ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed

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ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed

I remember when the first of the Unleashed series was released (NTServer 4 Unleashed); it was an immediate success and quickly became the book on administering NT Server.Over the years I ve learned that any book with Unleashed in the title isworth adding to my bookshelf. ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed continues this tradition and is one of the better books I ve seen on ASP.NET.

Given the size of this tome, almost 2,000 pages, Iexpected a lot of auxiliary stuff; the history of Web page tools and ASP/ASP.NET,an introduction to C# or VB.NET, etc. Nope.It is dense and packed with ASP.NETinformation. It is so packed with information that only C# code is presented inthe book; the VB.NET code which was includedin the main text in earlier editions has been moved to the accompanying CD.This book may move three or four books off my bookshelf and into storage.

The companion CD contains all the code used in the book inboth C# and VB.NET. It is noted in the introduction that the CD contains codesnippets that you can start to use in your Web site immediately, and as far asI can tell there are no copyrights restricting such use, even if you aredesigning commercial Web sites.

Let me give two examples of the kind of real-life informationprovided in this book. Very early in the book (p. 31), the author (StephenWalther) shows how to use tracing to monitor how much viewstate information isbeing passed between the client and server. On p. 40, Walther talks about how code-behindpages in ASP.NET 1.x were implemented usinginheritance and in ASP.NET 2.0 and later,they are implemented using a combination of inheritance and partial classes.Clearly Walther knows ASP.NET (described asa Microsoft Legend in his bio, he was the lead developer on several ASP.NETbest practice applications for Microsoft, including the Community Starter Kitand the Issue Tracker Starter Kit). He also includes tips on working withdifferent browsers; on p. 119 he points out that scrollbars set to vertical orhorizontal will not display in browsers other than IE, so to have a cross-browserWeb site, you need to set them to either Auto or Both.

ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed is divided into 10 partscontaining 34 chapters. Like I said, it s 2,000 pages with no fluff. Listed as anintermediate to advanced book, it is definitely not for beginners. If you readthe entire book, you ll just as definitely be advanced by the time you aredone.

Part I provides an overview of the ASP.NETFramework, and shows how to build a Web page using the standard, validating,and rich controls (like displaying calendars and advisement). I like that Waltherspends a lot of time on the validating controls, as they are key to bothrobustness and security. Part II expands on that and goes on to show how tobuild a Web site using master pages and themes, and ends with creating customuser controls. Part III covers using databound controls such as lists and grids, including DetailsView and FormViewcontrols, and the Repeater and DataList controls. Part IV continues with moreadvanced database instruction showing how to create your own classes and function libraries (components). Walther covers using theObjectDataSource control to create multi-tier applications, and using theObjectDataSource control to page, sort, and filter data. He finishes thesection with a chapter on using the new LINQ technologies to connect todatabases. I like the way data binding and display is covered in so muchdetail, because data binding and grid controls can be so difficult to getright. On the other hand, even with two sections on data access, a separatebook on ADO.NETand another one on LINQ would make good companion books to complement this one.

Part V covers site navigation, including site maps, the SiteMapPathcontrol, Menu and TreeView controls, saving the site map in a hierarchical datasource control, and even using the free Google Site Map service that collectsinformation on how often Google directs people to different pages on your Website.

Part VI covers the security-related ASP.NETcontrols, the Login control, and ASP.NETmembership. This is covered in most ASP.NETbooks, but Walther does a better job than most at providing quality examples.

Part VII extends Part I (Web pages) and Part II (Web sites) into Web applications.It covers maintaining application state (using cookies and profiles, includingthe ASP.NET profile classes and manager), andpage and data caching, before delving into internationalization and supportingmultiple languages. This section ends with configuring the Web site, includingthe configuration APIs, the Web site configuration tool, and encryptingconfiguration information.

Part VIII greatly expands on building custom controls (startedback in Part II), including custom painting of controls, more data binding, andprocessing postback events and data. The section ends with a chapter oncreating templated data bound controls.

Part IX covers ASP.NET AJAX.Walther sees AJAX as the future ofWeb development, and breaks style a bit in this chapter to discuss the historyand future of AJAX, and thedevelopment of JavaScript as a language and how it relates to .NETlanguages such as C#. He then covers AJAXon the server and client, and shows how to use the Microsoft AJAX Toolkit.

Part X shows how to put it all together as Walther demonstrateshow to build a sample Web site. The sample Web site is a repository for codesamples, with an included blog. The demonstration Web site also makes use ofLINQ and ASP.NET AJAX.

This is the longest book review I ve ever written, butthere is so much to like about this book that my only regret is that I had tocut my review so short. At US$59.99 for a 2,000-page hard-back book, this is agreat bargain. Intermediate and advanced Web programmers should buy ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed because of all the thingsthey will learn. Beginning Web programmers should buy it because of all thesample code they can borrow while they learn to write their own.

Dennis Hayes

Rating:

Title: ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed

Author: StephenWalther

Publisher: SAMS

ISBN: 978-0-672-330011-7

Price: US$$59.99