Professional XML for .Net Developers

by Kevin Williams, Dinar Dalvi, Darshan Singh

XML is now an established technology for the description and transportation of data, and has made a major impact on almost every aspect of software development. When Microsoft introduced the .NET... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1861005318
• ISBN13: 9781861005311
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Wrox Press
• Length: 738 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 7.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Solid introduction to XML in .NET

The text covers a lot of ground in 700+ pages. Starting with an introduction to the .NET Framework, it moves through the requisite areas of reading & writing XML, navigating the DOM, transforming, validating and serializing XML, and then on to XML-centric introductions to ADO.NET, ASP.NET, SOAP and Web Services. Two case studies are thrown in as well.Instead of just listing features, it goes the extra, more important step of actually explaining why features are important or useful and how they can be of practical benefit. For example, in Chapter 3: "The main difference between the XmlNodeReader and XmlTextReader is in the constructor - XmlNodeReader allows access to the contents of XML nodes obtained in some other way, such as part of an XPath resolution or an XmlDocument parse. For example, we can select XML document fragments using XPath document manipulation methods, then iterate through the fragments to extract their content using XmlNodeReader objects. By using a combination of these technologies, we can simplify our code while keeping memory consumption to a minimum."On the down side, the quality varies from chapter to chapter, as can be expected from a book with multiple authors. For the most part, both VB.NET and C# examples are included, though occasionally, and for no apparent reason, only one or the other is shown (examples of both are included in the downloads available on the Wrox site).Like many of the Wrox Professional books, it tells you more than you might need or care to know at the given moment, but because of that breadth and depth of content, it serves as an excellent reference. "Professional XML for .NET Developers" was published while the .NET Framework was still in Beta 2, so there are some anomalies that show up. Wrox has updated code samples and errata available for download on their site.Chapter 1 has the requisite, though satisfying, introduction to the .NET Framework. There's an enlightening discussion of the Common Language Specification (CLS) and the Common Type System and how, in practical terms, they contribute to cross language interoperability.Chapter 2, among other things, has a lucid and very helpful explanation of the various config files and their relationship to each other.Chapter 3 contains a thorough explanation of the objects that allow forward-only reading and writing of XML, a discussion of lesser known objects such as the Stack and NameTable objects, as well as a more complicated example at the end of the chapter that brings it all together.Chapter 7 gives a quick intro to serialization, how to do it and why it's useful, then covers dealing with unexpected XML content via three of the Serializer object's specific events. Also goes into serializing complex objects, composite objects as well as fine-tuning serialization using .NET Framework attributes. There was an enlightening and useful explanation of the XSD Generator Tool which allows you to generate an XSD schema from a class and vice v

Know XML and a .NET programming language before reading

The overall quality of the book is great. It has many so-called "real world" code samples to help you practice as you read. I don't know if I would call them "real world" but they are good enough to help you learn. The book is very well organized and covers many topics from reading and writing XML files to showing you some ADO.NET and ASP.NET. It also has a small portion on web services and SOAP.The only problem I had with the book was that the code samples were not consistent. There are many samples that have both a C# and VB version but some have only one. For example, a Case Study they have which is a DVD Rental System is written only in VB.NET. For a C# programmer, that means you have to re-write the code for C# yourself just to run the sample. This does not take so long but you should not have to do all that.Personally, I think they should have made the book shorter by only using one language, C# of course as this is the language of choice for the .NET framework. But I guess they had to make the book for everyone.I strongly recommend that you know XML and a .NET programming language before picking up this book, otherwise, you will be completely lost. ---Reviewed by Elmer Morales

Lives up to the Wrox Name

I helped in the review of this title and can honestly say this title had a lot of thought put into creating a book that can actually be used in the real world. XML is very popular now and being used all over. .Net has just been released by MS. This book will show you how to put the two togethor to create real world efficient applications. The reader is assumed to have knowledge of .Net and XML, this is not a intro level book. The book shows how to combine .Net with XML and then reinforces it with several case studies of full applications using the techniques learned throughout the book. This one is a keeper for my book rack.

Lives up to its title

A professional quality book. Excellent coverage of all aspects of using XML in .NET. It dosn't waste any space on introductory material, and assumes you already know how to work with .NET, C# or VB.NET, and XML. Most examples are given in both C# and VB.NET. Works for me, although I would prefer just C# listings.

Just what you need to learn XML and .NET

Very interesting title and content. This book is very helpful to learn XML .NET features.