Programming Components With Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0

Rating:
Summary: Average for the average
Review: For those who have had some contact with COM/MTS this book might fill the gaps. But for those with a little more experience it's only a confirmation of what already learned. I expected more from this title I'm sorry to say. Not a bad book for beginners/intermediate though.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the time
Review: I am new to COM and new to VB (last used VB 3.0) and the content of this book provided a solid foundation for me to move forward. I have a better handle on COM, VB, MTS, and IIS and examples that I can go back to when we start development. It was well written with only a few typos. The examples are step by step and instructive. They cover a lot of ground at a good level of depth in only 371 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but very light. Best suited for introductions.
Review: I purchased this book hoping to get a better understand of COM and how it relates to VB. While I did get some of that, I was still left hungering for more meat. Very little of this book is dedicated to understanding the inner workings of COM. Although this book is well written and informative, it is just too introductory for a book that is suppose to be for enterprise developers. Thus if you want a basic introduction to COM buy it. If not, don't.

Rating:
Summary: The best book on COM for Visual Basic developer
Review: I read many VB-COM books but did not understood COM until I read this book. This is a real gem. This book explains the most complex concepts very clearly.

Rating:
Summary: Expensive Abbreviation of VB6 Online Help
Review: Originally I bought Dan Appleman's book on ActiveX. Intimidated by its size and by what seemd to be digressions into nowhere, I switched to this one. Not a good move. VB6's own manuals do a much better job of leading you through the paces, and contain a bit more background than found here -- though it's still not enough. The authors furnish a few step-by-step recipes, but no in-depth understanding that allows you to move beyond the limited examples or design your own from scratch. They neglect to mention COM's performance hits and offer no workarounds. Even as a basic intro to ActiveX, you'll find more in the VB6 manuals. 3rd-party books ought to supplement and enhance the original product's documentation; this book doesn't. Save time and money; no 3rd-party manual is a 100% substitute for the original product documentation, which in the case of VB5/VB6 is actually quite good (especially compared to what's in this book). Start with the VB6 online docs first, then go to Appleman's book for a deeper understanding of what's happening and what you can do with it. As it turns out, what I thought were Appleman's "digressions" were a preface to what COM/ ActiveX is about; perusing through 3 other competetive books revealed that they all use the same approach, but none are as complete or as clear as Appleman's version. This book by the Heddons is far too skimpy and incomplete to be of great use to intermediate/advanced VB users. If you want a general summary or to dip a toe in the water, save $$$ and read VB6's own chapter summaries from the online manuals. You will not be able to use the information in the Heddon book without covering most of the first 2 VB6 volumes beforehand.

Rating:
Summary: Great resource for learning how to use COM with VB.
Review: Sooner or later you have to take advantage of COM in your VB apps and until you do, you're missing out on VB's key to building proper component based solutions, which is what COM is about. This is a great walkthrough for the experienced VB developers who have heard so much about COM but never really grasped it. It is actually a pleasant read and easy to understand, rich in information and backgrounders as well as putting the various technologies into perspective. After struggling to understand COM, this was the only book that helped me finally understand it- that is, as much as you need to know for VB development. It does not go into great detail about the COM specification itself, but rather as deep as a VB programmer needs to go before using it to its best potential. Get it if you are experienced with Visual Basic and want to get the full story about ActiveX DLL's & EXE's, ActiveX Controls, ActiveX Documents (and everything else ActiveX), that Implements keyword, a good primer and resource to data access (DAO/ADO/RDO/ODBC/OLE DB) and Transaction Server, and a decent introduction to ASP. After reading it, it remains a valuable reference as well.

Rating:
Summary: more a feature list of VB exotica than a serious book
Review: The author's style is nice and clear, but just as each chapter starts getting into real issues it stops. You get the feel that the author spends too much time evaluating features and not enough time working on real projects

Rating:
Summary: A lot of breadth not enough depth
Review: The authors do well to explore a broad range of issues but never really get down to the nitty-gritty of it. However, it is easy reading and if you are a COM amateur you will benefit from the content. Personal opinion: Buy Pattison's book instead.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent book
Review: The best book about COM and VB. Basic COM concepts, ActiveX controls and documents introduced clearly and precisely. Even the advanced user is presented with coherent picture.

Rating:
Summary: Good book for even long-time VB programmers
Review: This book briefly covers all the relavant COM subjects, without much depth. However, I found the section on ActiveX controls very useful.

For example, the section on page 129 on setting base addresses is a rare discussion of base addresses for ActiveX controls and DLLs. Something like this subject is often passed over in other books to make room for more depth or programing examples. This book covers subjects like this in a way that is easy to understand and use.