Rating: 
Summary: Superficial coverage of windows forms
Review: Be warned that the "Programming Windows Solutions with ADO.Net" chapter (chapter 10) presents only toy applications.Developers looking for real-world solutions will need to look elsewhere..
Rating: 
Summary: Value is more in the SQL coverage than the .NET coverage
Review: First, the book starts with a pretty thorough coverage of SQL Server. It then gives you an overview of the different ways you can utilize SQL server from .NET. It talks some about Windows applications, some about ASP for Internet and closes with XML and Web Services. Personally, I thought the SQL coverage was really good - including security and stored procedures, but that the VB.Net coverage didn't provide as much detail as I had hoped. The main reason I bought this was to try to find some answers to holes I felt other authors had left - deployment strategies and examples (including the SQL portion), dealing with text and binary objects and maximizing application performance. These topics were covered very lightly or not at all in this book. I also thought the author spent too much time on details that aren't really useful. Its pretty interesting that you can modify table structures on the fly, but how many production applications actually do that? I would have appreciated much more time on reading and updating data than all of the stuff surrounding manipulating the schema. My normal mode of operation is to modify the table in the Enterprise manager and let it generate a SQL script for me to build the database. I don't plan on writing programs to modify the database structure; I'd rather program to modify its contents. He also spends a chapter on views from SQL, but views aren't used in any VB code anywhere in the book. My final criticism is this - the SQL material and VB material are too separate. For instance, he spends a lot of time on stored procedures and their power. He mentions some of the ways they can be used in VB. That would have been a great time to show VB and utilize the procedures he just developed. Instead, the utilization happens about 200+ pages later. I think the author could have developed a great book, but instead we just got a good one. Here's the summary - it is a thorough treatment of SQL. If you're looking to understand SQL Server there is a lot of good material here (a little too much sometimes, but I'd rather have that than fall short). You will learn all about views, stored procedures, user defined functions and even security. This stuff makes it worth the price of the book. But if you are looking to figure out how to develop for SQL Server from VB.NET, there are better books - try ADO.NET Step by Step instead or Beginning Visual Basic .NET Databases. In the mean time, I'm going to keep looking for something that answers my specific questions better.
Rating: 
Summary: A .NET book for SQL Server Developers
Review: I am the author of Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, and I am writing this review to offer an alternative perspective from the one Mr. Geary's review presents. I aimed to ceate a book that had special relevance for those creating solutions for SQL Server 2000 with Visual Basic .NET.
The book has two main sections. The first section takes you through typical database developer topics, such as creating tables, programming data access, and managing SQL Server security. This section also devotes space to other traditional topics, such as data manipulation and stored procedure programming. More space goes to views, triggers, and user-defined functions. Nearly all the programming samples in the first section are with T-SQL. The second section demonstrates how to invoke T-SQL code via Visual Basic .NET.
One special feature of the book is its coverage of SQL Server Web releases that focus on XML functionality. The first part covers two Web releases, and the third Web release gains focus in the book's second part. In addition, another whole chapter in the second section demonstrates how to program XML via Visual Basic .NET.
The second section drills down on .NET and how to apply it to SQL Server 2000 databases. This part contains over 50 percent of the book's page count. Instead of focusing narrowly on Visual Basic .NET, it takes a broad perspective and addresses topics such as .NET concepts, creating Windows applications with Visual Basic .NET, and ADO.NET. In addition, the book includes a couple of chapters on ASP.NET and XML Web Services. Despite the wide scope of the second section, the section provides scores of code samples that convey basic coding techniques for creating SQL Server solutions with Visual Basic .NET. You will discover samples on programming class inheritance, event programming, and error handling. Other samples demonstrate how to perform data access and data manipulation for SQL Server databases with code behind Windows forms and Web pages. The book's final chapter presents four samples demonstrating how to create and consume XML Web Services. Two of these samples demonstrate the use of the SQL Server 2000 Web Services Toolkit.
Rating:
Summary: A .NET book for SQL Server Developers
Review: I am the author of Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, and I am writing this review to offer an alternative perspective from the one Mr. Geary's review presents. I aimed to ceate a book that had special relevance for those creating solutions for SQL Server 2000 with Visual Basic .NET.
The book has two main sections. The first section takes you through typical database developer topics, such as creating tables, programming data access, and managing SQL Server security. This section also devotes space to other traditional topics, such as data manipulation and stored procedure programming. More space goes to views, triggers, and user-defined functions. Nearly all the programming samples in the first section are with T-SQL. The second section demonstrates how to invoke T-SQL code via Visual Basic .NET.
One special feature of the book is its coverage of SQL Server Web releases that focus on XML functionality. The first part covers two Web releases, and the third Web release gains focus in the book's second part. In addition, another whole chapter in the second section demonstrates how to program XML via Visual Basic .NET.
The second section drills down on .NET and how to apply it to SQL Server 2000 databases. This part contains over 50 percent of the book's page count. Instead of focusing narrowly on Visual Basic .NET, it takes a broad perspective and addresses topics such as .NET concepts, creating Windows applications with Visual Basic .NET, and ADO.NET. In addition, the book includes a couple of chapters on ASP.NET and XML Web Services. Despite the wide scope of the second section, the section provides scores of code samples that convey basic coding techniques for creating SQL Server solutions with Visual Basic .NET. You will discover samples on programming class inheritance, event programming, and error handling. Other samples demonstrate how to perform data access and data manipulation for SQL Server databases with code behind Windows forms and Web pages. The book's final chapter presents four samples demonstrating how to create and consume XML Web Services. Two of these samples demonstrate the use of the SQL Server 2000 Web Services Toolkit.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of solid information in this book.
Review: I bought this book at the same time I bought Visual Studio .NET. In other words I was looking for something to bootstrap me into the world of VB.NET database development. The first part of the book is a practical SQL server primer. Very useful. The chapter I found most useful, however, was Chapter 10. It basicly tells you how to put together a Windows Form that will maintain data in an SQL database. In particular it gives a very good example of using ADO.NET data components in conjunction with Windows Forms data binding. That was precisely the info I was looking for and the basics were all there in one chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of solid information in this book.
Review: I bought this book at the same time I bought Visual Studio .NET. In other words I was looking for something to bootstrap me into the world of VB.NET database development. The first part of the book is a practical SQL server primer. Very useful. The chapter I found most useful, however, was Chapter 10. It basicly tells you how to put together a Windows Form that will maintain data in an SQL database. In particular it gives a very good example of using ADO.NET data components in conjunction with Windows Forms data binding. That was precisely the info I was looking for and the basics were all there in one chapter.
Rating:
Summary: The best programming book that I have never read
Review: I have read this book about SQL2000 and VB.NET. (Spanish Version)
I don't have words to say the wonderful that it's this book.
It' s the best programming book that I have never read.
Thank you to write it.
I wait a new version soon.
Best regards from Canary Island, Spain.
Rating:
Summary: The best programming book that I have never read
Review: I have read this book about SQL2000 and VB.NET. (Spanish Version)
I don't have words to say the wonderful that it's this book.
It' s the best programming book that I have never read.
Thank you to write it.
I wait a new version soon.
Best regards from Canary Island, Spain.
Rating:
Summary: No silliness; just substance
Review: Like most people, I appreciate humor. But when I'm pressed for time and need to learn the nuts and bolts of a programming language, I'd rather an author save his chuckles for his own time. Or her own time. Whatever. Dobson's book is right up my alley. It's serious, but not complicated. The pages are filled with good, technical information, supported by concise examples and efficient diagrams. No wasted space, no wasted words.In contrast, Karl Moore's book (VB .Net: The Tutorials), though quite informative, was annoying in its silliness. This tome served as a refreshing antidote. Of course reasonable people can disagree on the humor thing--the disagreeable can go to Moore's work. In this book, multiple topics are covered well: SQL programming, including the all-powerful stored procedure, Windows application programming, XML programming and ASP.Net programming. Dobson's treatment of SQL in concert with VB .Net should help anyone get up to speed writing DB applications in no time. It is a wonderful text that successfully paints with a broad and serious stroke.
Rating:
Summary: Five-star book - Six-star author
Review: Rick's book is the best one I read on VB.NET with SQL Server. The flow of the book is unbeatable. Every chapter is clearly written and well planned to backup the chapters that will follow it. Executing stored procedures from VB.NET is the best part of the book because when I ran the code it worked. Other books I bought (too many of them!!!) do not compare to this book.
The other thing about the author is that he replied to my email about an issue not mentioned in the book as soon as he received it. I strongly recommend this book.
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