Frank Stepanski said
At our company we just got SharePoint 2007 and the Business Data Catalog. We received in-house training for it but I needed a book I could use as an additional referencen and learning tool and this was it. Although, it is only 250 pages, it gives you very useful and practical information. During the hands-on training I receiced by trained Sharepoint professionals, there was things that were not taught but was covered in this book that was very valuable and time saving.
The book has lots of code examples that I used to greatly increase my learning curve and actually got me a couple "good jobs" from my boss. That itself was worth it.
Here is a break down of each chapter and what you will learn:
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the Business Data Catalog. In this chapter, we discuss the architecture of the Business Data Catalog, and briefly describe the services that are offered by the BDC.
Chapter 2 provides a detailed understanding of the application definition file. We explore the methods, entities, associations, actions, and so on that make up the ADF. We do this keeping in mind that today you wouldn't write an ADF by hand, but still require an understanding so that you can support it.
Chapter 3 enables us to fully understand the implications of using each authentication method within the BDC. We explore each authentication type, as well as how to overcome authentication issues by using Single Sign-On or Kerberos. We then explore the security trimming provided by the BDC.
The next four chapters explore the out-of-the-box functionality of the Business Data Catalog. Each chapter looks at how to use our development skills to customize or extend the functionality of a different service.
Chapter 4 explores the out-of-the-box web parts for displaying line-of-business data. We look to customize the out-of-the-box web parts with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer providing web part connections, conditional formatting, and aggregate functions.
Chapter 5 gives us insight into the Business Data field type. After exploring the out-of-the-box functionality, we look at customizing the Document Information panel using Microsoft Office InfoPath, before creating our own Business Data field type using Visual [...]
to overcome some of the limitations.
Chapter 6 provides an understanding of how to configure Business Data Search, both using the Shared Services Provider and the application definition file. After exploring the configuration, we look to customize the search results using custom search pages, XSL, and the Search API.
Chapter 7 ensures that we understand MOSS user profiles and how the Business Data Catalog can be used to provide line-of-business data to them. We look at the advantages, such as audience targeting using line-of-business data.
The last part of this book is development-focused. Now that we have a handle on the out-of-the-box functionality, we begin to explore how to use the BDC object model and our Visual [...] development skills to create custom solutions.
Chapter 8 gives us insight into the ApplicationRegistry namespace, which provides an object model to manipulate the Business Data Catalog and obtain line-of-business data programmatically. In this chapter, we create a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) web service that returns line-of-business data for use in remote applications. We then use the BDC object model with Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) to create a Visual Studio workflow that can update or be triggered by changes in the line-of-business system.
Chapter 9 provides a detailed walkthrough of creating a custom web part that displays line-of-business data from the BDC object model. The result is a Business Data List-style web part that refreshes data automatically using a JavaScript callback method.
Chapter 10 explores how to get the most out of your Microsoft Office applications by using Office Business Applications (OBA) that utilize the Business Data Catalog. We explore using LOB data in Word, Excel, and Outlook applications.
Chapter 11 provides two methods of writing back to the line-of-business system. The BDC is marketed as a read-only view of data. We can provide two techniques that give us the ability to update or insert data as well.
This is a great book, and definitely worth every penny.
Get it and you wont be dissapointed.
Curtis P. Koppang said
Books authored by people who sell software make for a bad mix. The authors of this book use their own tool in the first few chapters (BDC Meta Man). Sure there is a Trial version that is fairly crippled in that you can only create new files; you cannot edit existing ones. And at $1200 I am not going to be buying the Pro version anytime soon. In my opinion authors need to be more objective and use tools and techniques that are generally available to the masses; after all this is not a book about their product but rather about the BDC. So what good is it if everything you teach me about editing an ADF is based on your tools. What about the free tool included with the Office Server SDK?
Unfortunately this is one of the only books out there and the later chapters (which admittedly I have only scanned) look like they cover some interested topics. And since they assume that I have my ADF loaded I know we are outside the realm of my complaint above.
IMO, more time should have been spent talking about authoring ADFs. What can the authors share with me? They obviously have a grasp of this XML file if they wrote a tool to create one. How do I debug one of these things? What are the common mistakes? Do you have a quick verification tool that is not as helpful as a fully blown authoring tool; but does more than an XSD?
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