Chapter 13, “Displaying and Updating Data.” Building on the knowledge you gained in the previous chapter, this chapter shows you how to use the ASP.NET data-bound and data source controls to create a rich interface that enables your users to interact with the data in the database that these controls target.

• Chapter 14, “LINQ and the ADO.NET Entity Framework.” LINQ is Microsoft’s solution for accessing objects, databases, XML, and more. The ADO.NET Entity Framework (EF) is Microsoft's new technology for database access. This chapter shows you what LINQ is all about, how to use the visual EF designer built into Visual Studio, and how to write LINQ to EF queries to get data in and out of your SQL Server database.

• Chapter 15, “Working with Data—Advanced Topics.” While earlier chapters focused mostly on the technical foundations of working with data, this chapter looks at the same topic from a front-end perspective. You see how to change the visual appearance of your data through the use of control styles. You also see how to interact with the data-bound controls and how to speed up your application by keeping a local copy of frequently accessed data.

• Chapter 16, “Security in Your ASP.NET 4 Web Site.” Although presented quite late in the book, security is a first-class, important topic. This chapter shows you how to make use of the built-in ASP.NET features related to security. You learn about a number of application services that facilitate security. You also learn how to let users sign up for an account on your web site, how to distinguish between anonymous and logged-on users, and how to manage the users in your system.

• Chapter 17, “Personalizing Web Sites.” Building on the security features introduced in Chapter 16, this chapter shows you how to create personalized web pages with content targeted at individual users. You see how to configure and use ASP.NET Profile that enables you to store personalized data for known and anonymous visitors.

• Chapter 18, “Exception Handling, Debugging, and Tracing.” In order to understand, improve, and fix the code you write for your ASP.NET web pages you need good debugging tools. Visual Web Developer ships with great debugging support that enables you to diagnose the state of your application at run time, helping you find and fix problems before your users do.

• Chapter 19, “Deploying Your Web Site.” By the end of the book, you should have a web site that is ready to be shown to the world. But how exactly do you do that? What are the things you need to know and understand to put your web site out in the wild? This chapter gives the answers and provides you with a good look at configuring different production systems in order to run your final web site.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

A good value, comprehensible introductory text on ASP.Net.
I have found this text to be a concise, interesting and useful introduction to ASP.Net.

As a "non-Windows" database programmer (Pick/UniVerse/UniData) with a smattering of VB6 experience, I have recently embarked on a serious re-training project in C#.Net and ASP.Net.As is often the case with many a "newbie", the combined depth and breadth of the .Net/C#/ASP development environment can be daunting.I am enjoying using this text, as I feel that it is easing me into the subject with clear and simple explanations of each topic, and without laying on too much of the heavy, in-depth detail too early in the knowledge acquisition process.

I was initially attracted to Wrox "Beginning..." texts when I purchased a copy of "Begining Visual C# 2010" at a local bookshop.The presentation of digestible tracts of information, followed by "try it out" exercises, then an explanation of "how it works", is common to both texts and works very well for me.I feel that it is paramount to any professional to have in-depth knowledge of their chosen vocation.I will not get that from any introductory text on the subject, but I feel that this one is providing a solid introduction in an interesting and comprehensible manner.

I would like to thank Mr. Spaanjaars and the Wrox team for a fine text that is good value for money.

Best Bet for the Rookie!!
Spaanjars assumes that the reader has no knowledge of ASP.NET and introduces the concepts from a beginner's approach and has been able to teach ASP.NET in this book compared to different authors. If you are a real beginner, I suggest you go through this book. Use for the sake of "acquiring a momentum". You'll need to consult different books if you really are into .NET

Regards,
Yasir
[...]

Took a while
The book came in around September, takes about 3-14 or more days..like the owner had said. I had to read about 3 chapters into this book from what i loaned out at the library, until the 3 week this book arrived. So, i was happy.
I'm not complaining.

Best book to learn ASP.NET ever! No programming experience needed.
I have been for a while trying to find a book to learn ASP.NET. I have tried different ones and even videos online but never felt I was either learning or there was a right or easy way to learn.

After reading previous reviews, I took my chances and bought the book. I have no software programming experience whatsoever. However, this has been the best book to learn ASP.NET I have found so far. It is well written and VERY easy to use. It explains the how's and the why's. It presents in a very easy language everything you need to know. It takes you every step of the way from the most simple things to the most complicated ones.

Before reading it, I was a little bit worried as I had been reading books about ASP.NET from previous versions and I didn't know what to expect from it. It was a relief to see how easy to understand the book is and how it starts from the most basic things that any software programmer needs to know.

This book is AMAZING. I love it!!!! I highly recommend it.

If you are the kind of person would like to take the ASP.NET bull by the horns, you should read this book!

The perfect book to ramp up on ASP.NET 4.0

I really liked the book; My friend Imar has done an outstanding job putting all the new pieces together.

If you're a newbie trying to ramp up on ASP.NET 4.0, or an aged asp.net dev looking to learn the new features in asp.net 4.0 this is the perfect book.

The best of all is that the book has been written in a very simple, yet understandable way, all the examples and code are very illustrative and the perfect complement to get some hands on the learned material.

Things I liked:

- Code in vb.net & C#
- Simple and useful examples
- Written in a very comprehensive way.
- Even if you're an experienced web developer, you'll find the top features implemented in ASP.NET 4.0
- For newbies, has a lot of detailed information and examples
- Covers complimentary technologies such as AJAX and JQuery.

So if you're planning to learn ASP.NET 4.0 or update your skills in ASP.NET, don't look further, this is the perfect book for you! ... Read more

Product Description

The most comprehensive book on Microsoft’s new ASP.NET 4, ASP.NET 4 Unleashed covers all facets of ASP.NET development. Led by Microsoft ASP.NET program manager Stephen Walther, an expert author team thoroughly covers the entire platform.

The authors first introduce the ASP.NET Framework’s basic controls and show how to create common site-wide layouts and styles. Next, they cover all aspects of accessing, presenting, organizing, and editing data. You’ll find thorough and practical sections on building custom components and controls, providing effective site navigation, securing sites and applications, and much more. This book presents hundreds of realistic code examples, reflecting the authors’ unsurpassed experience with ASP.NET both inside and outside Microsoft.

• Build interactive Web Forms, validate form data, and upload files
• Provide interactive calendars, wizards, site maps, and other valuable features
• Design efficient, maintainable sites with Master Pages and Themes
• Build data-driven applications with database controls, ADO.NET data access components, QueryExtender, LINQ to SQL, and WCF Data Services
• Generate charts on the fly with the new Chart Control
• Extend ASP.NET with custom controls and reusable components
• Create site registration and authentication systems that store membership data in SQL Server or Active Directory
• Use URL Routing to build dynamism, flexibility, readability, and SEO-friendliness into your URLs
• Improve performance and scalability with caching and preloading
• Maintain state with cookies, cookieless session state, and profiles
• Localize, configure, package, and deploy ASP.NET applications
• Use the ASP.NET MVC Framework to improve agility, testability, speed to market, and extensibility
• Retrofit existing ASP.NET applications with Ajax and build pure client-side Ajax web applications
• Construct a complete ASP.NET 4 website from start to finish

Product Description

Ultra-Fast ASP.NET presents a practical approach to building fast and scalable web sites using ASP.NET and SQL Server.In addition to a wealth of tips, tricks and secrets, you'll find advice and code examples for all tiers of your application, including the client, caching, IIS 7, ASP.NET, threads, session state, SQL Server, Analysis Services, infrastructure and operations.By applying the ultra-fast approach to your projects, you’ll squeeze every last ounce of performance out of your code and infrastructure—giving your site unrivaled speed.

The approach is mostly prescriptive; rather than drowning you in options, the book presents and explains specific high-impact recommendations and demonstrates them with detailed examples. Using this knowledge, you will soon be building high-performance web sites that scale easily as your site grows.

What you’ll learn

• A way of thinking about performance issues that will help you obtain real results.
• How to apply key principles that will help you build ultra-fast and ultra-scalable web sites.
• How to use the ultra-fast approach to be fast in multiple dimensions.You’ll have not only fast pages but also fast changes, fast fixes, fast deployments and more.
• Techniques that are being used by some of the world's largest web sites.
• How to structure your HTML and CSS to create pages that load ultra-fast.
• Tips for using Silverlight, Ajax and IIS 7 to improve the performance of your site.
• How to use comprehensive caching at all tiers to deliver content faster.
• Why you should avoid traditional session state and how to make the best use of cookies.
• Tips and tricks for optimizing your ASP.NET and SQL Server code for performance and scalability.
• How to use Analysis Services to offload your relational database.
• Why many sites that serve individual pages quickly are not scalable.
• How to avoid common pitfalls that can have an adverse impact on your site’s performance, both now and as it grows.
• How to apply an end-to-end systems-based approach to web site performance and scalability, which includes everything from the browser and the network to caching, back-end operations, hardware infrastructure, and your software development process.

Who is this book for?

This book will be useful for intermediate to advanced developers and architects who want to improve the performance of their ASP.NET-based web sites. Some knowledge of ASP.NET, SQL Server, and IIS is assumed.Example code is provided in C#. Experienced web developers who have recently moved from Java or PHP to .NET will find lots of valuable and interesting information.

This book will also be useful for non-developers who have a technical interest in what makes a web site fast. In particular, if you’re involved with web site operations, testing, or management, you will discover many of the principals and issues that your development teams should be addressing, along with demonstrations that help drive the points home.

Customer Reviews (7)

Get this book
If you are serious about achieving best ASP.NET practices, this is the book for you.

I've been developing intranet sites for several years. Performance was not a high priority until recently. One site in particular was becoming congested and needed "tweaking". Additionally, I am embarking on some commercial sites that I don't want to get wrong.

I've only read a small fraction of this book and already it has paid for itself.

In much the same way that achieving excellence in Win32 development requires knowing what goes on under the hood, so too does ASP.NET development.

It's not enough to have a good understanding of your ASP.NET language of choice. You must understand the underlying architecture of the web, and client server interaction, as well.

If there's one book that should be in your Christmas stocking (:insert religious holiday of choice here:), birthday wish-list, or self-indulgent impulse buy this is it.

Seriously.

Just what I was looking for
I'm reading this book cover to cover, it's that good.It will teach you and be useful as a reference guide later.There are "best practice" check lists at the end of each chapter and at the end of the book.Scan through them, find one that looks interesting and go back into the applicable chapter to learn more.

Pragmatic, Valuable, and Creative ASP.NET Peformance Guidance
I picked up this gem of a book when it first came out in eBook format during the PDC. I sent it over to my Kindle and got through the entire book during session downtimes. I planned on being the first to post a review of this book on Amazon but I've sat it out too long and will now be the fifth review.

The first four reviewers did a pretty respectable job of providing and overview of Mr. Kiessig's qualifications and the book content and have all awarded the book the entirely deserved 5 start rating. Rather than pile on more information about Rick Kiessig or what's in the book, I'm going to tell you why, as a person who has spent a good amount of time looking at .NET application performance, I recommend this book to every person I work with as mandatory reading:

* Although there are great rules out there for web site optimization and corresponding tools to test these rules (e.g. Yahoo's Yslow), it's great to see the client side examples from an ASP.NET specific point of view.
* It's interesting to see someone who bucks the current trends and provides some real insight on when it's appropriate to use ORM's, saying essentially that objects are good but ORM's might not be the best engine if you're building a Formula 1 race car.
* Try finding another book that will even touch web gardens, partitioning an application into different AppPools, or using the /3GB switch. Try finding a Microsoft engineer who will talk to you about those items and offer objective guidance.
* The write-up and source code on asynchronous web pages and background worker threads - worth the price of the book alone.
* Creative, out-of-the-box ideas: using SQL Server Express for caching, using BI services to support the web tier of the application, etc. - not the kind of advice you find in your typical MSDN article.

It would be interesting to see how ASP.NET MVC and Silverlight play out performance-wise but alas, these technologies are a bit newer and Mr. Kiessig had to get a book to press. I'd gladly pay for the second edition of this book if it includes a couple of additional chapters that address these technologies. Until then, this is by far the most thorough and pragmatic book on ASP.NET performance to be had on the market. It might be simply an eye-opening read or the book that saves your skin one day. Either way, you won't regret picking this book up.

Highly focused and actionable performance guidance
Five stars. I am performance consultant specializing in Microsoft technologies. There are very few resource available in consolidated form that a guy like myself could use on a daily basis. Of course there is an epic work from p&p - improving .net performance and scalability - beyond that it is a blog hunt. Ultra fast ASP.NET book was a huge surprise to me - it delivers on its promise, it is prescriptive. It establishes performance principles, it sets performance goals, explains what affects performance and why, and it guides what needs to be done on each and every layer of web application - browser, ASP.NET, IIS, SQL Server - just to squeeze the last byte of performance out of it. And it is updated to latest MS tech. I have developed a deeper trust with the book not only after reading the author's bio, but also after reading topics such as distributed caching - the author shares his own opinion to it which is far from popular and the one that strikes chords with my own experience in the field. No surprise it became my tool of trade very quick. I highly recommend the book to anyone who cares about performance and user experience - be it a developer or a seasoned performance engineer.

Simply Brilliant - Finally an Excellent ASP.NET Performance and Scalability Text
This book is simply brilliant, and checking the credentials of the author, a distinguished veteran engineering manager and software architect, one is not suprised in the least. It is one of those special books that pop up now and then - of the kind that would be written by .NET experts such as Juval Lowy or Jeffery Ritcher and a combination of an architectural guru such as Chris Loosley who wrote the now dated but probably best distributed software performance/scalability text ever written High-Performance Client/Server or say Martin Fowler who wrote one of the two quintessential patterns-based software architecture texts, Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture.

The MS Press Improving .NET Application Performance and Scalability (Patterns & Practices) is similar in spirit and content to Ultra-Fast ASP.NET, but though still useful, it is quite dated (published 2004, that is before .NET 2.0/ASP.NET 2.0) and also much broader in scope and a bigger tome. In contrast, Ultra Fast targets ASP.NET and is very up-to-date, very readable and practical. By limiting the scope to ASP.NET and MS platforms he was able to comfortably and expertly cover all tiers, from the web front-end through the web/app tier to the data and infrastructure layers. Similar books exist for the LAMP platform (e.g, Building Scalable Web Sites: Building, Scaling, and Optimizing the Next Generation of Web Applications and High Performance Web Sites: Essential Knowledge for Front-End Engineers) but this is the only up-to-date such book for ASP.NET and I highly recommend it, as other reviewers have rightly said, for not just the advanced but beginner and intermediate ASP.NET developers, architects and development project managers. I would however, suggest that one gets this book along with what appears to be the quintessential, modern software architecture text - due to its sheer quality and applicability combined with concise coverage of just about all dimensions and viewpoints of contemporary real life software architecture, Software Systems Architecture: Working With Stakeholders Using Viewpoints and Perspectives.Splendid stuff!

I think I may not be alone in believing that a similar text is much needed that would cover the Win-forms/Desktop client application space mirroring the current text. Such a text would delve into the performance scaling considerations of Threading/New Parallel features for multi-processors; WCF/Asmx Web Services, REST/SOAP, ADO.NET/EF/LINQ-PLINQ/other ORMs such as NHibernate, etc. and be structured similarly to Mr. Kiessig's current text. Hope Mr. Kiessig will accept the honor! ... Read more

Product Description

The most up-to-date and comprehensive introductory ASP.NET book you’ll find on any shelf, Beginning ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010 guides you through Microsoft’s latest technology for building dynamic web sites. This book will enable you to build dynamic web pages on the fly, and assumes only the most basic knowledge of C#.

The book provides exhaustive coverage of ASP.NET, guiding you from your first steps right up to the most advanced techniques, such as querying databases from within a web page and tuning your site for optimal performance. Within these pages, you’ll find tips for “best practices” and comprehensive discussions of key database and XML principles you need to know in order to be effective with ASP.NET. The book also emphasizes the invaluable coding techniques of object orientation and code behind, which will start you off on the track to building real-world web sites right from the beginning—rather than just faking it with simplified coding practices.

By the time you’ve finished the book, you will have mastered the core techniques and have all the knowledge you need to begin work as a professional ASP.NET developer.

What you’ll learn

• How to build well-structured ASP.NET 4 applications from the first principles, including how to incorporate data from databases, XML files, web services, and other services.
• A solid understanding of key ASP.NET concepts such as master pages, themes, state management, session state, and error handling, and of which techniques work best in which situations.
• How to improve the user experience of your pages through the use of ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight 3 to increase interactivity and provide input validation.

Customer Reviews (5)

great start...
this book is a great start for those familiar with basic html website development, that want to venture into programming c#.net websites.I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the code for this book is very disjointed to the book.Someone else mentioned it's a lot easier to learn when you build a website from start to finish following along, and this book really doesn't do that.It's lots of code examples and snippets, and general knowledge of asp.net and c#.Despite that fact, it's still a good book.This author also contributed to the pro version of this series, so clearly he's well suited at the task.Also, i've never been disappointed with an Apress book... they do a nice job.If you're coming from a web development background (like for example you're a ROR, PHP, JAVA programmer... i'd jump straight to the pro version of this series).

Sorry, I have to be the first to not give 5 stars
This book has lots of good information, and it is in mostly the right order. The problem with this book for many readers will be the style of presentation. It has been proven many times that people learn by doing, but this book doesn't give you as much in that area as is necessary to learn. There is code that you can download but it doesn't really line up with the book.

The worst part of this book are the code snippets that are placed throughout the book. They don't show the surrounding code, so everything is out of context, and you don't feel 100% sure of where it goes in your file, and to top it off, it is code that sometimes doesn't relate to the code you download. Many times, instead of showing actual real-life variables, it just shows the equivalent of an 'x'. So you have no idea how it is supposed to come together. It continuously says 'code removed for clarity'. I understand the point of this as that code isn't the focus of this section, but if I'm building a page, I need to see that code to make sure I have the same code as the book.

I would have to say that the information given is very precise, and if you already know C#, you're probably going to enjoy this book, but if you are new to it, and need examples and practice, it's not the best. Imagine watching an Olympic freestyle skier for a few minutes, and then without ever having skied or practiced jumping, you are suddenly asked to do the same flips and twists perfectly. Maybe an exaggeration, but you are really left on your own a lot of the time.

The book is very dry, so you have a very long attention span and motivation to get through the book in order to do well with it. It is clear it is written by a programmer. There are constantly references to terms that haven't been defined previously, and sometimes you get the feeling this guy is trying to impress you with words. I've had professors like that, and although I respect their knowledge and intelligence, it does not contribute to a good learning atmosphere. I'm not saying 'dumb it down', but when learning a complex topic, the simpler it can be presented, the better.

Another problem is the low resolution of many of the screen shots. I know that's a limitation of the technology, but it can actually be somewhat dizzying to look at because of the blurriness.

There are other pros, and other cons, but I just touched on the main ones I noticed.

Excellent!!!
I am a professional programmer who is having to move from the old client server paradigm to the web based world based on Microsoft technology.I tend to like APress books so this book looked like a good choice to get started.I'm not sure I totally agree with the Mr. MacDonald that [...] is the end all, cure all for web programming, but, it is what I have to use for my job.Given that, this book is superb.

I really didn't need his chapters on C# since I had accomplished this prior to acquiring the book.But for anyone but a novice programmer, these chapters should be all anyone trying learn ASP should need.The chapter I really appreciated was on Visual Studio 2010 itself.The tool is very daunting if you have never ventured into it before and the guided tour was quite welcome.

I took the book chapter by chapter, starting in chapter 5 which is the real start to learning [...].The examples were easy to follow and explained well which allowed me learn the fundamentals in quick order.You need to keep in mind that this is a beginners text and obviously you can only go so far in a single volume when it comes to examples.

I appreciated the author taking extra time explaining state management in Chapter 8 and caching in Chapter 23, since these are critical subjects for me. I know the ultimate goal is `statelessness' but in the real world this is nearly impossible.I don't think there was a single chapter of the text that was superfluous to what was being taught(other than chapter 1 which is normally the same useless information in every IT book).

I highly recommend this book.

Good Foundation for ASP.NET and C#
Matthew MacDonald has created a great instructional guide and reference for ASP.NET and C#. Mr. MacDonald's book provides thorough coverage of all the important ASP.NET topics (Forms, Controls, Data Access, Navigation, Security, and more) as well as a very good overview of C#. Many technical books give a brief overview of the technology and then dedicate the rest of the book to creating a demo application. Mr MacDonald takes a different approach. He provides clear and concise examples for each topic. This makes for a great reference since the reader can look at a complete working example of what they trying to accomplish. Mr. MacDonald also provides useful instructions and tips for using Visual Studio 2010. Overall I found the book to be very readable - a nice combination of technical enough to keep an experienced developer interested, but simple enough to introduce new concepts in an understandable fashion. This book is good for someone with some web development experience as well as an experienced web developer hoping to get exposure to a new technology or refresh and update their existing knowledge.

Best ASP.NET book I have ever read!!
Finally, a beginning ASP.NET programming book that definitely and orderly takes you from being a beginner to a programmer. Too many books out in the market place start off very basic and get very complex too soon. This book builds on itself, using the information you used in the previous chapter to aid in the understanding in the next chapter.I never felt like I had to go back and research a topic or look to other sources to understand the chapter I was reading.The author immediately started teaching about objects, value types, data types, and namespaces which gives the reader an object-oriented viewpoint from the beginning.The author is clearly a realist, quoting from Dan Appleman who once described inheritance as "the coolest feature you'll almost never use", and doesn't waste your time focusing on items that you probably will never use.His real world examples aid in comprehension and makes learning actually enjoyable. I am glad the author chose to include advanced topics such as XML, ADO.NET, cashing, state management, Ajax, and LINQ as these technologies are used by every ASP.NET developer on a daily basis. I recommend this book to anyone who has never programmed before as well as for the seasoned developer who needs to learn ASP.NET. ... Read more

Product Description
This unique book takes good ASP.NET application construction one step further by emphasizing loosely coupled and highly cohesive ASP.NET web application architectural design. Each chapter
addresses a layer in an enterprise ASP.NET application and shows how proven patterns, principles, and best practices can be leveraged to solve problems and improve the design of your code. In addition, a professional-level, end-to-end case study is used to show how to use best practice design patterns and principles in a real website.

Professional ASP.NET Design Patterns:

• Demonstrates how to use the Gang of Four design patterns to improve your ASP.NET code
• Shows how Fowler's Enterprise patterns and the S.O.L.I.D. design principles fit into an enterprise-level ASP.NET site
• Provides details on how to layer an ASP.NET application and separate your concerns and responsibilities
• Details AJAX patterns using JQuery and Json, and messaging patterns with WCF
• Shares best practice tools for ASP.NET such as AutoMapper, NHibernate, StructureMap, Entity Framework, and Castle MonoRail
• Uncovers tips for separating a site's UX and presentation layer using MVC, MVP and the Front Controller patterns
• Features code examples that are applicable to all versions of ASP.NET

Customer Reviews (1)

Design guidance for intermediate-advanced developers
This book is a concise guide to most of the GoF design patterns and Fowler's enterprise architecture patterns, combined with contemporary design principles, and set in context.

The text is divided into the standard enterprise application layers, and then the GoF patterns are introduced within each layer to address the concerns of that layer.Each GoF pattern is prefaced with an explanation of where and why you would want to use it and a UML diagram, and then demonstrated through code. You can get a full list of the covered patterns from the TOC.

The text is direct and economical, and, thankfully lacks a lot of the filler tactics and editorializing that seem to characterize most development books these days.It's heavy on code samples, and the samples are also refreshingly concise (e.g., automatic properties instead of space-wasting explicit property bodies, single-responsibility methods and classes instead of bloated catch-all classes dragged out over three pages).Obviously, since the code is meant to demonstrate the design principles the book espouses, the code is relatively concise and easy to read.There are a lot of nice diagrams and ERDs, and the leading frameworks (e.g., NHibernate for O/RM) are demonstrated well.

Overall, it's a pretty good reference for how to layout an enterprise application and how to apply the standard patterns and design principles.I think it's best for those already familiar with the concepts and looking for a reference to take to work with them.I think it's also a good gateway to get people to read Design Patterns, PoEAA, Enterprise Integration Patterns, etc.

There's not much I can really find fault with.Obviously, there are more patterns that could be included, and it could go deeper on various topics, but it achieves what it sets out to do.If I lost my copy, I would buy it again.

... Read more

Product Description

DVD includes Visual Web Developer 2010 Express and ASP.NET 4

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you’ll learn how to build complete, professional-quality web solutions with ASP.NET 4 and Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010. Using this book’s straightforward, step-by-step approach, you’ll master the entire process, from site design through data collection, user management through debugging and deployment. Scott Mitchell, editor of top ASP.NET resource site 4GuysFromRolla.com, shows how to use the newest ASP.NET 4 enhancements and make the most of free tools like ASP.NET Ajax and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition. Each lesson builds on what you’ve already learned, giving you a strong, practical foundation for success!

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common ASP.NET 4 development tasks.

Quizzes and Exercises at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge.

By the Way, Did You Know?, and Watch Out! boxes point out shortcuts and solutions.

Learn how to…

• Get started fast with ASP.NET 4 and Visual Web Developer 2010
• Use Visual Web Developer 2010 to quickly build professional-quality ASP.NET websites
• Design, create, and test ASP.NET web pages
• Collect, process, and validate input from your site’s visitors
• Build a website that supports user accounts
• Create web pages that access, display, and edit database data using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
• Define site maps to provide efficient, easy navigation
• Use master pages to build more consistent and well-designed sites
• Create more responsive and interactive web pages with ASP.NET Ajax
• Host, upload, deploy, and update production web sites

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book for review and teaching.
These Sam's 24hr books are great for teaching kids how to Program. The content is broken up into very concise chapters. There is just enough information to educate the reader on the important issues. But there is not too much description that the reader gets lost.I'm working through a chapter a day or so with my 13 year old son. This is just a great book to sit down and work through.Highly recommend. ... Read more

Product Description
Top-selling MVC book from a top team at Microsoft—now fully updated!

ASP.NET MVC 2.0 is now available and shipping with Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4. A new update to Microsoft’s Model-View-Controller technologies, MVC 2 enables developers to build dynamic, data-driven Web sites. Professional ASP.NET MVC 2 shows you step-by-step how to use MVC 2. You’ll learn both the theory behind MVC 2, as well as walk through practical tutorials, where you’ll create a real-world application. Topics include transitioning from ASP.NET development, as well as an overview of related tools and technologies, including LINQ, jQuery, and REST.

This book is divided into two very broad sections, each comprising several chapters.

The first half of the book is concerned with introducing the MVC pattern and how ASP.NET MVC 2 implements that pattern.

Chapter 1 "NerdDinner" uses a small but complete application to walk you through how to build an ASP.NET MVC 2 application and some of the core concepts behind ASP.NET 2 MVC. 

Chapter 2 "Model-View-Controller and ASP.NET" starts off with a description of the Model-View-Controller pattern, explaining the basic concepts of the pattern and providing a bit of its history. The chapter goes on to describe the state of the MVC pattern on the web today as it is implemented by various frameworks, such as ASP.NET MVC 2.

Chapter 3 "ASP.NET > ASP.NET MVC" then covers the ways that ASP.NET MVC is different from ASP.NET Web Forms.

Chapter 4 "Routes and URLs" digs deep into routing to describe the role that URLs play in your application and how routing figures into that. It also differentiates routing from URL rewriting and covers a bit on extending routing and writing unit tests for routes.

Chapter 5 "Controllers" takes a look at controllers and controller actions-what they are, and how to write them. It also covers action results, which are returned by controller actions and what they are used for.

Chapters 6 "Views" and 7 "Ajax" cover views and view engines, and then add a little flavor on top by examining the role that AJAX plays in your views.

The second half of the book focuses entirely on advanced techniques and extending the framework.

Chapter 8 "Filters" goes into detail on action filters, which provide an extensibility point for adding cross-cutting behaviors to action methods.

Chapter 9 "Securing Your Application" covers security and good practices for building a secure application.

Chapter 10 "Test Driven Development with ASP.NET MVC" provides a brief introduction to Test Driven Development (TDD) as it applies to ASP.NET MVC.

Chapter 11 "Testable Design Patterns" shows you real-world patterns and practices for building applications that are testable.

Chapter 12 "The Best of Both Worlds: Web Forms and MVC Together" discusses how Web Forms and MVC work together.

Chapter 13 "What's New in ASP.NET MVC 2" covers what's new in MVC 2.

This book is for web developers who are looking to add more complete testing to their web sites, and who are perhaps ready for "something different."

In some places, we assume that you're somewhat familiar with ASP.NET WebForms, at least peripherally. There are a lot of ASP.NET WebForms developers out there who are interested in ASP.NET MVC so there are a number of places in this book where we contrast the two technologies. Even if you're not already an ASP.NET developer, you might still find these sections interesting for context, as well as for your own edification as ASP.NET MVC may not be the web technology that you're looking for.

Customer Reviews (8)

Professional?
What kind of professionals are these people?As many have mentioned, there are significant errors in the first chapter.The Errata on the wrox website (as of 10/11/2010) is severely lacking. You have to go into the wrox forums to find answers from other developers.

Yes, you can find the most updated NerdDinner at [...] but it's so overhauled it doesnt match the book anymore. A seasoned developer won't have much of a problem fixing these issues. But if you're a new to the web environment, the first chapter is a major pain, especially getting the bing map to show up correctly.

Although I did learn a lot, 1 star for numerous painful errors in chapter 1.

Most of the problems are listed in one posting:[...]

The rest of the issues are listed here: [...]

Errata beginning to impede progress
I am about 90 pages into the book and the errors are already starting to impede my progress.
There is no official errata available. I would not recommend spending money on this book.

Great for explaining concepts, Horrible at showing you how to do them.
Chapters 2 and on are well worth the read to explain the concepts behind models, controllers, views, and what makes them work together.I absolutely recommend reading these, and read them first (5 stars).

Chapter 1 (which is 1/3 of the book) tries to talk you through creating the NerdDinner application, which would be great if you could do it from this book.However, there are so many errors and ommissions that trying to create the application is a long exercise in frustration; every step of the way leaves you experimenting or searching online because the code you just typed in didn't work (even once you feel you understand the concepts).It's enough to make you hate MVC, but keep in mind it's the instruction that's faulty, not the technology itself.Chapter 1, you get 1 star.

Wait for the corrected version
The sample application code is filled with errors and omissions.You are better off waiting for the corrections to be addressed before spending your time on this book.

Chock full of errata...
Starting with the ViewModel section of chapter 1, there is plently of errata which leaves you wondering. This is confirmed on the books official forums filled with people asking for answers.

In short, the book tries to use "TryUpdateModel" which doesn't work because you aren't using the Dinner model any more, but rather the DinnerFormViewModel. You have to use one of the overloaded TryUpdateModel methods in order for it to work. You can visit the book's forums for more details.

There are also a lot of errors in the map section of chapter 1 -- mainly in the ids you have to select using jQuery (#Dinner_Address instead of #Address, for example). You also don't get the CSS to position the map correctly -- you must make your own css to float the map to the right and position it.

EDIT: More errata: The C# code for finding the nearest dinners within 100 miles is not present in the book or the downloadable code. You get the sql code. However, like another function that they give you, you need SQL and C#. You can get the C# code at the forums.

Overall, it's a good introduction; however, the various errata in the advanced topics of Chapter 1 leave me doubting the quality of the rest of the book. Given that the problems are fixable (if you are willing to try and understand what it doesn't tell you and visit the book's forums for help), I am giving the book three stars. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to build rich and interactive web sites that run on the Microsoft platform. With the knowledge you gain from this book, you create a great foundation to build any type of web site, ranging from simple hobby-related web sites to sites you may be creating for commercial purposes.

Anyone new to web programming should be able to follow along because no prior background in web development is assumed. The book starts at the very beginning of web development by showing you how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer. The chapters that follow gradually introduce you to new technologies, building on top of the knowledge gained in the previous chapters.

Do you have a strong preference for Visual Basic over C# or the other way around? Or do you think both languages are equally cool? Or maybe you haven't made up your mind yet and want to learn both languages? Either way, you'll like this book because all code examples are presented in both languages!

Even if you're already familiar with previous versions of ASP.NET, with the 1.x versions in particular, you may gain a lot from this book. Although many concepts from ASP.NET 2.0 are brought forward into ASP.NET 3.5, you'll discover there's a host of new stuff to be found in this book, including an introduction to LINQ, the new CSS and JavaScript debugging tools, new ASP.NET controls, and integrated support for ASP.NET Ajax.

To build effective and attractive database-driven web sites, you need two things: a solid and fast framework to run your web pages on and a rich and extensive environment to create and program these web pages. With ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Web Developer 2008 you get both. Together they form the platform to create dynamic and interactive web applications.

ASP.NET 3.5 builds on top of its popular predecessor ASP.NET 2.0. While maintaining backward compatibility with sites built using this older version, the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 in general and ASP.NET 3.5 in particular add a lot of new, compelling features to the mix.

Continuing the path of "less code" that was entered with the 2.0 version of the .NET Framework, ASP.NET 3.5 lets you accomplish more with even less code. New features like LINQ that are added to the .NET Framework allow you to access a database with little to no hand written code. The integration of Microsoft ASP.NET Ajax into the ASP.NET Framework and Visual Web Developer means you can now create fast responding and spiffy web interfaces simply by dragging a few controls onto your page and setting a few properties. This book gives you an in-depth look at both these technologies.

The support for cascading style sheets (CSS), the language to lay out and format web pages, has undergone a major overhaul in Visual Web Developer. The design time support, that shows you how a page will eventually look in the browser, has been vastly improved. Additionally, Visual Web Developer now ships with a lot of tools that make writing CSS a breeze.

However, drag-and-drop support and visual tools are not the only things you'll learn from this book. ASP.NET 3.5 and Visual Web Developer 2008 come with a great and extensive set of tools to help you program your web applications. These tools range from the new LINQ syntax that allows you to query data and databases in your web applications, to the vastly improved debugging capabilities that allow you to debug your application from client-side JavaScript all the way up into your server-side code, all with the same familiar user interface, commands, and actions.

Under the hood, ASP.NET 3.5 makes use of the same run-time as version 2.0. This ensures a great backward compatibility with that version, which means that ASP.NET 2.0 applications continue to run under the new framework. But don't be fooled by the fact that the run-time hasn't changed. Although the technical underpinnings needed to execute your web application haven't changed, the .NET 3.5 Framework and ASP.NET add a lot of new features, as you'll discover in this book.

Probably the best thing of Visual Web Developer 2008 is its price: it's available for free. Although the commercial versions of Visual Studio 2008 ship with Visual Web Developer, you can also download and install the free Express Edition. This makes Visual Web Developer 2008 and ASP.NET 3.5 probably the most attractive and compelling web development technologies available today.

This book teaches you how to create a feature-rich, data-driven, and interactive web site. Although this is quite a mouthful, you'll find that with Visual Web Developer 2008 this isn’t as hard as it seems. You'll see the entire process of building a web site, from installing Visual Web Developer 2008 in Chapter 1 all the way up to putting your web application on a live server in Chapter 18. The book is divided into 18 chapters, each dealing with a specific subject.

Chapter 1, “Getting Started With ASP.NET 3.5.” In this chapter you'll see how to obtain and install Visual Web Developer 2008. You'll get instructions for downloading and installing the free edition of Visual Web Developer 2008, called the Express Edition. You are also introduced to HTML, the language behind every web page. The chapter closes with an overview of the customization options that Visual Web Developer gives you.

Chapter 2, “Building an ASP.NET Web Site.” This chapter shows you how to create a new web site and how to add new elements like pages to it. Besides learning how to create a well-structured site, you also see how to use the numerous tools in Visual Web Developer to create HTML and ASP.NET pages.

Chapter 3, “Designing Your Web Pages.” Visual Web Developer comes with a host of tools that allow you to create well-designed and attractive web pages. In this chapter, you see how to make good use of these tools. Additionally, you learn about CSS, the language that is used to format web pages.

Chapter 4, “Working with ASP.NET Controls.” ASP.NET Server controls are one of the most important concepts in ASP.NET. They allow you to create complex and feature-rich web sites with very little code. This chapter introduces you to the large number of server controls that are available, explains what they are used for, and shows you how to use them.

Chapter 5, “Programming Your ASP.NET Web Pages.” Although the built-in CSS tools and the ASP.NET server controls can get you a long way in creating web pages, you are likely to use a programming language to enhance your pages. This chapter serves as an introduction to programming with a strong focus on programming web pages. Best of all: all the examples you see in this chapter (and the rest of the book) are in both Visual Basic and C#, so you can choose the language you like best.

Chapter 6, “Creating Consistent Looking Web Sites.” Consistency is important to give your web site an attractive and professional appeal. ASP.NET helps you create consistent-looking pages through the use of master pages, which allow you to define the global look and feel of a page. Skins and themes help you to centralize the looks of controls and other visual elements in your site. You also see how to create a base page that helps to centralize programming code that you need on all pages in your site.

Chapter 7, “Navigation.” To help your visitors find their way around your site, ASP.NET comes with a number of navigation controls. These controls are used to build the navigation structure of your site. They can be connected to your site's central site map that defines the pages in your web site. You also learn how to programmatically send users from one page to another.

Chapter 8, “User Controls.” User Controls are reusable page fragments that can be used in multiple web pages. As such, they are great for repeating content like menus, banners, and so on. In this chapter, you learn how to create and use User Controls and enhance them with some programmatic intelligence.

Chapter 9, “Validating User Input.” A large part of interactivity in your site is defined by the input of your users. This chapter shows you how to accept, validate, and process user input using ASP.NET server controls. Additionally, you see how to send e-mail from your ASP.NET web application and how to read from text files.

Chapter 10, “ASP.NET Ajax.” Microsoft ASP.NET Ajax allows you to create good looking, flicker free web pages that close the gap between traditional desktop applications and web applications. In this chapter you learn how to use the built-in Ajax features to enhance the presence of your web pages, resulting in a smoother interaction with the web site.

Chapter 11, “Introduction to Databases.” Understanding how to use databases is critical to building modern web sites, as most modern web sites require the use of a database. You'll learn the basics of SQL, the query language that allows you to access and alter data in a database. In addition, you are introduced to the database tools found in Visual Web Developer that help you create and manage your SQL Server databases.

Chapter 12, “Displaying and Updating Data.” Building on the knowledge you gained in the previous chapter, this chapter shows you how to use the ASP.NET data-bound and data source controls to create a rich interface that enables your users to interact with the data in the database that these controls target.

Chapter 13, “LINQ.” LINQ is Microsoft's new solution for accessing objects, databases, XML, and more. In this chapter you'll see how to use LINQ to SQL to access SQL Server databases. Instead of writing a lot of manual code, you create a bunch of LINQ objects that do the heavy work for you. This chapter shows you what LINQ is all about, how to use the visual LINQ designer built into Visual Web Develo... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (50)

One star review rescinded UPDATE
I've got more programming books than I care to enumerate so I'm no beginner. I've got Microsoft .NET certs (in VB and C#) which used to be worth something so I'm not a complete goof.So why am I giving this popular (counting all the reviews) book a grudging 1 star?

Update:

This is five star book and first class.Another triumph. (NOT)
Having been hounded by other commenters doubting the truth of my personal experience I have removed my earlier comments. They may leave me alone if I say the comments were unfair and in no way accurate. I have returned the book, got a refund and that's it.Other writers have been persistent in pestering me for specifics which are no longer available to me.

Please read from several chapters in this book -in a book store- and then buy it there if you like it.They need your business.

My personal experience as a proffesional programmer in giving up on the text after nine tough days is not to be relied upon as measure of the book's value to the mildly motivated student.It was due only to my weakness in the basic subject area, lack of experience and moral fibre generally.

Long live Wrox.

Easy, moves fast, and covers everything.
Great book! Easy to read and broken down well. I'm about half way through the book and I have a very good understanding of ASP.Net and C# now. I am a Classic ASP programmer trying to make the transition to .Net and this book has helped considerably. Some things are a little too easy but it is a Beginners book after all. I probably should have got the professional version but so far Im quite impressed.

Very good for beginners to the Intermediate level
Having read and worked with so many programming books, I know what works for me. The books I like start with a very clear basic overview of the subject, it's historical significance and the ground the book will cover. It will get you started quickly, helping with installation of and familiarity in the development environment. This is important because knowing how to use the development envirement in programming is like the difference between notepad and MS Word if you were writing a novel and needed to make use of the rich tools in Word. So you can think of this book as an effective tutoral on how to use Visual Studio as well.

The learning approch would be to break up the subject into logical pieces and then give a general short overview of each piece followed by a step by step guide that illustrates it's use and the results followed by a short detailed discussion of what just happened and why. If you don't like to type or you want to check your code, all files are provided for you at the publisher's site. There is a short review section in the back of each chapter.

As good as this approach is, it still relies on how well the author executes this style of writing. I found the author of this book to be very clear and this book very easy to follow and learn from. Since both VB and C# is used, I used this as my opportunity to bone up on C#. While a lot of ground is covered, you should go on to a Pro book if you plan on building enterprise aplications but for most others this should be enough. If you are new to programming, this will get you started but you will need more comprehensive titles for any serious work.

Also if you get into trouble, go to the publisher's website to download the code used in the book and to check for the latest errata. The author also will answer questions posted there. The only warning I have is nothing stands still and so some of the instructions for setting up the coding environment and working with it in IE 8 has changed. The publisher's site will have information on these problems.

Finally, I would like to see a more up to date book from this author and maybe a Pro book as well.

NOTA TEACHING BOOK
This must be the tedious programming book ever. It's DULL as hell and labourious to work thru. If you are looking to UNDERSTAND - why this?, why that? - than get another book. All these people giving this parrot fashion tutored book 5 stars must those loony computer science nerds who propably have life now the internet is here!

The book is black and white and "lifeless" and tedious - just like one other wrox book I have on VB Datasets.

LEARN you will not - but if your want a DICTATOR to tell you how to go from step one to another - WITHOUT understanding - then this is the book for you, not a thinking developers book. This guys mates must have given it all those good reviews. Sorry but I won't back a dead horse - regardless of what the crowd claims.

Great Book
The book is good, except if you skip some pages or chapters. The reason is that all examples refer to a big project the book keeps building from the first page till the last one. So, if you decide to skim a chapter about something you already know a little bit, in the next chapter you will have problems in understanding the code. I personally prefer books that give examples that are independent. In this case, you can buy the book, open chapter 4 (for example), and see a little peace of code that does not belong to a huge project developed along the book.
If you feel ok about books with all examples related to a big project, buy the book cause it's certainly a good reading.

---

Mr. Spaanjaars kindly reminded me that the book comes with complete source code for each chapter separately. So, the only problem I had found in the text actually does not exist. For this reason, I think the book deserves 5 stars. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Excellent introduction on ASP.NET MVC and TDD
I just finished reading of Pragmatic Bookshelf's Test-Drive ASP.NET MVC written by Jonathan McCracken. This book gives an excellent introduction to ASP.NET MVC 2 using Test Driven Development (TDD) approach.Jonathan introduces the ASP.NET MVC framework with a Test First development approach that gives you a better understanding of both ASP.NET MVC 2 and TDD. Jonathan's writing style is very enjoyable and can be easy to follow the whole book. He is explaining all concepts with good sample code. The book explores the topics such as IoC with Castle Windsor, NHibernate, Fluent NHibernate , Nunit, Rhino Mocks,jQuery, REST and Build/Deploy that can be very useful for building real world ASP.NET MVC applications.


This is a near 300 page book and it is not a reference for ASP.NET MVC but it will give you a better understanding of ASP.NET MVC with a practical and TDD way.This book along with Steven Sanderson's Pro ASP.NET MVC 2 Framework would be a great combination for learning and developing applications with ASP.NET MVC 2. I hope that this book won't be the last book from Jonathan McCracken and expecting more practical books from him in future.

I highly recommend Test-Drive ASP.NET MVC for those new to ASP.NET MVC Framework or Test Driven Development (TDD). This book will give you a better understanding of ASP.NET MVC Framework with a practical and TDD way.

Excellent!!!
I am half way through this book and I must say that I am really impressed with the style and techniques used. A lot of additional information ( little grey boxes of text called "Joe Asks..." throughout the book are very very useful) and the author promotes using additional tools/frameworks which complement his style really well.

Great Read so far!!!

Good Text, Confusing Layout
I'm not very far into this book and I already love it. I'm sort of new to MVC, though I could stumble through creating a running site, and brand new to TDD; for me the content of this book is perfect. The book that taught me MVC (Sandersen's Pro ASP.NET MVC) turned me on to TDD but didn't take the same approach as this book. I love that the author stays true to TDD. He starts with a simple test, watches it fail and then proceeds. This is in contrast to other text that show "final" tests or none at all. So far the book hasn't delved deep into MVC, but I don't think this is the book you would purchase for that. I wanted a book that could show me how you progress in real application development using TDD, and this book is delivering thus far.

My only issue is with the placement of the screenshots/figures. They just aren't where I would expect them to be. For example, the image of creating a view from a controller action is 1 1/2 pages away from the text that describes how to do it. It's not horrible, but it's a little distracting. Each time I come across an image, I keep expecting it to relate to text that is either immediately above or below it, but it's usually a few paragraphs back.

So...
Pros:
TDD from the start
Easy to read, easy to follow
A little bit of in-depth MVC, but more about progressing with TDD

Cons:
Figure placement

Excellent read, and resource
I just finished reading Test-Drive ASP.NET MVC by Jonathan McCracken.What a refreshing and worthwhile book.As the title implies, the book covers both Test Driven Development (TDD) and MVC 2.0, as well as some other essentials of application development.Jonathan takes the reader through an end to end `experience' of developing a full application called GetOrganized, a toolset inspired by Getting Things Done by David Allen.

When I say `experience', what I mean is that this book is an end to end process of developing a complete application, using TDD principles right from the beginning.Jonathan didn't take shortcuts. He starts all of his code with the test, makes sure that it fails, then writes the code and confirms that the test pass.If you want to see how a seasoned developer uses TDD in the real world, using MVC as a framework, and get an opportunity to get inside someone else's head, this book is for you.Jonathan does a great job of showing why he does various things and the justification he uses on his various decision.I was constantly impressed with how he expresses his reasoning, and I felt that I had a good handle on how another developer thinks throughout the full lifecycle.

Who should read the book?This is meant for anyone with a programming background who wants to learn MVC 2.0 using TDD principles.Jonathan's writing is very easy to follow and is almost conversational in nature, and it's loaded with content and gold nuggets.He doesn't waste words, but he doesn't leave you guessing either.Jonathan does not target the beginner, so don't worry about him speaking under you if you are already a confident programmer.Mind you, he does need to lay the right foundation for his entire audience, so fairly new programmers shouldn't feel left behind either.Don't pick up this book if you are brand new to programming though.Jonathan jumps in with both feet right from the beginning, assuming that you already have some foundation as a programmer.You can come from other programming languages and frameworks and have no problem keeping pace.Ruby, PHP and other programmers can easily step into MVC after reading Test-Drive ASP.NET.

This is not a reference book.While there is a good index in the back, this isn't a complete reference of MVC or TDD principles. There are many aspects of MVC and TDD that aren't covered.It's not possible to do so within 250 pages, but it covers everything necessary to get up, fully running, and more.When you're finished the book, you will feel that you have a solid handle on TDD, how to use it in the real world, have a solid handle on MVC and how to properly write your unit tests for MVC 2.0.

If I were to recap the top 10 sections that are covered, I would say that they are: 1) Working with M.V.C. ... in other words, working with models, views and controllers 2) maintaining state, 3) HTML Helpers and Master Pages 4) Form validation 5) Ajax, Partial pages, JQuery 6) NHibernate 7) IoC and further integration of repositories with controllers 8) RESTful Web Services 9) Security, Error Handling and Logging, 10) Build and Deployment.

I found this a worthwhile read and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to get into Test-Driven development using MVC.

A perfect book to get a novice developer on the right track
Jonathan's book is a great example on how to make reading a programming book more interactive. He sort of creates a "Choose Your Own Adventure" approach by providing a Test and giving the reader a chance to make the test pass before providing an answer. I really thought this approach kept me engaged throughout the book.

I would recommend this book for any junior developer regardless of the technology stack they are accustomed to.

For the more advanced reader, Jonathan doesn't balk at implementing things the way they are in the real world. He discusses topics such as IoC, NHibernate, jQuery, and Build/Deploy that can bring readers already familiar with the MVC concepts to a new level. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

good book
This is very good book with chapter's summary and a lot of vivid examples. In the end of each chapter there are exercises that can straitghten your skills. I received book in about 9 business days after placing order. I would strongly recommend this book for beginners in programming ASP.NET 3.5

Certainly cant go wrong with this book!
Book review - "Programming ASP.NET 3.5, by Jesse Liberty, Dan Hurwitz and Dan Maharry.
ISBN-13: 978-0-596-52956-7

As a computer programmer and a big fan of Microsoft .NET programming technologies, I am always happy to read technical books.I have read several ASP.NET 3.5 technical books other than this one and what I have found is they all bring something useful to the table.
In this particular books case, it did a good job of discussing the various topics of ASP.NET 3.5.especially for those new to asp.net 3.5.it gives a broad overview of the entire ASP.NET programming platform as a whole.
Chapters 1 - 2 gave some good insights into using Visual Studio 2008 (the latest Microsoft programming environment at the time of the book's publication), IIS 7 (Microsoft's web server technology) and AJAX (a way of making very responsive web user interfaces).For newcomers to the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 environment, it gives simple step by step instructions on how to get started with the VS2008 programming environment.
Chapters 3-8 mainly deal with how to use the controls inherent in ASP.NET.Of particular interest (for me at least) would be the new object/xml and sql datasource controls which make connecting and binding to external data much easier.You can use the new datasource controls and bind them to members of the System.Web.UI.WebControls.BaseDataBoundControl's class.The author calls these controls "data aware controls".These types of databound controls are pretty special because you can manipulate database updates/inserts and deletes directly from "bound properties" of the controls. Pretty powerful stuff for easily making updateable web forms with minimal programming code.The type of applications you would make with these concepts would probably not be your enterprise level applications but probably smaller systems.
Chapter 9 deals with ado.net which is standard fare for the asp.net programmer.It expands particularly on how to update databases from asp.net webforms without using the "data aware controls".In ado.net's case, you would invoke dynamic sql or stored procedure calls rather than trying to use the "data aware" controls outlined in chapter 8.Dealing directly with ado.net allows more complex programming logic to be applied because the programmer is writing custom programming code to deal with the database. For most larger systems, a programmer would more likely use ado.net calls rather than binding of sql statements to "data aware" controls.
Chapter 10 deals with LINQ which is a new way of querying against data and this data does not necessarily have to be inside of a database, it could be in an xml file, or a collection of objects etc.In other words, we are not limited to SQL calls when processing against relational databases, but we now have a "standardized" querying language that can process not just relational databases, but other sources of data.What is interesting about LINQ is the fact that it allows "code generation" of LINQ code via an ORM (object relational mapping) designer.This ORM designer can understand for example, the structure of your sql database and generate appropriate "LINQ data context objects"that can insert/update/delete/select database data (crud).This can save time because now you don't have to write all of your database access programming code by hand.This concept is certainly something a programmer would have to decide whether or not to use, because on the one hand, you save time, but you may not have the flexibility that you need when you need it, since most of the code is generated on your behalf.However, I'm confident with more experience with LINQ, we can make it do what we need, while still taking advantage of its benefits.It's interesting to me how code generation technologies are becoming more and more mainstream and so very powerful.(read up on the T4 templates which just came out in .net framework 4.0).
The rest of the book deals with topics such as input validation, security, master pages, personalization (themes and skins), user and server controls, SOA architectures (web services/WCF (windows communication foundation),performance tuning your asp.net website and other topics.
One useful chapter has to deal with administering and configuring your asp.net website with IIS 7.0. This topic is many times not well understood by many programmers initially.However, if programmers understand how to use IIS 7.0, they are much more effective in their jobs. I especially like "application pools" which came out starting with IIS 6.0, application pools allows asp.net websites to basically "isolate themselves" from other asp.net websites running on your web server (IIS).What I mean by that is in previous versions of IIS, it was possible for a web application to "crash" or consume excess cpu cycles or excess memory and affect other web applications running on the same web server.With application pools, a web applications "bad behavior" is largely isolated only to itself and will only affect itself and not other web applications.This enhances the stability of your IT shop or hosting environment because now other asp.net applications are still running even if your application is having a bad day.Very nice...
One of the most powerful features of Microsoft IDE's (such as Visual Studio 2008) is the ability to trace and debug your programming code.Without being able to inspect program variables, or step through lines of code, life would be much more difficult.The .NET framework and Visual Studio 2008 give powerful capabilities in the area of debugging, that's why I consider Microsoft programming tools to be the best out there in my experience.This book has some useful information in the debugging/tracing source code arena.
Conclusion:I liked this book because anybody who reads this book from start to finish should be able to amass a wealth of useful knowledge as applies to programming with ASP.NET 3.5.Granted, some of the material is carried over from previous versions of the .net framework, but I think this was done so a complete understanding of ASP.NET could be achieved.If the author chose to only focus on the latest features of ASP.NET 3.5 and not explain how that fits in with the overall ASP.NET technology base, then someone just starting out with ASP.NET 3.5 would not get a complete overall explanation of what is available in ASP.NET as a whole. (For example, technologies that have been available from the earliest versions of .net (such as user controls)) are described very capably in this book.
From the perspective of a person who has read lots of ASP.NET programming books over the years, yes some of the material I kind of glossed over since I knew about it, but I believe the target market for this book is (as I stated), is for a person who wants a complete picture of ASP.NET programming as it stands at version 3.5.This is a good book!
The code samples in the book are concise and deal with the various topics at hand.They are plentiful and compiled and ran on my computer just fine.The programming language used in the samples is only C#, so those people who desire samples in vb.net may be a little disappointed. I personally do think C# will be the dominant .NET language in the future from what I can see anyway.VB.NET is a good language also, but if you read the latest technical magazines or books, most of the samples are starting to show up in C#.

Great Begginer Book ASP.NET 3.5
Programming ASP.NET 3.5 by O'REILLY is a very good book for beginners. I dont know where to start! This book shows you from very basic things like how to use visual studio 2008 to create a form, drag a control and drop it into the form to connecting to databases programatically. This book is so detailed I always reference to the book for anything ASP.NET. O'REILLY did a very good job on this book my favorite chapter is chapter nine ADO.NET. I use this chapter as a reference to create my sql connections. Another good chapter is chapter seven Data Source Controls and Connections. This book is a must have for any beginner; it's a practical step by step guide to building your own ASP.NET web site. This is one of those rare books that show you C# for every step you make. I found it refreshing to see a book designed in this format.Thank you O'REILLY for this great book.

Excellent ASP.NET Resource
I have been using ASP.NET for the better part of 1 year, so when I picked up this book I was skeptical.All I can say is that time invested reading this book is time well spent.I would recommend this book to programmers with classic ASP knowledge, all the way up to seasoned developers.The book covers many areas of ASP.NET programming and provides many good examples along the way, so you spend more time learning and less time trying to debug sample code.It has become my "go-to" reference when I am developing and it continues to help me increase my knowledge of ASP.NET.Some topics I found beneficial were AJAX, ASP.NET controls, State Management, ADO.NET, LINQ, Validation, Security, Web Services and WCF.Many of which I was able to integrate in production applications using this book.I highly recommend it!

A 'must' for any serious programming library
Jesse Liberty, Dan Hurwitz and Dan Maharry's ASP.NET 3.5 tells how to create applications using Microsoft's popular web development technology and Visual Studio 2008. It's been updated to help users with several .NET 3.5 technologies for faster development and better web application performance, teaches the basics of AJAX and ASP.NET server controls and applications, and shows how to build and streamline web services. This updated 4th edition is a 'must' for any serious programming library.
... Read more

Product Description
This book was written to introduce you to the features and capabilities that ASP.NET 3.5 offers, as well as to give you an explanation of the foundation that ASP.NET provides. We assume you have a general understanding of Web technologies, such as previous versions of ASP.NET, Active Server Pages 2.0/3.0, or JavaServer Pages. If you understand the basics of Web programming, you should not have much trouble following along with this book's content.

If you are brand new to ASP.NET, be sure to check out Beginning ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB by Imar Spaanjaars (Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2008) to help you understand the basics.

In addition to working with Web technologies, we also assume that you understand basic programming constructs, such as variables, For Each loops, and object-oriented programming.

You may also be wondering whether this book is for the Visual Basic developer or the C# developer. We are happy to say that it is for both! When the code differs substantially, this book provides examples in both VB and C#.

This book spends its time reviewing the 3.5 release of ASP.NET. Each major new feature included in ASP.NET 3.5 is covered in detail. The following list tells you something about the content of each chapter.

• Chapter 1, "Application and Page Frameworks." This chapter shows you how to build ASP.NET applications using IIS or the built-in Web server that comes with Visual Studio 2008. This chapter also shows you the folders and files that are part of ASP.NET. It discusses ways to compile code and shows you how to perform cross-page posting. This chapter ends by showing you easy ways to deal with your classes from within Visual Studio 2008.

• Chapters 2, 3, and 4.These three chapters are grouped here because they all deal with server controls. This batch of chapters starts by examining the idea of the server control and its pivotal role in ASP.NET development. In addition to looking at the server control framework, these chapters delve into the plethora of server controls that are at your disposal for ASP.NET development projects.

• Chapter 5, "Working with Master Pages."Master pages are a great capability found in ASP.NET. They provide a means of creating templated pages that enable you to work with the entire application, as opposed to single pages.

• Chapter 6, "Themes and Skins.” This chapter looks at how to deal with the styles that your applications require and shows you how to create a centrally managed look-and-feel for all the pages of your application by using themes and the skin files that are part of a theme.

• Chapter 7, "Data Binding in ASP.NET 3.5.” One of the more important tasks of ASP.NET is presenting data, and this chapter shows you how to do that with ASP.NET controls.

• Chapter 8, "Data Management with ADO.NET.” This chapter presents the ADO.NET data model provided by ASP.NET, which allows you to handle the retrieval, updating, and deleting of data quickly and logically.

• Chapter 9, "Querying with LINQ." LINQ is a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that encompass language-integrated query, set, and transform operations. This chapter introduces you to LINQ and how to use this new feature in web applications today.

• Chapter 10, "Working with XML and LINQ to XML." This chapter looks at the XML technologies built into ASP.NET and the underlying .NET Framework to help you easily extract, create, manipulate, and store XML..

• Chapter 11, "IIS7." Probably the most substantial release of IIS in its history, IIS 7.0 will change the way you host and work with your ASP.NET applications.

• Chapter 12, "Introduction to the Provider Model." A number of systems are built into ASP.NET that make the lives of developers so much easier and more productive than ever before. These systems are built upon an architecture called a provider model, which is rather extensible. This chapter gives an overview of this provider model and how it is used throughout ASP.NET 3.5.

• Chapter 13, "Extending the Provider Model." This chapter looks at some of the ways to extend the provider model found in ASP.NET 3.5. This chapter also reviews a couple of sample extensions to the provider model.

• Chapter 14, "Site Navigation." Many developers do not simply develop single pages—they build applications. One of the application capabilities provided by ASP.NET 3.5 is the site navigation system covered in this chapter.

• Chapter 15, "Personalization.". The ASP.NET team developed a way to store end user information—the ASP.NET personalization system.

• Chapter 16, "Membership and Role Management." This chapter covers the membership and role management system developed to simplify adding authentication and authorization to your ASP.NET applications. This chapter focuses on using the web.config file for controlling how these systems are applied, as well as on the server controls that work with the underlying systems.

• Chapter 17, "Portal Frameworks and Web Parts." This chapter explains Web Parts—a way of encapsulating pages into smaller and more manageable objects.

• Chapter 18, "HTML and CSS Design with ASP.NET." A lot of focus on building a CSS-based Web application was placed on Visual Studio 2008. This chapter takes a close look at how you can effectively work with HTML and CSS design for your ASP.NET applications.

• Chapter 19, "ASP.NET AJAX."AJAX signifies the capability to build applications that make use of the XMLHttpRequest object. New to Visual Studio 2008 is the ability to build AJAX-enabled ASP.NET applications from the default install of the IDE.

• Chapter 20, "ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit." This chapter takes a good look at the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, a series of new controls that are now available to make AJAX web development rather simple.

• Chapter 21, "Security." This security chapter discusses security beyond the membership and role management features provided by ASP.NET 3.5. This chapter provides an in-depth look at the authentication and authorization mechanics inherent in the ASP.NET technology, as well as HTTP access types and impersonations.

• Chapter 22, "State Management." Because ASP.NET is a request-response–based technology, state management and the performance of requests and responses take on significant importance. This chapter introduces these two separate but important areas of ASP.NET development.

• Chapter 23 , "Caching." Because of the request-response nature of ASP.NET, caching on the server becomes important to the performance of your ASP.NET applications. This chapter looks at some of the advanced caching capabilities provided by ASP.NET, including the SQL cache invalidation feature which is part of ASP.NET 3.5.

• Chapter 24, "Debugging and Error Handling." This chapter tells you how to properly structure error handling within your applications. It also shows you how to use various debugging techniques to find errors that your applications might contain.

• Chapter 25, "File I/O and Streams." More often than not, you want your ASP.NET applications to work with items that are outside the base application. This chapter takes a close look at working with various file types and streams that might come into your ASP.NET applications.

• Chapter 26, "User and Server Controls." This chapter describes building your own server controls and how to use them within your applications.

• Chapter 27, "Modules and Handlers." This chapter looks at two methods of manipulating the way ASP.NET processes HTTP requests: HttpModule and HttpHandler. Each method provides a unique level of access to the underlying processing of ASP.NET and can be powerful tools for creating web applications.

• Chapter 28, "Using Business Objects." You are going to have components created with previous technologies that you do not want to rebuild but that you do want to integrate into new ASP.NET applications. Beyond showing you how to integrate your COM components into your applications, this chapter shows you how to build newer style .NET components instead of turning to the previous COM component architecture.

• Chapter 29, "Building and Consuming Services." This chapter reveals the ease not only of building XML Web services, but consuming them in an ASP.NET application. This chapter then ventures further by describing how to build XML Web services that utilize SOAP headers and how to consume this particular type of service.

• Chapter 30, "Localization." ASP.NET provides an outstanding way to address the internationalization of Web applications. This chapter looks at some of the important items to consider when building your Web applications for the world.

• Chapter 31, "Configuration." This chapter teaches you to modify the capabilities and behaviors of ASP.NET using the various configuration files at your disposal.

• Chapter 32, "Instrumentation." The ASP.NET framework includes performance counters, the capability to work with the Windows Event Tracing system, possibilities for application tracing , and the most exciting part of this discussion—a health monitoring system that allows you to log a number of different events over an application's lifetime.

• Chapter 33, "Administration and Management." This chapter provides an overview of the new GUI tools that come with APS.NET that enable you to manage your Web applications easily and effectively.

• Chapter 34, "Packaging and Deploying ASP.NET Applications." This chapter takes ... ... Read more

  Customer Reviews (32)

  Too much old references to the old days of ASP
  I'm on page 217.I've learned a lot of asp .net so far.The author(s) keeps talking about what programming was like in the orginal asp days.I don't really care..net has been out for like what 8 years now?Delete those old references to classic asp.(I assume he just keeps adding to the orginal asp .net book he wrote 8 years ago).Remove the old stuff!

  Excellent, Professional, Comprehensive
  i finished it a while ago, so i cant b very specific(im 4ever reading dev books) i did read it from cover to cover and enjoy it very much. its very comprehensive, with good short 2-the-pointexamples.
  many chapters. really covers just about everything. all in all i would recommend it as i learned a lot from t
  ( i give only 4 stars, cause as much-too-many books of this type, it is obvious that it was a .net 2 book, with some added chapters and material for 3.5. sometimes the copy-paste is so obvious that i had to laugh. such as "this-and-this new feature, introduced in .net 3.5 is great...." when everyone knows it was introduced in 2.0. everyone, that is, except for the copy-replace feature of their text editor...")

  Liked the LINQ chapter
  This is a traditionally organized WROX book; anybody who read books of that series will find it very familiar in structure. One detail in presenting the material is usage of two major .NET languages: VB.NET and C#. That seems quite logical thing to do when covering anything about .NET Framework due to almost total convergence of both languages by Microsoft. Having code listings displayed in both languages also makes it easier to pay attention to syntax differences, which is, by itself, a useful thing sometimes.
  
  Both beginners and mature web developers specialized in ASP.NET find this book useful. It is very vast in content (this is somewhat normal for anything related to web programming) and covers all major topics such as Membership objects, commercial website organization, Master pages, data binding etc. Lots of topics covered in the book are applicable to desktop applications development as well.
  
  I personally found the chapters dedicated to LINQ useful in my development. LINQ is heavily pushed by Microsoft and authors of the book build a strong case why. They make it obvious how helpful LINQ can be in certain seemingly routine problems such as sorting, that sometimes are quite labor intensive when solved traditionally. What was really cool to learn is that LINQ can be used quite efficiently for pagination tasks if you are building your own custom web controls. Although LINQ chapters are good they don't cover everything you may need to know about it - that's not a disadvantage of the book though, it gives you a good basis to build upon and additional research (as any web developer would attest) will be required anyways.
  
  The book is not cheap as all "perishable" programming books tend to be but it has its value. I believe, ASP.NET developers will find it quite complementary to the arsenal of manuals used for referencing and learning.

  OK but a beginner textbook
  Just looking at the table of contents, this is a beginner's book.Everything covered here is for beginners.Try MacDonald's APress book for example, which is shorter and covers just as much.

  Excellent learning guide and desk reference on ASP.Net
  When I first picked up this book, I was impressed by the quantity of information. The more I read and used the book, the more I was impressed by the thoroughness and accuracy of the information.
  
  If there was one book I was taking to a client site as a reference for an ASP.Net project, this would be the one. Since I write ASP.Net applications in both VB and C#, I especially like the fact that code examples include a version of both. Most .net books focus on a single language, but for those of us who slip and slide from one language to another, it's a slice of heaven. I would have preferred that they show the C# examples first since I use that language more often, but I'm sure the VB programmers out there will love it the way it is!
  
  I really appreciate the detailed presentation on the comprehensive body of ASP.Net topics, but I especially thought the chapters on data binding and management were well written in an easy to understand style. Let's face it, in 99% of applications where you'd need ASP.Net, you're going to be interacting intensively with data. Although the chapter on HTML and CSS was a little out of scope, I welcomed the additional reference material in the same volume as the ASP.Net subject matter. I have never seen a more concise explanation of CSS scope and element positioning. Even though I don't consider my role as "creator of pretty web pages", it sure is handy to have a quick reference to these topics.
  
  .Net is great and this is a great guide through it for the pro or serious learner. ... Read more

Product Description

The most up–to–date and comprehensive introductory ASP.NET book you’ll find on any shelf, Beginning ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008 guides you through Microsoft’s latest technology for building dynamic web sites. This book will enable you to build dynamic web pages on the fly, and it assumes only the most basic knowledge of C#.

The book provides exhaustive coverage of ASP.NET, guiding you from your first steps right up to the most advanced techniques, such as querying databases from within a web page and tuning your site for optimal performance. Within these pages, you’ll find tips for “best practices” and comprehensive discussions of key database and XML principles you need to know in order to be effective with ASP.NET. The book also emphasizes the invaluable coding techniques of object orientation and code behind, which will start you off on the track to building real–world web sites right from the beginning—rather than just faking it with simplified coding practices.

By the time you’ve finished the book, you will have mastered the core techniques and have all the knowledge you need to begin work as a professional ASP.NET developer.

Customer Reviews (21)

Easy to understand and gives the necessary info to get started
I have read couple of books from Matthew McDonald and he has always impressed me. He is a good teacher. This is another good book from McDonald.

If you are trying to learn ASP.NET, definitely check this book out.
John Sharp is another great author to learn .net

Very Well Done
I needed to come up to speed on [...] for a project I am working on and this book was exactly what I needed.I really like the authors writing style.He is detail oriented and explains things in a clear manor.His thorough coverage of various topics saved me a lot of time.For example, the deployment chapter has a step by step procedure for getting the IIS server running in both Windows XP and Windows Vista.It mentions what problems you will run into if .NET 3.5 is installed before the server and how to fix these issues.I had IIS up and running my project in about an hour.I suspect it would have taken the better part of a day without the detailed steps and tips presented in the book.

Many of the programming books I have purchased containing a large number of pages, keep publishing page after page of the same example code with minor changes.It seems like they are trying to meet a page limit.This book, while it does give examples, confines the code to the topic at hand.There is a lot of good information if you want to get into the details, but it is also easy to skim.This book rates in the top 5% of programming books I have read.

This guy is spot on
I don't typically write a lot of reviews, but I was blown away by this guy's ability to so clearly and cleanly express the most important, "core" concepts and functionality concerning ASP.NET/C#. I've been a developer for over 10 years, and was looking to fully jump into .NET 3.5 (from 2.0). If you are a beginner, RUN, don't walk, to get this book. Matthew MacDonald does an excellent job of hitting the topics that are the most crucial to beginners and experts alike, he leaves out all the fluff and gets down to the meat of the most important topics.

I will without a doubt be buying more of his books!

Great even for experienced programmers
Been doing asp.net for quite some time.But I wanted a book that gave me more details about why things work the way they work.This book was very well written, had a great amount of tips in various aspects of asp.net.The truly most important thing is it was not boring and you will learn with this book.

The best technical book I have read
I have read so many technical books over the last 25 years. This book is extremely well organized. Mr. MacDonald really spent time organizing what went into the book and how it is presented. For someone experienced in development but new to ASP.NET, this book is awesome and will get you the foundation you need to be on your own in no time. I would recommend this book over all other intro books I have seen. ... Read more

Product Description

ASP.NET 3.5 is the latest version of Microsoft’s revolutionary ASP.NET technology. It is the principal standard for creating dynamic web pages on the Windows platform. Pro ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008 raises the bar for high–quality, practical advice on learning and deploying Microsoft’s dynamic web solution.

This new edition is updated with everything you need to integrate Silverlight 2.0 and SQL Server 2008 into your ASP.NET applications. You will learn about Silverlight’s exciting new features so that your ASP projects can be rich in visual flair and compelling to the user.

Seasoned .NET professionals Matthew MacDonald and Mario Szpuszta explain how you can get the most from this groundbreaking new technology. They cover ASP.NET 3.5 as a whole, illustrating both the brand–new features and the functionality carried over from previous versions of ASP. This book will give you the knowledge you need to code real ASP.NET 3.5 applications in the best possible style.

This book will teach you ASP.NET 3.5 starting with core concepts before moving on to more advanced topics. You will learn

• Core concepts of ASP.NET 3.5. Why it’s special. What its fundamental principals are. The basics of Visual Studio. How ASP.NET 3.5 controls are created, and how they fit into ASP.NET 3.5 pages, ultimately creating full applications.
• Security. Once considered the Achilles heel of all Windows web applications, security has vastly improved and is a cornerstone of ASP.NET 3.5. This book explains the various forms of available security and how to best apply them.
• Taking things further using advanced user interface techniques. This includes user controls, customer server controls, client–side JavaScript, and GDI+.
• Web services. In an increasingly connected world, working with web services grows in importance. This book will show you how to work with them.
• ASP.NET AJAX, with an emphasis on contemporary web development techniques.
• Development using Internet Information Services 7, Microsoft’s premier web hosting platform.
• And much more…

Customer Reviews (16)

Good Book for reference as well to ASP.Net 3.5
I used this book to learn the new things that went into ASP.net 3.5 and I was happy with the information provided and the examples.

Pro ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008
This book is intended as a primer for professional developers who have a reasonable knowledge of server-side web development. This book doesn't provide an exhaustive look at every ingredient in the .NET Framework in fact, such a book would require twice as many pages. Instead, this book aims to provide an intelligent introduction to ASP.NET for professional programmers who don't want to rehash the basics.Along the way youll focus on other corners of the .NET Framework that youll need in order to build professional web applications, including data access and xml. Using these features youll be able to create future generation web sites. To get the most from this book you should be familiar with the syntax of the c# language and with object oriented concepts. You don't need to have experience with a previous version of asp.net. all the fundamentals are covered in this book. If you're an experienced java or c++ developer with no .NET experience, you should consider supplementing this book with an introduction to .NET.

Don't buy the eBook
The contents are a good reference, if you can find what you're looking for. If you're a seasoned programmer then what you want is good reference materials that you can find quickly. So I bought the eBook thinking the viewer would allow me to search the contents of the book. WRONG! The Kindle viewer has no search capability all you can do is page through the book one click at a time, I'll be asking for a refund....

This is one of the finest technical books I have ever read.
I have hundreds of technical books and manuals in my bookshelves and boxes (no more room on the shelves). I can honestly say this is one of the finest I have ever come across. Steven Sanderson deals with a variety of complex subjects ranging from the book's title (ASP.NET MVC) to subtopics on IoC and LINQ in a logical and very impressive way. I often found myself playing the straight man when reading a section and thinking to myself, "yeah, but wouldn't this be a problem?", only to find that he had read my mind and addresses it in the next paragraph.

Coming from a thick-client background, I have never really enjoyed web programming insofar as what was easy and intuitive in a thick-client app was difficult and seemingly "hacked" in a webform. Sanderson has changed my mind and I can't wait to turn the knowledge I gained into an actual production product.

Kudos to Steven Sanderson for a job well done.

Good so far, but has missing pages
The book's examples aren't in the usual, as you might expect from a web-site type book, to building a web-site as you work through the material.It's more of a developer's guide, moving through progressively deeper material as the authors take you from subject to subject.It's taken me some time to get used to their style.The authors are methodical as they move through things, I've only seen one typo in code.Since it's read more as a developer's guide, think school text books, it's fairly boring until you can start using their examples, chapter 6 or so.I'm only just in Chapter 9 when I came across the missing(duplicate) pages.

Anyone else have the same problem?At page 378, the next page is 331.It's not just renumbered, as paging back to 331 it's the same content, up through page 378 again.Then the next page after the second(duplicate) page 378 is page 427 of Chapter 10.I'll be contacting Amazon to see if I can get another copy.
... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Skip This Book, Seriously
I rarely write negative reviews, but I have to say, this book is not good.I'm a relatively seasoned Web Forms developer, having spent the last eight years or so, off and on, developing apps in ASP.NET, and I was looking to this book to introduce me to ASP.NET MVC.As it stands, I'm 100 pages into the book, and I've yet to be presented with a single practical example; the author's spent all this time (seriously, no exaggeration -- the first 100 pages) trying to explain to me that yes, ASP.NET MVC is different from Web Forms -- not better, just different -- and that it extends the existing ASP.NET runtime in ways I couldn't care less about at this point.Thus far, we haven't created a single project, no File > New, no examples, nothing.I'm extremely frustrated and disappointed at this purchase, which sucks, because I generally give programming books the benefit of the doubt.

I actually can't think of a single brand of developer this book would be good for.If you're a seasoned Web Forms dev, as I am, you're going to find this stuff extremely tedious, as I have.If you're new to ASP.NET, there's so much jargon and page-filling fluff baked into the first hundred pages that you'll almost surely find yourself completely baffled as to what you're supposed to do with all this information relating to the mechanics of the IIS runtime and HttpHandlers and Modules and Contexts when all you want to do is build a flippin' HelloWorld and then dig deeper into how it works later.I don't want to be harsh, because I realize writers have to make a living, but seriously, do yourself a favor, save your money and skip this book.I don't have an alternative to recommend, yet, but I know one thing -- I'll be returning this one first thing in the morning.

Great book for the MVC developer
Although not necessarily targetted at those completely new to ASP.Net and MVC, this is a great reference for MVC, with good examples and explanations for both the intermediate and advanced UI developer.

Outstanding and complete - is now my MVC bible.
I have never had good luck with MS press books, my experience has been that they pretty much suck. The only reason I bought this book was because it was the only one at the bookstore about MVC - I don't regret it.

If you are interested in MVC, this is a real page turner.It gives you details on the underlying architecture and gives concrete examples on extending all aspects of the framework.The author is extremely knowledgeable but does not lose you by going too deep into the weeds.The part about AJAX alone saved me untold hours of research.

What I especially like is how he contrasts web form development with MVC and gives examples of how a web forms developer would do the same techniques using MVC.

This book is now part of my permanent reference library - buy it and you will have all you need to architect a new project or port a webforms project over.

Very comprehensive and easy reading
This book is very comprehensive.If you have no knowledge of MVC or even if you are working with the original ASP.Net MVC framework you will gain a greater understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of MVC.One particular part of the book I enjoy was the detailed explanation of the different frameworks (MVC, PM, PVM, PVVM, Model1, Model2) and the comparison to the new MVC 2.This helped me better understand where I could benefit from the MVC2 framework in some of my current and upcoming projects.

The completeness of the coverage of the new features is impressive. With this book being very technical it was a very easy read and even easier to understand the concepts that were being explained.I did feel like at times the notes and comments were out of control and at time seem to distract from the topic.I would of liked to see some of those comments integrated into the flow of the topic instead of isolated.Overall, this is a must book for all architects andhighly recommend for those looking to gain a deeper understanding of the new MVC 2 framework.

A Useful Book to Refer Back to
This book covers ASP.NET MVC 2 as used with Visual Studio 2010. The book is a good choice if you want to know more about ASP.NET MVC. It's a really thorough survey of all the technical aspects of programming ASP.NET MVC application. An added value is that much of the knowledge gained by the book will be useful for anyone architecting applications which include Microsoft Azure ASP.NET MVC Web Roles.

A good thing about this book is that it's not religional; Dino thoroughly explains what ASP.NET MVC is good for and when there are good reasonsto use regular ASP.NET web forms instead.

You should notice that this book is not primarily a tutorial; its format is more that of a reference book. It doesn't give you step-by-step examples of how to develop an ASP.NET MVC application. The first part of the book explains different variants of the MVC pattern such as the original MVC pattern, the MVVM pattern and the ASP.NET MVC pattern. Exposito talks in detail about how they differ from each other, and why they differ from each other.

The second part of the book describes the three main components of the ASP.NET MVC pattern, the controllers, the views, and the models, each in its own chapter. These chapters are large. For example, the Inside Controllers chapter counts as much as 88 pages. The Inside Views and Inside Models chapters are somewhat smaller but still rather sizeable.

If you're not familiar with ASP.NET MVC at all you'd do well to use this book together with tutorials you'll find at the ASP.NET MVC web site. The tutorials will give you a fast entry into the world of ASP.NET MVC; the book will give you easy access to all the details you'd like to know and master and which the tutorials won't give you. Then the book will be very useful to refer back to for more details. And you WILL find lots of details of all aspects of programming ASP.NET MVC applications
... Read more

Product Description
"In the last 3 years, I have tried to learn C# for web programming using books from a number of different publishers, but have always lost my motivation. The books were just not geared toward someone trying to learn on their own. Then, I checked out your ASP.NET/C# book from our corporate library. What a fantastic book! It's in such high demand at work that I bought my own copy." (A developer's comment on the 2.0 edition of Murach s ASP.NET)

Already know how to code C# 2008 desktop applications? Then, you're ready to master web programming with the 3.5 edition of this best-selling ASP.NET book from Murach Books.

It covers the 3.5 features that provide new functionality...like the ListView and DataPager data controls, LINQ data sources, new CSS-related tools, and ASP.NET AJAX...while it teaches you how to develop web applications from scratch. And it does that using all the same features that made the 2.0 edition such a favorite among professional developers:

#1. It's concise, practical, and crystal-clear in telling you what you need to know

#2. It shows you how to get the most from Visual Studio 2008 as you code, test, debug, and deploy ASP.NET web applications

#3. It gives you a 7-chapter section on database programming...2 more chapters than in the previous edition because .NET continues to deliver new, powerful tools for this critical component of business applications

#4. It gives you solid training in the essential skills that you'll use every day, including data validation...state management...improving the user experience with easy site navigation and a standard look and feel...boosting user response time with ASP.NET AJAX...handling security...developing reusable controls...working with database data using SQL, object, and LINQ data sources...and more

#5. It gives you real-world application examples that guide you in applying what you're learning as you develop your own websites (you can download the applications for free from the Murach website)

#6. Its paired pages presentation makes for fast reading, instant reinforcement, and time-saving reference (to see how the paired pages work, you can download free chapters from the Murach website)

So if you need to learn ASP.NET 3.5 web programming, we hope you'll try this book first. We're convinced that it will deliver the training you need better and faster than any other book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Excellent ASP.NET Book
This is my third Murach book and I must admit I am, once again, extremely please with it. What makes this book great is the format: left page detailed information, right page summary. It's not easy to memorize 1,000-page books, so the proper summary references are a must, especially in the development book series.

The numerous and detailed examples explain in great detail how to use controls methods to do tasks. The little tables found in various pages in the book are of great help.

Excellent Asp.Net book
Great book and very informative, although if you are just starting on C# then this book would be difficult to follow.

-Joel

The most helpful .NET book I have purchased.
I am a .NET book junky.I normally do not take the time to review them; mostly because I spend all of my time reading and coding these days. Although I have an entire book case of .NET books next to me, there are only two that have really delivered big for me.This book and another one that Anne wrote: ADO.NET 2.0 with VB 2005.The ADO.NET book got me through my capstone course for my degree and the ASP.NET 3.5 book is going to help me get my next job.These books provide substantial examples and you do not have to read through excessive text. Also, Anne was very helpful in helping with a coding example via email.She replied quickly and I am now moving forward strong.One specific thing that really sets these books apart (for me) is that it includes the 3-tiered architecture that is very professional and robust.

NOT a textbook!
Any college instructor using this reference book instead of a proper TextBook to teach this material is doing a great disservice to his or her students.I have had to learn ASP.NET from this book and have found it to be a VERY painful experience.The information offered is "CONCISE."TOO BRIEF and concise for those who have yet to learn the principles or structure behind the examples given.No concepts are adequately explained.The first Cart example is too complex for a first example.The material needs to be broken down into digestible amounts.Any professor attempting to cover every chapter in this REFERENCE book during one semester is doomed to failure.It is more important to be certain that students are absorbing the material in an introductory ASP.NET class than than to cover every aspect of ASP.NET in one semester.This book is for those who have already covered ASP.NET and want to use it as a quick reference book-- NOT as an intro to ASP.NET.

Good, but not for beginners
I had this book for my Web development class; even though as promised it does teach you how to start up a web-site development quickly, it doesn't explain all the features it uses. I had to go constantly to MSDN web-site to find out more about the classes and methods are used.
I also suggest mastering ADO.Net and C#.Net first--not just basic level--to be able fully appreciate the book.
I also agree with other reviews that say that the book is disjoint in its structure, and having too many assumptions on what you know about Web developing; even though there is a crash-course in the book, it doesn't fill up the gap between the beginner's level of knowledge and the book's one. ... Read more

Product Description

Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 3.5 in 24 Hours

Scott Mitchell

Starter Kit

DVD includes Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you will be up and running with ASP.NET 3.5. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds upon a real-world foundation forged in both technology and business matters, allowing you to learn the essentials of building dynamic, data-driven web applications from the ground up.

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common questions, issues, and tasks.

Q&As, quizzes, and exercises at the end of each lesson help you build and test your knowledge.

By the Way, Did You Know?, and Watch Out! boxes point out shortcuts and solutions.

Learn how to…

• Design and create ASP.NET web pages
• Use Microsoft Visual Web Developer to quickly and professionally build ASP.NET websites
• Collect input from users visiting your web pages
• Display database data through a web page
• Edit, insert, delete, sort, and page through database data from an ASP.NET page
• Build a website that supports user accounts
• Use Ajax to design interactive web user interfaces

As editor and main contributor to 4GuysFromRolla.com, a popular ASP.NET resource website, Scott Mitchell has authored more than a thousand articles on Microsoft web technologies since 1998. In addition to his vast collection of online articles, Scott has written six previous books on ASP and ASP.NET: Sams Teach Yourself Active Server Pages 3.0 in 21 Days (Sams); Designing Active Server Pages (O’Reilly); ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials, and Code (Sams); ASP.NET Data Web Controls Kick Start (Sams); Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hours (Sams); and Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 Hours (Sams). Scott has also written a number of magazine articles and is a regular columnist for Microsoft’s MSDN Magazine.

DVD Includes:

• Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition

On the Web:

• Register your book at informit.com/title/9780672329975 for access to author code, examples, updates and corrections as they become available.

Category: Microsoft Programming/ASP.NET

Covers: ASP.NET 3.5

User Level: Beginning—Intermediate

Customer Reviews (19)

Good starting point
As the title states, this is directed towards someone beginning their foray into .net and web programming. It focuses on VB providing a good foundation to research and explore more advanced topics and projects.

Missing a few things
While I agree with many of the positive things said about this book, it is missing a few things.First it completely leaves out the fact that there is a whole other programming language available for use with ASP.Net 3.5 and Visual Studio.C Sharp or C#.This, unfortunately for me, is what I needed it for. Second, you can download the code used throughout the modules in the chapters from the [...] website.That is mildly helpful.Most of it is already written out in the book.What it leaves out is example code for the exercises at the end of each chapter.That would have been extremely helpful.Instead the exercises were rendered mostly useless since there is no resource to go to if/when you get stuck.

ASP.NET 3.5
The book is truly for beginners.It steps through web development in the .NET one step at a time.Some sections are too remedial, but they are sectioned in chapters such that it is easy to skip chapters of topics that you already understand.

Scott Mitchell's ASP.NET 3.5 Book is on Point
I started programming MS Access, VB, and SQL Server since 1996. I went to technical college in 2005 to upgrade my skills to Internet and Web Design. I was taught Open Source software, since the public college could not keep up with paid software.As a result, I was at a disdavanage in getting a job, because most companies wanted people with ASP.NET skills. I have been out of work for about one year, so I decided to try my hands at ASP.NET 3.5.

I was hesitant at picking up a SAMS book, because I had found that they were poorly written in the past, and that they were filled with errors. I gambled on picking up this book by Mr. Scott Mitchell, and I must say that is one of the best investment that I have ever made. I get up every morning @ 3 AM, and I worked on a chapter from then until about 7 AM.

As a result, I have built a data driven Website, which I am using as an online portfolio. This book has pointed out additional resources to use, and it tells you where to find them. I was able to build Master Templates, Master skins, implement SQL Server data base driven security. Additionally, I have implemented my very first multi-tier architecture using Web pages, Business Logic Layer (BLL), Data Access Layer (DAL), and SQL Server 2005 database.

This book is not a magician, but it teaches you how to work smart. Mr. Mitchell focused on maybe two controls per chapter, which is awesome. The book is concise and is on point.

Good step by step approach, might have started with Master pages though.
This is my 2nd Sams Teach Yourself book and I like it. It takes you through VB and basic programming for about 7 chapters and you might skim through and still pick up some ideas... then you're into the meat.

The various topics do take you through a progression that goes from easiest to hardest but because it does it skips (until later) the key organizer - Master pages. If you learn some things doing the mortgage calculator you have a page you might use on your site. Getting it into your Master page later is more difficult.

Another thing about variables... VB allows you to use whatever variable name you like, this is gone through in depth... then immediately not used. Some conventions I have learned elsewhere I applied (like sName for a string and lName for a long), so during the mortgage calculator I used my own variable names. The original mathematical formula uses single letter variables but we don't have to.

I think you will learn a lot using this book to teach yourself and I recommend it. The reason for the 4 rating is the wish that at the end I could use what I built rather than have just learned ASP.Net 3.5.

Also, if you're getting this for the programs that are included in the CD, they're all available for free from Microsoft for download and you get the latest versions. It's pretty cool that MS makes such a great tool as Visual Web Designer available for free. Kudos to them... I own Expression Web 3 and I use this free one for ASP.Net apps. EW3 is better at the CSS stuff so I can still use it for that.

Good luck with your website.
Ed

[...] (not an ASP.Net site yet.)
... Read more

Product Description
"This book is by far the best computer programming book I have ever bought. You can go into my upstairs closet and find 20-30 books that I have purchased since the days of VB6.... All together, they could not add up to as much information as you have given me in the first 11 chapters of this book." (A developer's comment on the previous edition of Murach's ASP.NET)

Already know how to code Visual Basic 2008 desktop applications? Then, you're ready to master web programming with the 3.5 edition of this best-selling ASP.NET book from Murach Books.

It covers the 3.5 features that provide new functionality...like the ListView and DataPager data controls, LINQ data sources, new CSS-related tools, and ASP.NET AJAX...while it teaches you how to develop web applications from scratch. And it does that using all the same features that have made earlier editions such favorites among professional developers:

#1. It's concise, practical, and crystal-clear in telling you what you need to know

#2. It shows you how to get the most from Visual Studio 2008 as you code, test, debug, and deploy ASP.NET web applications

#3. It gives you a 7-chapter section on database programming...2 more chapters than in the previous edition because .NET continues to deliver new, powerful tools for this critical component of business applications

#4. It gives you solid training in the essential skills that you'll use every day, including data validation...state management...improving the user experience with easy site navigation and a standard look and feel...boosting user response time with ASP.NET AJAX...handling security...developing reusable controls...working with database data using SQL, object, and LINQ data sources...and more

#5. It gives you real-world application examples that guide you in applying what you're learning as you develop your own websites (you can download the applications for free from the Murach website)

#6. Its paired pages presentation makes for fast reading, instant reinforcement, and time-saving reference (to see how the paired pages work, you can download free chapters from the Murach website)

So if you need to learn ASP.NET 3.5 web programming, we hope you'll try this book first. We're convinced that it will deliver the training you need better and faster than any competing book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Awesome textbook
This textbook explains how to do something in paragraph form, has screenshot pictures for examples, and then puts everything you learned/want to learn in easy to read bullet point lists. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learned ASP.NET.

Not for a Beginner in a Hurry
The book goes into a lot of theory and gives a lot of good background, but I needed to learn this today and get something coded up for the boss by tomorrow.I couldn't wait until I finished Chapter 4 like it says on the cover.I ended up getting what I needed from Evangelos Petroutsos "Mastering Visual Basic 2008", Chapter 26, and had something up and running in just a few hours.The format of the book sounded good when I read the other reviews, but I changed my mind after a few pages.The right hand page just reiterated what the left page said, sometimes with relevant pictures.But, in the long run, it just seemed to make the book twice as big as needed.

Launchng into ASP.NET
This book has provided me with the information to jump right into creating web applications with VB.net.It is an excellent training guide and at the same time it provides real-world examples that can be reused in multiple projects and applications.Next, Murach's ASP.net web programming with C# 2008.

Fat Book, but amazing content
I bought this book for a class and am not a great source of reviews, but can let you know this. Do not go for the aesthetics. This is a really good book. I havn't had a chance to look at the VB.Net book for Dummies (if there is one), but this book has guidelines for a step by step flow for beginners. Later in the book it starts to get complex, but by then you already are prepared for it.

Excellent starting point
I was impressed with what I learned with the C# 2008 book from this version, that I decided to give the ASP.Net version a shot.In my opinion, this is a very good book to start ASP.Net using Visual Studio 2008.The book progresses from setting up your development environment then to the programming section itself.This book uses the same paired pages format as the other books which I find convenient (i.e. you don't need to highlight anything in the book as bullet points are presented).The other book I recommend is ASP.Net Unleashed. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Essential reading
I think that if you want to be a good developer in .NET using MVC pattern, this book is gonna to be useful a lot. It starts from scratch and leading you through the staff step by step. Recommended!

Good Book - But different than what you were expecting
I have to come clean and say I purchased and read the FIRST version of this book.I have NOT had a chance to read the second version.

This book does have all thge requisite discussion about the mechanics of MVC and what is involved in getting a project up and running.What makes this book different is the PHILOSOPHY imparted to the reader.This book makes tremendous strides to inform and guide the reader about separation of concerns, developing from a strong model, abstracting that model into aggregates, and finally generating helper models that translate the internal model to a viewer-ready abstraction.At first I resisted and resented the added dicussion because I simply wanted to see the MVC framework and understand its use.Then it hit me: MVC is pretty pointless UNLESS the developer is willing to create these abstractions and put the design effort into the project.After all, simple throw-away sites are better built with web forms.If you want MVC, you're after "separation of concerns" anway.The authors knew where I needed to go even though I had only the vaguest notion, at first, of why I even wanted MVC.

This book not only teaches MVC, it is a fine introduction to software architecture in general. There is also a lot of discussion of automated testing but I tended to breeze over that because I simply was not disciplined enough to really dive into it.

Very difficult to read
If your a WebForms developer wanting to learn MVC, I would not recommend this book.

There is no running example to learn from and the authors don't explain what they're talking about with code examples very often. Also, as there's no running example, you have to wrap your head around each chapter separately instead of an example that keeps getting complex as the book goes on.

The book also jumps around from topic to topic. Chapters 1 - 3 introduce you to MVC by throwing you in the deep end, then out of no where the book goes in to custom and third party controls, then followed by IIS deployment. This is something that should be discussed at the END of the book, not when your a 1/4 of the way through the book.

Manning has disappointed me this time.

A very nice book (at least for a person previously exposed to some MVC frameworks)
Having read the author's 5-star "auto-review" I was initially of a low opinion. Then I bought the book (I started to like Manning after "C# In Depth") and I am currently on Chapter 13. Wow - the book is fast (literally, in a good way) - exactly what I need to know just how to use and just when to extend the Microsoft's flavor of MVC.

I guess it is a matter of personal preference, but I do _not_ like a lot of [obvious] code and output that would clutter the book and convert it into a 'XXX in 21 days' play-by-play. But I acknowledge that I have been previously exposed to RoR and very familiar with the MVC concept.

Why not 5-stars? The authors have not mentioned Enterprise Library or at least a stand-alone Unity2 IoC container, which is weird since it is an open extensible framework. It is a book on the Microsoft's MVC implementation so Enterprise Library would seem to be a perfect fit (I am hoping to find a reference after Chapter 13).

Summary: if you need to participate in an MVC project very soon and are not a beginner this is a very nice book.

good introduction
this is a good introduction to ASP.NET MVC, but there is a lack of global schemes ... Read more