Rating: 
Summary: most practical book on XML I have ever read
Review: I am a web developer out of work - I got this book to improve my skills. The XML Spy handbook covered all of the key XML technologies including DTD, XML Schema and XSLT stylesheets in a clear and concise manner, using XML Spy. It also had very good explanations about complicated topics like namespaces, regular expressions and web service description language - things I had heard about but never really understood until now. The xml spy handbook makes xml easier to learn then other books which I found were too theoretical or boring.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Combination
Review: I am a web developer who was looking for a quick and easy way to move into XML. Many of the articles I read and online sites recommended XML Spy to jump start XML development.I actually came to Amazon.com to buy XML Spy, but decided on the book, which came with a 90 day version of the software (the download from Xmlspy.com is only 30 days.) I was very pleased with the author's style - clear and easy to understand, and combined with the Spy IDE I have already created my first XML-based web app. This turned out to be the perfect combination for me.
Rating: 
Summary: This is an unnecessary book
Review: I don't feel tempted to write a review very often but for this book I do. It is a warning: Don't buy this book. There are an awfull lot of better books about XML, XML Schema's and XSLT around (try Wrox) and the book doesn't tell you anything about XML spy (which is a great product!) that you can't find out with an hour or so of clicking around and trying the features.
More important: It doesn't even mention the more interesting features of XML Spy that do seem to require a manual: Extending the product by writing macro's for instance or this Authentic stuff.
For me, unfortunately, it was a waste of time and money.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful but not a great book
Review: I just finished this book cover to cover.
One should keep in mind while reviewing any literature on xmlspy, that there is a wealth of things one can do with this tool. And that it takes huge volumes to cover all those details.
Considering that this 326 page book has done a good job.
The book will definitely get you started.
Only the first 250 pages are useful. The chapters on WSDL, SOAP are too abstract to be of any use.
Also in the first 250 pages, the 2 chapters on XSTL are not done well. I was surprised to see a lot of dead code in the snippets printed.
I also came across a lot of printing errors.
Oh yeah the CD provided is for some dummies series XML book. The software was unusable.
So you are actually buying a book with around 150 pages. But I will still spend that money if I am given the opportunity to decide once again. Hopefully there will be a revised 2nd edition.
Rating:
Summary: CD-ROM issue not resolved
Review: I sent an e-mail to the wiley tech support address below over teo weeks ago and have still no had a response back. In fact, the CD-ROM I received with my copy of the XMLSpy Handbook is the CD-ROM for "XML for Dummies" although it has been printed as the XMLSpy Handbook on the front of the CD-ROM. It does not have the files for the tutorials as described in the book, and I cannot find anywhere on the web to download these files -- the Altova Web site is useless. This has been very, very frustrating. I would not recommend that anyone purchase this book until Wiley has publicly resolved this issue on this forum as the book is useless without those tutorial files. This is a major screw-up on the part of the publisher as this otherwise looks like a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Unacceptable resolution
Review: Shipping a new CD is not an acceptable resolution. Why is there not an errata page on the Wiley web site along with downloads for the examples in the book? Why does the book not have its own URL? Why does it take at least three redirects and more than two minutes for the Wiley.com/compbooks web site to load? The back of the book proclaims, "This is it - the only XMLSPY reference book authorized by Altova, Inc." which is not true, there is also the "XMLSPY 5 User & Reference Manual." The content of the book is acceptable, if limited, but I am not happy with the quality of this book or the service given by the publisher. But if you are committed to use XMLSPY, which is a pretty good way to develop XML applications, this book and Wiley may be your only choice. The Tutorial in the software is very shallow.
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Summary: CD-ROM contains outdated version of XMLSPY
Review: The book advertises a special 90-day trial version of XMLSPY 5 Enterprise Edition, however, the accompanying CD-ROM I received with the book has version 4.3, and Professional, not Enterprise. Makes me wonder whether the code samples included by the author are also outdated. Hope the book's content is more useful than the CD-ROM's.
Rating:
Summary: If you could only buy one xml book this should be the one.
Review: This book is very well done! My background is in software engineering and I have done a little work with XML in the past. I was particularly impressed with the The XMLSPY Handbook's complete coverage of XMLSPY's XML Schema Editor, Grid View, and XSLT Debugger which I had played with in the past but never realized was so powerful. Overall I highly recommend this book to any software developer working with XML.
Rating:
Summary: Interested in learning XML? I'd recommend this book.
Review: This book shines light on the pillars of XML: XML, XSL, and XSD (schemas) with simple procedures to create and manipulate XML documents. The book is organized with each major technology in its own chapter, or basic and advanced features in 2 chapters (great for learning/mastering a particular aspect of XML, such as XSL stylesheets). Respectfully, the flame comments about the wrong CD coming with the book seem irrelevant now -- the book now comes with all the exercises and an incredible 90-day trial version of XMLSPY (the normal download trial is for 30 days). The information builds logically, walking you through simple examples to introduce the XML terminology, then adding nitty-gritty fine-level details demonstrating, in context, what would otherwise be abstract and complex terminology. I enjoyed the casual, friendly writing style. There are asides about some features defined in the XML standard, but not used in the real world. Other times the author points out the way he generally does something. There are several quick procedures using the XMLSPY editor that would otherwise require repetitive or manual actions. There's a chapter on WSDL. I haven't read it yet (loaned the book to a friend learning XML), but a local MSDN director raves about being able to edit and examine WSDL visually with XMLSPY. THE BEST FEATURE of the book may well be the 90 day trial version of XMLSPY Enterprise Edition. The 3 months use of a $400/$500 program the CD gives you for the cost of this excellent instructional book! NOTE: If you can read and write schemas by hand, you probably won't need all the info on XML terminology and simple examples, though you'd probably still benefit from how to do things with XMLSPY and the full 90 days to explore it.
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Summary: CD Rom Issue Resolution
Review: We regret than an error occurred in the first printing of the XMLSPY Handbook, and these copies contained the wrong CD-ROM. We immediately recalled these copies, and redistributed a new printing with the corrected CD. However, a small number of the first printing may still be in circulation. If you happen to have purchased a copy of XMLSPY Handbook which contained the wrong CD ROM, we apologize for the error, and are happy to replace it for you, at no charge. Simply call our customer support center at 1-800-762-2974, or send an email to techsupdum@wiley.com. Chris Webb
Executive Editor
Wiley
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