Product Description

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 Framework, they took advantage of XML wherever they could. No other technology is so tightly bound with .NET as XML, both at the developer level and underlying the whole framework.

This book aims to give the reader enough information to be able to use XML from within the .NET Framework in the most efficient manner possible. It will explain in detail the usage of all the XML-related .NET Framework library classes for the manipulation, validation, transformation, and serialization of XML data, using both C# and Visual Basic .NET. It also looks at how the developer can utilize the full power of XML within the .NET Framework, for example, with the new XML capabilities of ADO.NET and ASP.NET. As is demonstrated, the .NET Framework itself uses XML, in configuration files, meta data, and C#'s XML code documentation mechanism, for example.

This book is aimed at intermediate-level programmers who have started on their journey towards .NET development, and who want to see how to use XML within their applications to its best advantage. Basic knowledge of C# or Visual Basic .NET, XML, and XML related technologies (XSLT, XPath, and XML Schemas) is necessary.

This book covers:

Reading and writing XML
DOM navigation and XSL transformations of XML
Validating and serializing XML
MSXML vs System.Xml
ADO.NET and ASP.NET XML support
Web Services and SOAP
Remoting
XML code documentation

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1846856 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 738 pages

From the Publisher
This book is aimed at intermediate or experienced programmers who have started on their journey towards .NET development, and who want to see how to use XML within their applications to its best advantage. Basic knowledge of XML and related technology (XSLT, XPath, and XML Schemas) is assumed.

About the Author
Dinar Dalvi works as a Senior Software Engineer in the Bay Area, and is responsible for prototyping and developing scalable Internet/Client Server applications using Microsoft Technologies. About a year and a half ago he was introduced to the .NET Framework, and has been hanging around .NET ever since.

Darshan Singh is a Senior Developer at InstallShield Software Corporation. He has more than five years of experience as a software developer, and during this period, he has worked for Microsoft, Talisma, Persistent Systems Pvt. Ltd. (Pune, India), and Spectrum (India), with major focus on databases and component technologies.

Kevin Williams is a Senior System Architect for Equient, an information management. His career has been focused on Windows development - first client-server, then onto Internet work. He's done everything, but these days he's focusing on XML work. He may be reached for comment at kevin@realworldxml.com.

Andy Olsen is a freelance consultant engaged in training, consultancy, and development work in Microsoft .NET and related technologies. He studied Physics and began his professional life as a C developer. He migrated into C++, Java, and OO Analysis and Design using UML. Andy has been using Microsoft development tools and technologies since 1987.

J. Michael Palermo IV is currently a consultant for Cunningham Consulting - a Microsoft GOLD Certified Partner. His passions for technology are XML, SQL Server, and "everything .NET." He is an MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, and MCSD.

Bipin Joshi is a software developer having skills in Microsoft technologies. Currently he works on .NET technologies with Mastek Ltd. He runs his personal web site at bipinjoshi.com that provides articles, tutorials and source code on variety of .NET topics. He can be reached via his web site - bipinjoshi.com.

John Slater is a project manager at Management Reports International in Cleveland, OH. At MRI he is currently developing applications for the property management industry. He is currently working on several projects using .NET development tools and .NET Enterprise servers. He can be reached at jr_slater@hotmail.com.

Joe Gray is currently a consultant for Cunningham Consulting, specializing in web-based solutions. Current projects include working on web-based applications written in ASP .NET and C#. He is an MCSE, MCDBA, MCSD, and CCA and has also taught SQL Server, Visual Basic, and XML at a local technical training centre.

Fredrik Normén works as a software developer for Density, a Swedish company specializing in Microsoft software solutions. Fredrik is one of a team that developed the architecture for this platform and during this time also held .NET seminars for the rest of the company. He is a Microsoft certified solution developer and currently uses Visual Basic and C#.

Customer Reviews

Totally out of date - it's based on Beta 2!
This book was published in Dec 01 which means it was written using .NET Beta 2. It is now completely out of date and many of the examples just don't work. To be fair, there is an "Update" document available for download from Wrox but wht not just buy an up to date book in the first place. My recommendation is "Applied XML Programming for Microsoft .NET" by Dino Esposito, # 0735618011.

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 versa.

Chapter 9 contains a curious departure/case study extending the XmlReader and XmlWriter to communicate with Word and Visio as target applications.

Chapter 10 packs a respectable, XML-centric introduction to ADO.NET into 50 pages, focusing largely on datasets and how they interact with schemas.

Chapter 11 gives a quick intro to ASP.NET, some of the basic Web Controls, and a discussion of the web.config file's most important sections.

Chapter 13 has a brief, very basic description of Web Services, SOAP and UDDI. I'd highly recommend "Professional ASP.NET Web Services" for a thorough, in-depth treatment on the subject.

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.