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Programming the Web with Visual Basic NET

Programming the Web with Visual Basic .NET is a comprehensive guide to building web applications and services using Visual Basic .NET. It is written especially for experienced Visual Basic programmers who use Visual Studio .NET for their development work, even those who have never written a web application before.

Because the .NET Framework simply blows away the archaic tools previously available to web programmers, the authors predict that many Visual Basic programmers who successfully avoided Web programming in the past will now bring their expertise to the Web. However, even experienced web programmers will greatly benefit from the authors’ thorough coverage of the ASP.NET namespaces and their clear coverage of the ADO.NET classes most important to Web applications that use relational databases for data storage. All developers will benefit from the authors’ extensive practical advice (based on their unique professional backgrounds) about how to produce create high-quality code and how to create professional, usable websites.

After reading Programming the Web with Visual Basic .NET, you’ll understand how to build and deploy top-quality, professionally designed, highly usable web applications using Visual Basic .NET.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Working knowledge of ASP.NET, VB.NET (Web) and ADO.NET.
This book is aimed at teaching someone who is ALREADY exposed to VB.NET how to create database driven Websites using VB.NET, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET. It takes a database neutral approach and you could use almost any database in using this book. If you are new to VB.NET but have a good understanding of another programming language, you will still be able to follow this book.

The book does not skip any steps in explaining how to use these three technologies on a Web project. It is very detailed in its explanations and has a lot of sample code that works! You have to download this sample code from their website (which is a good thing as you will have code that has been thoroughly debugged). Any problems I had using the code in this book had to do with Visual Studio.NET 2003 related problems. But once I fixed those issues, I had no trouble using the sample code. A lot of examples can be used immediately in almost any Web project you may be currently working on.

In the initial stages of learning these technologies, I was lucky enough to find this book and spent a lot of time reading THIS book only and to date, I have covered more than 70% of the book. I couldn’t skip any sections as they are so well written and well connected (the various topics). This type of thorough treatment of a subject in the IT world is rare and it got me thinking if it is to do with the authors or the publisher. I have already decided to check out more books by the publisher first.

The thing I like the most about this book is the excellent explanations they give on how ASP.NET, VB.NET, and ADO.NET really work. They are very detailed and the explanations make sense! That combined with the practical nature of this book (tons of code) make it a very valuable find. By the time you are done with this book, you should have no trouble creating a database driven website. You still need ‘ASP.NET Developer’s Cookbook’ by The ASP Alliance to create a complex website. But this book will give you the confidence you need to consider yourself a decent web developer in using .NET technologies. You can then go to the next level.

If you are frustrated trying to find a good book on using VB.NET to design websites, you won’t be disappointed with this book. I found only a few books on .NET that I really like and this book made the Top 3 of that list. Enjoy using this book to master ASP.NET, VB.NET, and ADO.NET for the Web!

2 Stars Not the one!
I’m very disappointed with this title, so much talk where not necessary, examples that not directly related to the subject in hand, chapters introductions as if author is writing an article in a newspaper not for a professional developers, Authors seem to know their stuff very well but there is a difference between knowing the material and authoring a book, clearly they doesn’t have that talent. I can’t dare to compare this book to Jeff Prosise masterpiece “Programming Microsoft .NET”, but I found O’Reilly’s Programming ASP.NET book a much organized and useful book, don’t waste your time and money on this one!

5 Stars Excellent Examples, Authors Know Their Stuff
Over a year ago I posted in an ASP.NET forum complaining about the lack of good books utilizing the VS.NET IDE as a teaching tool.

Well, there are several titles out there now. But few good ones. From my post it was evident that I wasn’t rerally willing to learn a language but try to wing the point and click way.

So one of the authors of this book just plain told me to go and learn a language like VB and then get her book.

Thast was both a harsh comment and a hard sell!

Apparently that is what I needed. I did realize that in no way my pretty lofty programming goals could be met with peripheral knowledge of .Net. I have a doctoral degree but programming really gave me a hard time getting started.

I would get to about page 200 of your average 6-700 page computer tome and stall in a sea of poor definitions and convoluted moronic explanations we are all familiar with and dread.

Which 2 year old wants a description of a cat as a feline quadripede domesticated mammal (that is a 3 letter word with that raises 4 hums?) Unfortunately, geek literature is plastered with that.

So I would go on to the next title. Finally I broke down and bought this book too and it hit home.

I now own more than 3 dozen programming books. I don’t even program VB.Net any more but I still go back to the Torkelson/Patterson title the most because of the excellent examples, clear explanations and solid practices.

Some people just have the knack to teach properly! It is a talent, like all human endeavors not equally distributed, so getting your start from an effective communicator is key.

If VB.NET is your lingo this book will parley it to you the best!

Cudos!

3 Stars GOOD BOOK, BUT NO INSIGHTS
This is a good book, in fact, it’s one of the best ASP.NET/VB.NET books I have read. However, it doesn’t offer anything new or fresh or different.

If you’re going to buy just one ASP.NET book, get this one. If you’re looking for an advanced book, keep looking.

5 Stars Learn ASP.NET the Right Way with Code Behind & Visual Studio
I can’t believe the recent two less-than-stellar reviews of this book, because I found this book to be absolutely top-notch.

I moved from VB6 to VB.NET (Windows programming) not too long ago, but I had never done any Web programming. Someone had recommended ASP.NET Unleashed. It has lots of little code examples, but they’re chock full of response.write’s (yuck!). It also assumes you’ll be using notepad as your code editor (double-yuck!).

In contrast, Programming the Web with Visual Basic .NET is a complete tutorial that explains how to develop Web applications and services the right way. It uses Code Behind exclusively, gives great tips for designing usable Web pages, and takes you through the Visual Studio way of developing ASP.NET applications.

The sample code is useful and interesting. I especially appreciated the chapter that shows how to use the .NET trace features to understand exactly how the Web page processing sequence and control tree works. I also loved the examples on using resource files to localize pages for international users and on developing a “breadcrumb” custom control (and why you need breadcrumb links).

The database chapter on ADO.NET was exactly what I needed to understand the Visual Studio tools for handling the disconnected datasets used in scalable Web applications. The examples tied together well and were fun too. What with Lizzy the milk cow running off with the bull next door, Daisy and MooMoo joining them, Bossy getting depressed… Along with learning to do database deletes and updates, I was treated to a regular dairy farm soap opera.

Each chapter added greatly to my knowledge, and the final chapter cemented it with a surprisingly thorough start-to-finish Web site development project. I say “surprisingly” because most books’ single-chapter, “start to finish” projects don’t cover nearly as much ground as this one did.

Although this book seems to be written mainly for experienced VB programmers, I would also highly recommend it for experienced ASP programmers who want to learn ASP.NET (as long as they learn some VB.NET first — this book doesn’t try to teach that too — it expects that you’ll start with a basic understanding of VB.NET). The reason I recommend it for ASP programmers is that this book will teach them the Code Behind way of coding, rather than perpetrating the response.write way they had to code in previous versions of ASP.

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ASP NET Bible

“Comprising far more than an updated reference for Web application development, the ASP.NET Bible provides crucial guidance on leveraging the significant advances ASP.NET represents for the Web developer.”-Michael Lane Thomas, .NET Series Editor
100% Comprehensive
Authoritative
What you need
* Harness the power of ASP.NET for next-generation Web applications
* Build, deploy, and run distributed applications targeting any device
* Master ASP.NET development using both Visual Basic .NET and C#
* If ASP.NET can do it, you can do it too . . .
Completely revamped for the .NET Platform, ASP.NET is an indispensable tool for creating the next generation of Web applications and Web Services. This comprehensive resource gives you in-depth guidance for building dynamic, data-driven applications tailored to any browser or device. Whether you’re a seasoned ASP developer or a Web development newcomer, you’ll find the real-world techniques and insights you need to take ASP.NET programming to the next level.
Inside, you’ll find complete coverage of ASP.NET
* Get up to speed fast on ASP.NET development with both Visual Basic .NET and C#
* Build forms with Web Controls, including Rich Web Controls like AdRotator and Calendar
* Debug ASP.NET pages - and learn how to write high-quality code
* Master ASP.NET database programming with ADO.NET and SQL Server
* Bind data and controls with XML
* Develop, deploy, and use business objects
* Create secure wireless applications using ASP.NET mobile controls
* Use ASP.NET to build, deploy, and publishWeb Services
Companion Web site includes source code from the book:
www.hungryminds.com/extras
* Test your Web Service prior to deployment with the Web Service help page
* Learn how to use page output caching with ASP.NET
Reader Level: Beginning to Advanced
Shelving Category: Programming/Web Development

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Don’t buy this book!
I bought this book in a UK bookstore. I wish I hadn’t! I wanted a book that would cover C# and ASP.net. I went for this one because it covered C# as well as VB, and because there appeared to be a lot of content. Unfortunately when I got it home I found I’d wasted my money.

1. The ASP.net web site development stuff is over by about page 300. The rest is devoted to web services.
2. This book covers far too much stuff in too little detail
3. Despite the high page count, there is very little actual content. Big print, lots of repetitive code examples, make for poor reading.
4. It’s poor for C# as most of the examples are in VB. Apart from the after-thought appendix at the back, there’s nothing useful for someone wanting to learn C#.

Do not buy this book!!!!

2 Stars There are better books out there
I recently bought this book, and let me be honest it was a waist of money. The language in the book is very similar to the material you get in a crash course. Author does very little to explain a particular topic, and goes by just mentioning it.
I was particulary annoyed by the treatment of web controls, there isn’t much than the documentation you get with VS.NET.
You are much better of reading tutorials on the web sites than buying this book.
I will try to return it to the book store and go for professional ASP.NET by wrox. I wanted to give this book just one star, but I am in a good mood.

2 Stars Shallow
After looking through this book’s table of contents at the bookstore, I thought I had found a keeper. Halfway through the book, I am bored to death. It covers a broad range of topics but provides only shallow coverage on each. I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be a waste of my time to finish this book.

1 Star ASP.NET Bible
This book is extremely frustrating for a beginner to work with, even though it claims to be suitable for a new comer to the ASP.NET world. It doesn’t go into enough detail around Web Forms and is completely useless at connecting concepts with example code. It’s just plain annoying becuase it half the time it provides incomplete examples and the companion web site is missing samples that are described in certain chapters. On a positive note, the introduction to overall .NET concepts is fair but you can get this anywhere on the Internet. More important than wasting Money is wasting time and this book wasted mine.

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XML Web Services for ASP NET

This book is a comprehensive guide that walks the reader through developing and consuming XML Web Services using the .NET platform and ASP.NET. It begins with an overview of the .NET framework and an explanation of the process behind XML Web Services, and then quickly delves into building and consuming Web Services. Included will be discussions of proxies, classes, SOAP, Global XML Web Services Architecture, WSDL, UDDI, and Disco. The book will also cover the important issue of security and how to apply encryption and signing. This book is the reader’s guide to advanced XML Web Services such as error and exception handling, configuration, and optimization.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star This is not a good choice
When I purchased this book, hope will find examples, information about Web Services to help my projects. But I only found identical MSDN information. I could not believe my eyes but several of sentences was same with MSDN. If you want to buy a Web Services book this should not be one. I have purchased several books on XML Web services and this one was the most identical (also just copy and paste) one.

4 Stars Great for developers of all levels
Any book on ASP.NET will mention Web services development, but “XML Web Services for ASP.NET” is an entire book dedicated to explaining all of the different sub-areas within the technology platform. And very well done. It’s written by everyone’s friend in .NET, Bill Evjen, one of the most outspoken advocates of .NET technology around.

The book is outstanding and takes an in-depth look at XML Web services, and Microsoft’s specific implementation of the paradigm. All of the major considerations are explained well and adequately to become productive in developing your own library of Web services, or by extending the functionality of your applications.

The book’s tone is very friendly, and non-intimidating, so it’s a very easy, quick read. Bill also uses lots of practical analogies to make the more complex topics relevant, so it’s an added bonus that this book appeals to the beginning as well as the seasoned developer.

Bill discusses areas critical to a thorough understanding of WS technology using .NET such as SOAP, UDDI, remoting, security, authentication, performance, and client development for calling an XML Web service from an ASP.NET WebForm or Windows Form, VB 6.0 app, or an ASP 3.0 Web page. The book also features some really good appendices, especially those on .NET’s Web service classes, and an XSD primer for schema development.

The book is not about ASP.NET development, and so providing the reader has some experience with building third-generation Web applications, gets right to the meaty stuff. The chapters are short and to the point, and Bill’s overview of ADO.NET is one of the better ones I’ve read in recent times. The most outstanding thing to me is that Bill liberally uses real-world code samples, with all code presented in both Visual Basic .NET and C#. Snafus in the code are very minimal, and I know form personal experience that good ol’ Bill is extremely available and answers all his e-mail…about anything.

However, the book’s printed code samples (I haven’t checked the downloadable source code from the publisher) tend to reflect code generated from Visual Studio .NET, which in my opinion become confusing and therefore more difficult to replicate in an IDE environment like Dreamweaver MX or ASP.NET Web Matrix or non-IDE environment like Notepad due to all of the proprietary code VS.NET generates, and in doing so, using code behind. It’s been my experience that it’s easier to go the other way - provide the raw code and leave it up to the developer to implement in whatever means they see fit.

Another thing I did not care for (some of you may agree, I’m assuming most may not) was the physiology of the book itself, which was beyond the author’s reasonable control. The binding is very flimsy and the spine breaks without much trouble. The paper isn’t very durable, and doesn’t lay flat for very long. I hope Wiley Publishing take into consideration that books of this nature get used & abused for their content more than most, and consider making corrections in the book’s composition to make them last longer.

But beyond this, the book is a must-have for a user group as it’s cross-language, multi-developmental platform, multi-subject appeal make it applicable to many different levels of developers, and is great for team environments.

4 Stars Good for 70-310 exam
I was studying for the Microsoft exam 70-310 on XML Web Services and they suggested this MS press book on web services, but the MS press book is ONLY in C# even though the exam they want you to take is for Web services in VB.NET! Had to return that book. I got this one instead. I was happy to see that this book covered XML Web services in both VB.NET and C# and I was able to use this book to study for my exam. Passed!

5 Stars Unique and Awesome Ideas
Excellent book on webservices. Chapter 23 was something I had never seen before. WSDL is used extensively in the book, and Chapter 23 shows how to build take a standard HTML page and turn it into a WSDL document. What does this get you? Now you can screen scrape HTML pages and access the data as a property of the WSDL Document. I had never seen this before. Totally cool and unique technique!!

5 Stars Best of 3 books I bought
I have purchased three books on XML Web services and this one was the most comprehensive and got right to the point on how to not only build webservices, but also to how consume them in my applications (.NET, VB and classic asp). It is interesting that this is such a talked about topic everywhere, but there are not too many books out on this subject. You won’t do yourself wrong by getting this book.

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Microsoft ASP NET Step by Step Step By Step Microsoft

Aimed at all developers of all levels who want to program Web applications on Windows, Microsoft ASP.NET Step by Step provides a perfectly pitched introduction to the world of ASP.NET ideal for those with a little experience with the older ASP standard, but also suitable for the raw beginner.

This text sets a high standard for clarity and approachability, as well as excellent production value, with color printing (using blue) to highlight important points. The author assumes little programming knowledge on the part of the reader and the focus is on using ASP.NET with Visual Basic .NET (with a nod to C#) to create real Web applications, rather than getting bogged down in the richness of the new .NET platform. Essential material on the structure of ASP.NET pages (with a new emphasis on event handling), Web form control processing, and database basics (with ADO.NET) make for a worthwhile tour of the fundamentals you need to get productive with ASP.NET in a hurry. Sections on programming language basics will also bring the novice along. Throughout this text, the author provides highlighted sections of what’s new and different in ASP.NET, which will bring readers who have used the older ASP version onboard with the new platform.

Later chapters show off more advanced techniques, like creating custom server-side controls and a good introduction to the much-touted Web services used with ASP.NET. While these sections add depth to a capable tutorial, it’s the rock-solid tour of the basics that makes this book a winning choice for busy Web developers. Final sections on the new caching abilities in ASP.NET are a must for running your applications effectively, as is the discussion on the nuts and bolts of deploying Web applications.

A final section highlighting the changes between ASP and ASP.NET will help introduce you to the .NET version quickly, as will the bulleted lists of task-based tips at the end of the chapter. With its Step By Step series, Microsoft Press has apparently added a winning format to its catalog, and ASP.NET Step by Step shows off its advantages with a new emphasis on approachability, excellent use of color (all too rare in programming books), and an excellent set of examples and material on the most important aspects of the new ASP.NET. This title is quite simply one of the best available getting-started guides to Web development on .NET. –Richard Dragan

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Not a “Step - By - Step” Book
I purchased this book with the hope of having a relatively straight forward book that would walk me through the creation of an ASP.net Application “Step-by-Step”. I guess I had set my hopes too high. I am already 300 pages into the book and I have only encountered one really useful example (in my opininon).
This book does contain some very useful information, but it should not have been called a “Step-By-Step” book.

Just a side note: C# is mentioned occasionally but this book is mainly discusses VB.net.

2 Stars Typos make this book useless
It’s not really a step by step book, and having made it halfway through, doing all the examples, I haven’t learned much more than how to type. Granted, I have learned a little about syntax, format and other generalities.

There are so many typos and outright errors, though, that I’m giving up, and moving on to another book.

1 Star Where is the first step?
This is not a step by step book; it was designed as reference type of book. I’m not rating the contents of this book. I’m rating the disappointment this book will cause the readers. If I buy a book with a “step by step” clearly indicated on its title, I’m expecting to be walked through a project explaining the different features of ASP.net. Instead the author has used a style that is totally alien to the phrase “step by step”. He should have looked at other “step by step” books to see how they present their subject to the reader before he committed himself to writing this book.

2 Stars Not the Steps I was Looking For
You would think that, with a title that includes the phrase ’step by step,’ this book would help you learn ASP.NET in a step-wise approach including examples and maybe even exercises. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I found this book disappointing.

“ASP.NET Step by Step” contains articles that give a good theoretical understanding of ASP.NET. Had I been looking for this sort of information, I would have found this book more useful.

The content of the book is good. It just isn’t right for me.

Recommend: Questionable
Keep for Reference: No

5 Stars Book Deserves More Credit
I have to disagree with other reviewers who said that this book should not be called a step by step book. Although I admit that the style is a bit dry, once you get into the programming examples in Part IV, the step by step format this author uses is perfect for someone like me, with some programming background in VB.Net, but without web programming experience, who is trying to learn ASP.NET. Not only that, but there is adequate explanation of concepts instead of just telling you what steps to follow. I would have liked to have seen more examples using Visual Studio .Net as well as Notepad, but the author gave enough instructions that I was able to follow the examples in Notepad and repeat them again in Visual Studio to see how it’s done using the code-behind technique. Another thing I liked about the book is that all the examples I tried actually worked, unlike some other books out there purporting to teach ASP.Net. The dry chapters in Parts II and III are also necessary to include as a reference. I am under a tight deadline at work to learn how to create web pages and I am finding this book to be one of the best for getting me up and running.

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Programming with Active Server Pages NET

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