A Programmer's Guide to ADO .NET in C#

Rating:
Summary: Not quite a good book
Review: I was extremely disappointed after reading this based on most other reviews. It does not provide any detailed information about ADO.NET nor does it give me anything to go on when it comes to database tips and tricks in the managed world. I was going to give a rating of 1, but decided against it, because I believ the author must have spent many hours doing screen dumps of the way too many pictures in the book! Amazing how one can fill up to half the book with pictures that does no good for the understanding of the various subjects. I wonder if it shows how the author got his very limited knowledge on databases?

Rating:
Summary: Detailed Review
Review: I was reading this review in .Net Programmer's Magazine and found it useful. Here is some of it in case any body is interested. Overall good book for ADO.NET Beginners. Cheers!
- Max

Understanding Basics
First three chapters of this book are for beginners, who have no idea of C# and ADO.NET. Chapter 1 and chapter 2 of this book are for beginners, who are migrating to C# from other languages specially C++, VB or Java. Chapter 1 covers basic syntaxes of C# language and Chapter 2 shows how to develop Windows applications using Windows Forms and Visual Studio .NET.

Chapter 3 is the chapter, which I liked a lot. This is a small chapter, but this is where author clears every concept of ADO.NET, its architecture and its components. I like author's graphical approach, which I don't find in other books. Author explains each and every component of ADO.NET architecture graphical and shows how all components fit together and builds ADO.NET, one of the best database access technology developed by Microsoft so far.

Chapter 4 of the book is totally dedicated to visual ADO.NET components and Visual Studio .NET. Author shows how you can take advantage of Visual Studio .NET's rich features including Server Explorer, Data-bound controls, Data Form Wizard and so on.

ADO.NET Disconnected classes and Data Providers
Chapter 5 is the most important and biggest chapter of the book. In this chapter, author shows you the broad view of ADO.NET architecture and basic building blocks of ADO.NET and ADO.NET data providers. Author has divided this chapter into two parts. First part covers disconnected classes such as DataSet, DataTable, DataColumn and DataRow and how to use them in a disconnected manner. The second part of the chapter covers OleDb and Sql data providers, their components and how to write applications using Sql Server and Acccess databases. In this chapter, author goes from one component to other one by one by starting from the Connection component, followed by Command, DataAdapter, DataReader and so on.

XML and ADO.NET
6th Chapter of the book covers XML and ADO.NET. Author starts this chapter with a brief introduction of XML followed by reading, writing, deleing, searching, and navigating through XML documents. The second part of this chapter shows the relationship between ADO.NET and XML. Again, author's visual oriented approach clears many concepts, which are hard to understand by just reading few pages.

Web Development and ADO.NET
Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 are dedicated to Web development and ADO.NET. In these chapters, authors first clears basic concepts of ASP.NET model and shows how to write simple Web applications using ASP.NET and Visual Studio .NET. After that author shows how to use ASP.NET DataGrid and other data-bound controls to develop database applications using ADO.NET. Author also shows how to develop a Guest book application. Another application shows how to write Web applications which lets you add, edit and update data through Web pages.

Chapter 8 is dedicated to Web Services. Author has used Visual Studio .NET's rich features to develop Web applications, which lets you read and write databases. In the end, author also shows how to consume Web services from Web applications.

I found these two chapters useful for my Web development using ASP.NET.

Handling ADO.NET Events
Chapter 9 is a small chapter but covers every ADO.NET component and their related events. Chapter shows how to use .NET even model and how to handle ADO.NET events from time to time.

Different flavors of ADO.NET
This chapter has many elements, which didn't fit in previous chapters. This chapter shows how to write database applications utilizing the power of stored procedures, views and triggers. Author also shows various COM Interoperability issues and how to use existing COM based database technologies in managed code through ADO.NET data providers. Topics include using ADO Recordset, ADOX and ADOMD in managed code using ADO.NET. Good for developers who still wants to use ADOX, ADO, and ADOMD in managed code.

ODBC .Net Data Provider
This chapter is a useful chapter for developers who don't work with SQL Server and Access databases but uses MySQL, Oracle and other databases. In this chapter, author first covers basics of ODBC .Net data provider, which I couldn't find in two previous books. After that, an author shows examples and connection samples on how to work with different databases. Personally I didn't use any of these databases but many developers who are using MySql, Oracle, Sybase, and Excel databases will find this chapter useful. I also noticed that author even covers Oracle 8i and 9i versions.

Treat for non Database Developers
At the end of this book, two appendixes cover some basic database concepts and how to construct SQL statements. These appendixes are useful for non-SQL developers who have no idea of how to write SQL statements.

Conclusion
Overall a good buy for beginner to intermediate database developers who want to write database applications in .NET. If you already have some knowledge of C# and Windows development in .NET, you can skip chapter 1 and chapter 2.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, just not good enough to publish
Review: I wonder why it is that any publisher will publish poorly written books like this. You get this mixed feeling right from the beginning of the book and then as you continue to read the chapters you sit back and realize that the author has absolutely nothing to offer you, because he doesn't know what he is talking about. Why on Earth would anyone prefer 2-3 shots of the same dialog within the space of just a few pages? Okay, the content of the dialogs are not the same but its much neater to just reference a dialog once its been showed once.

I am not exactly a beginner, but even if I had been I am convinced that this book wouldn't have given me much to go on.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for beginners
Review: I'm just moving to .NET and ADO.NET. I found this book as perfect for beginner database developers who wants to write Web and Windows applications. Book has good visual explanation of ADO.NET classes, which are useful and easy to understand.

I even wrote an ADO.NET Web service based on the book and worked like a charm.

Beginners, go get it.

Rating:
Summary: A well written and comprehensive book
Review: It is a good book. What I like is that users who would like to program with ADO.NET but are new to .NET technology (ones who are C++/Java programmers) get a complete glimpse of C# language in the first chapter. This makes them comfortable with the language basics and then they can proceed comfortably. Similarly for the second chapter that deals with Windows forms. The other remarkable thing is that the author has taken great care to explain his concepts with diagrams. It is a great help to beginners. The author has explained each of the class with examples. It helps to understand the concepts clearly. He has again given a broad overview of the XML technology before working with it. There is such a lucid flow of developing web applications and web services that a novice will never feel out of place. One thing that was never very clear to me was ADO.NET events. After reading this book, I got a firm grasp on them. The author has concluded by showing logically how to work with stored procedures and views. Overall, I must confess, it is worth investing in the book.

Rating:
Summary: A great intro to ADO.NET
Review: Let me begin by saying that this isn't a "ADO.NET for Pro's" book. I bought it when I was first learning ADO.NET and I really liked it. I see that some other people have written some negative stuff about it, but I have to disagree. The book isn't advertised as the definitive guide to ADO.NET. And I think people new to ADO.NET or intermediate programmers wanting to refine their knowledge will really apprecaite it. I know I sure did.

I've been following Mahesh for a while, love his web site and really like his books. He's very methodical and uses good examples to back up his discussion. And if you are new to ADO.NET, Chand's writing is such that he won't lose you because he moves too fast and he won't bore you because he moves too slow.

I can't wait for his next title!

Rating:
Summary: A great intro to ADO.NET
Review: Let me begin by saying that this isn't a "ADO.NET for Pro's" book. I bought it when I was first learning ADO.NET and I really liked it. I see that some other people have written some negative stuff about it, but I have to disagree. The book isn't advertised as the definitive guide to ADO.NET. And I think people new to ADO.NET or intermediate programmers wanting to refine their knowledge will really apprecaite it. I know I sure did.

I've been following Mahesh for a while, love his web site and really like his books. He's very methodical and uses good examples to back up his discussion. And if you are new to ADO.NET, Chand's writing is such that he won't lose you because he moves too fast and he won't bore you because he moves too slow.

I can't wait for his next title!

Rating:
Summary: A great intro to ADO.NET
Review: Let me begin by saying that this isn't a "ADO.NET for Pro's" book. I bought it when I was first learning ADO.NET and I really liked it. I see that some other people have written some negative stuff about it, but I have to disagree. The book isn't advertised as the definitive guide to ADO.NET. And I think people new to ADO.NET or intermediate programmers wanting to refine their knowledge will really apprecaite it. I know I sure did.

I've been following Mahesh for a while, love his web site and really like his books. He's very methodical and uses good examples to back up his discussion. And if you are new to ADO.NET, Chand's writing is such that he won't lose you because he moves too fast and he won't bore you because he moves too slow.

I can't wait for his next title!

Rating:
Summary: Great book - excellent chapter structure...
Review: Really, if you want to learn ADO.NET for practical purposes, I think this is a great book.

I like the fact that Mahesh first shows you how to use ADO.NET via a console application - not relying on wizards and IDE-generated code. However, he doesn't ignore the IDE wizards - he shows how to generate ADO.NET code via the IDE wizards and also in straight code.

This book has chapters on ADO.NET in several real world situations: Windows Forms, Web apps, Web Services, and XML. Nice structure...if you're using ADO.NET to read XML files, just head to the XML chapter. Very useful.

Rating:
Summary: Great book - excellent chapter structure...
Review: Really, if you want to learn ADO.NET for practical purposes, I think this is a great book.

I like the fact that Mahesh first shows you how to use ADO.NET via a console application - not relying on wizards and IDE-generated code. However, he doesn't ignore the IDE wizards - he shows how to generate ADO.NET code via the IDE wizards and also in straight code.

This book has chapters on ADO.NET in several real world situations: Windows Forms, Web apps, Web Services, and XML. Nice structure...if you're using ADO.NET to read XML files, just head to the XML chapter. Very useful.