Patrick Benoit said
I was at first excited to start developing asp web sites so, as in the past with other project I chose a MicrosoftPress book because they are well written and have great content. I breased through the first six chapters only to find that the Virtual Earth integration, chapter 7, was out of date. Version 6.2 is the current supported version and since they have changed the API no matter what you do you can not get it to stay in the defined table.
That didn't deture me too much the web changes fast so on to the next chapter.
Chapter 8 has you linking SQL tables! Way cool!!! But if you don't stop and continue on to chapter 8 you will run into some odd issues because they omit the fact you must refresh the database table prior to creating your qureys. The methods will not show up otherwise.
Chapter 9 Listing 9-5: DataSourceID="ObjectDataSource1" be sure to add DataKeyNames="ToDoId" at the end of the line or it won't work at all. And again the omit the database table refresh. AsloDataView is DetailsView, pg 182, and step 6 be sure to choose DataSource from the dropdown; select the DataSource ObjectDataSource1 and check off Emable Inserting from the Add new To-do table. Getting very frusturated!!!!!!
Chapter 10 was a breath of fresh air, it was fine.
Chapter 11 however... Don't bother, Microsoft discontinued the[...]site back in August 24th 2009.
Chapter 12 was fine.
Chapter 13 well, I skipped it, I do this every day.
Wyatt Earp said
The book is OK for someone that already has some experience programming. I think a book for beginners should include, near the beginning, a portion about commenting, and how to write readable code by indenting, seperating blocks of code, capitalization, using meaningful names (lblLastName instead of Label1) etc. I'm pretty sure I would have become frustrated and given up if I hadn't had some prior C++ training. I learned a lot from the book, it's just that I have found other books a lot better for beginners.
Jared A. Young said
This book has two issues which to me make it not a book worth buying. (Unfortunatly I already did!) 1. The webpage example that he shows you how to make is a very dated looking webpage and does not reflect current trends in web development. 2. (the big issue) is that his code does not work. He will tell you to type some code, problem is, the code doesn't work.
FYI: I am an IT professional (and am wanting to learn some web development), and was able to figure my way through about half of the book, but do not think it was worth it, and I gave up on it. I've ordered another book that had better reviews.
If you are considering buying this book, my suggestion is to look somewhere else.
Mike Wittmer said
This is the most frustrating beginner book I have encountered. I agree completely with the first three reviewers. I have some C# and VB.NET experience but have avoided ASP.NET for the most part. I bought this book to work through before hitting ASP.NET Step By Step assuming it would function as a decent primer. I was wrong.
The book is poorly edited and makes too many assumptions. The premise of the book is to leave you with a usable website at the end; however, it is very difficult to finish the project without going to outside sources. I have carefully worked through one of the chapters 3 times now and have still not been able to get it to work. Since this book is a project based concept, where chapter B builds on chapter A, and so on, I cannot proceed until the current chapter's functionality is achieved. In my opinion, this design is another flaw of the book.
I wish I could get my money back. Actually, I'd just prefer a better book on the subject.
K. McKenna said
This book is poorly written and near impossible to follow. I'm sorry I bought this book.
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