How does the book approach application development?
First we introduce the basics of VB development and the methodologies that we use. We then teach the necessary technologies, such as component development, transactions, Unified Modelling Language, and SQL Server, before embarking on the development of a detailed case study. Finally, we deploy and enhance the case study application. Each chapter follows the steps that a real-world development project would take from the proposal stage to project completion.
What's the case study all about and why did you pick it?
The case study is an online banking application. It was chosen because it is a good example of a distributed application that can run on one or more computers and use transactions to maintain data integrity. It is a perfect illustration of developing an n-tier application.
What are the main design features?
The main design features are a 3-tier distributed application model,.centralized control of transactions using MTS (Microsoft Transaction Server), stored procedures implementing business rules and processing in the SQL Server application database, and specialized interfaces for users and administrators. Each of these features is implemented using UML to provide a structured design model for the application.
You mention enhancing the case study - what's that doing?
We cover extending the application by Web enabling it using ASP and enabling inter-application communications using XML. The design of the case study makes extending the application very easy and these enhancements will show the reader how to consider future enhancements for a development project during the design and development of an application.
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