ADO.NET Programming in Visual Basic .NET, Second Edition

Written for developers who need to get up to speed on ADO.NET, this book covers the ADO.NET object model from start to finish, from database tools to creating data objects, from creating Web Services to developing multi-tier database applications. It also covers everything from Windows Forms classes and data binding to creating ASP.NET web applications. More than a reference book, the authors combine personal experience and best practices with practical how-to knowledge. Unlike some other books, this book was written using the official release of Visual Studio.NET Professional, so all examples and code are fully up to date.

User review
Love Holzner but despise this book,,,,
I was looking for a more indepth look at ADO.NET to connect to databases. I thoroughly enjoyed Holzner's Sam's book (`Teach Yourself Visual Basic.NET in 21 Days`), but this book is awful. First off, it's bound up like a paperback novel, the screen shots barely legible at times. I had to break the binding to get it to cooperate while I worked through the examples.
The content was put together decent but in a strange order. You'd be right in the middle of putting something together and then the authors would cut away to another project. I also found some of the `tone` to be offensive, talking about `real programmers` and what-not. I highly suspect that to be the co-authors voice, Bob Howell, but there's no way to know for sure.
Don't waste your time on this book. Seriously, I'm not just being picky here. I've never thrown a book away before but I'm considering doing that, either that or donating it to my library.

User review
Fair to Mild
I found this book to be quite useful, however the subject matter was derived from an early edition of VB.Net and so found some things difficult to translate. The layout of the book is poor with new major topics starting at the bottom of the page, and the quality of the screenshots is very poor to be unreadable at times. I could not get the demo example to work - but this may be due to version conflicts.

User review
Great book
This book may be tough going if you are new to Visual Basic .NET but it's worth it weight in gold. You'll end up with a better understanding of connection strings, data providers, data adapters, datasets, dataviews, tables, writing and reading XML, and data binding.
Anyone can drag and drop tables onto a form. This book teaches you how to write everything in code in addition to using the drag and drop method.
I'm using the book as the textbook for the ADO.NET programming couse that I'm teaching. Very few mistakes and the sample code compiles without any problems.



User review
Well Written Book
I've gone through only three chapters in this book, but it's already my favorite ADO.NET book. The authors write in an understandable, lucid manner and they don't dumb down the material. They also don't waste time rehashing ADO, DAO, and other (now) legacy technologies. The book is about ADO.NET only and it is obviously written by authors who are truly knowledgable about the material and know how to communicate that knowledge. This is a five star book all the way.