XML Programming with VB and ASP

Rating:
Summary: Who's definition of "in-depth" are we using?
Review: After a mere twenty-two pages into the book, I was starting to doubt the usefulness of this book. The very top of page 22 talks about "examples above" on handling special characters. Flip back to page 21, however, go to the bottom of the page and read about examples that "are described below". I give up, are the examples on the magical page 21 1/2?

While other reviewers seem willing to let slide the number of typos, omitions and code examples that simply don't work, I am less forgiving. I got this book on the assumption that I would be able to learn how to integrate XML with my knowledge of ASP. Most examples in this book, however, are for Visual Basic, and while that only requires little to moderate tweaking, the pure ASP examples in this book are almost non-existant.

Add in the fact that the book constantly interrupts a lesson to add new concepts we're supposed to either immediately understand, or bookmark and thumb through the book hoping they remembered to include the examples, makes this a frustrating book to learn from. Doing a quick search on Google for "XML help basics" gave me more insight into XML in just a few minutes than reading this book for a few hours did.

Rating:
Summary: Who's definition of "in-depth" are we using?
Review: After a mere twenty-two pages into the book, I was starting to doubt the usefulness of this book. The very top of page 22 talks about "examples above" on handling special characters. Flip back to page 21, however, go to the bottom of the page and read about examples that "are described below". I give up, are the examples on the magical page 21 1/2?

While other reviewers seem willing to let slide the number of typos, omitions and code examples that simply don't work, I am less forgiving. I got this book on the assumption that I would be able to learn how to integrate XML with my knowledge of ASP. Most examples in this book, however, are for Visual Basic, and while that only requires little to moderate tweaking, the pure ASP examples in this book are almost non-existant.

Add in the fact that the book constantly interrupts a lesson to add new concepts we're supposed to either immediately understand, or bookmark and thumb through the book hoping they remembered to include the examples, makes this a frustrating book to learn from. Doing a quick search on Google for "XML help basics" gave me more insight into XML in just a few minutes than reading this book for a few hours did.

Rating:
Summary: Good content, but long winded and sloppy presentation
Review: Good for the introduction and general knowledge on XML. However, remember there are many other much better books. This book is littered with errors. If you are serious at looking code to understand, this book is NOT for you. I do not think anybody read this book for correction. How about cut and paste many times without any regards to where or how many times you are pasting or without any correction! To me, such publishers and authors should be held responsible for such poor books advertised as excellent source!

Rating:
Summary: Close....but yet so frustrating
Review: I agree with a number of other reviewers, skip this book. It is more frustrating than it's worth. Shame too, cause it starts out strong and then just fades away.

Code Examples are REDUNDANT.
Code Examples are INCOMPLETE in the book. (Even the "Complete" examples. Had to download the source code and go line by line to figure out what was "missing". VERY FRUSTRATING.

Book skips arround quite a bit and is confusing at times. The Summary Case (3 tier architecture) which I was looking forward to was pretty much......um USELESS.

Oh well, I didn't listen to the others, maybe you will listen to me. Take a pen, paper and write down the 3 useful pages in this book and save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Loosing stars by the minute - missing bits of code maybe
Review: I had high expectations for this book after reading the reviews, and it seemed to be just what I was looking for. Practical examples of how to use it with ASP. Well, I must admit, the style of writing is far less dry than other XML books. But...the typos, and missing details are driving me nuts!

In trying to type in the example code I'm getting *very* frustrated. In working through chapter 4, I just can't get the example of standalone data islands to work. The section labeled 'full source code' can't possibly be. I need the source code for the data island AND the html file. There isn't enough detail to make it work.

So, figuring I'd skip that and move on, well now just a short bit latter 4.4.11, I've typed the code in exactly, and checked it mulitple times, but my button bar keeps ending up in the wrong place. NEXT to the table rather than under it! I try putting in the standard HTML tags to fix it (p, br, etc) and none of it works. Why?

I consider myself to be pretty good with HTML, and intermediate in ASP (2 years or so) yet just can't get these things working. The book web site has nothing under the errata section either!

I'm going to keep plugging at it, but this book is loosing stars by the minute.

Rating:
Summary: A good start on XML
Review: OOOhhhh gosh I can't believe that how the publisher accepted this garbage. No example works. Every thing is contradictory. Its not worth of spending a penny or a minute.

Mike

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste money on this book
Review: Sloppy. The information that Mark and Tracy Wilson are trying to share with reader may be solid. However, the code examples they use to illustrate this information are far from it. It makes it very difficult to regard anything in the book as reliable when the examples don't work. This is not the first (or last) time this kind of sloppiness has been allowed to be published, but anyone considering this book needs to know that they will need to visit the web site listed in the book to download the source code before any thing will click. The next time Mark puts out a book he needs to employ the services of not only a proof reader but also a proof tester. Hopefully he wouldn't deliver a software product in such sloppy condition...

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction and overview of XML, VB, and ASP
Review: This is a short introduction and overview to using XML with ASP and VB. It should take your understanding of XML from beginner to intermediate. Plenty of code samples are provided to illustrate the concepts. This is very much a practical book.

The book does contain several typos, and some of the sample code does not work correctly. However these are minor points.

Many XML books are quite esoteric and concentrate on the detail. This book takes an alternative approach of giving the reader details of the most relevant XML objects, properties and methods. In essence the reader gets a kick-start into the practical world of XML.

You may need to read the book twice (or at least the code-related chapters 4 and 6) to get the most from it.

The book contains several important snippets of information sources (e.g. Schema tools, generating a DTD from XML data), which could be quite rewarding.

The book tries to be comprehensive and detailed (e.g. by giving a n-tier application) but it probably fails in this since it also brief. Additionally only very brief details of schemas and BizTalk are given.

Overall an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: poor reference
Review: This really is a poor reference and tutorial. But...
I haven't found anything better.

Rating:
Summary: poor reference
Review: This really is a poor reference and tutorial. But...
I haven't found anything better.