Product Description

XML web services are the hottest new thing in distributed computing. They allow complex data to be sent over a network or over the Internet using the standard HTTP protocol. The SOAP standard, on which XML web services are based, allows method calls to be made and data returned over the network. The idea is simple, but the effect is revolutionary - data can be exposed in a standard format that any client, on any platform, can recognize. Because SOAP is based on XML (a text format), literally any machine that can host a web server can also host web services. And any machine that can access the network or the Internet can consume those services.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of Microsoft's new .NET platform is the ease with which web services and web service clients can be built. Anyone who wants to take full advantage of this platform needs to understand and be able to build web services. "Beginning Web Services with Visual Basic .NET" provides an easy-to-follow but comprehensive tutorial guide to web services in the .NET Framework. The emphasis is placed squarely on code that you can reuse in your own services, not on "Hello world" examples.

The book covers:

Web service basic concepts - what web services are, when to use them, and how they can revolutionize your applications

Web service protocols - XML, SOAP, and WSDL

Building web services and web service clients using the .NET Framework

Exposing data through web services

Building real-world web services

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1309633 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Book Info
Fills a market need for alternative Windows development coverage, and provides a faster paced more tutorial style treatment for people who have prior experience with .NET and C# and don't need a reiteration of what they already know. Softcover.

From the Publisher
This book is designed for programmers who are competent in the VB.NET language, but still finding their feet in the wider .NET Framework, taking the reader from the very basics right to the complexities of deploying web services in the real world. We demonstrate the time-saving features provided by Visual Studio .NET, but we also show how to build all examples from the command line, so you don't need expensive software to make the most of this book.

Customer Reviews

Excellent book for GUI programming using C#
This is a excellent book for GUI programing with C#

This is a very poor excuse for a professional book
This book lacks the depth that one would expect from the "Professional" series. Up to this point, I have found the Professional series of books to be quite a resource, as they usually provide information that you otherwise would not find through a cursory glance at the online documentation that Microsoft provides. I am a professional and I expect a professional level treatment of programming from this series. This book is a disappointment in this respect.

For example, there is a chapter covering the Windows common controls. The text merely describes the process for dropping each control on a form in the designer and setting a few properties, most of them obvious properties. For the complex controls, for example ListView and TreeView, very little information is provided. TreeView has about 2 pages of text if you drop out the two screen shots and more than 1/4 of that is an extremely simple code example. The ListView control has maybe 2 pages of text and a little less than 1/2 of that is code. By way of contrast, an excellent book called "Professional MFC with Visual C++ 6", although outdated as it does not cover Visual Studio .NET, had nearly 20 pages on the ListView control and 9 pages on the TreeView control, and was an invaluable resource on all aspects of Visual C++, including GUI programming.

As another example of the many omissions in Pro. Windows GUI Programming, there is no practical discussion about how forms and dialogs should be used. What events should be handled to load data and extract data from the form? When should you call Dispose on a modal dialog? Microsoft documentation says you should always call Dispose when the dialog will no longer be used. This so-called Professional book says nothing.

There are plenty of other examples of information not provided. About the worst thing I could say about this book is that its worse than the Microsoft documentation. I find myself constantly not finding what I am looking for in the book and resorting to a search of the MSDN documentation. In contrast, when using the Visual C++ 6.0 book that I was so enamoured with, I often found myself doing the opposite: searching in vain in the Microsoft documentation, only to find the topic discussed in sufficient detail in the book.

...

Great Introduction to Wondows Forms
If you've learned C# and you're ready to jump into Windows Forms, this is a great place start.

You start off by receiving an introduction to almost all of the Common Windows Controls. An in-depth look at how Databinding works and how you can implement databinding into your own controls. A pretty good introduction to GDI+ and drawing methods, which can be followed up with the book "GDI+ Programming: Creating Custom Controls Using C#" if you want to go into more detail.

The next chapter on Printing was a highlight for me. With little previous printing experience, it was a very helpful section. A nice relief too, to see that printing really is just drawing to printer instead of the screen. If you have GDI+ down, printing should be no problem.

Then the book moves on with a nice chapter on Custom Controls. A lot of great sample code in there to help illustrate what they are saying. Design Time support is highlighted upon too, to allow for reusable controls by other programmers.

Finishing up with two chapters on optimizing and deploying your Windows Applications. Good tips and knowledge that you wouldn't want to take the time to figure out your self.

Definitely one to own to get started with Windows Forms.