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Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Upgrader's Guide: C# Edition, $39.50
by Doug Lowe and Joel Murach
Murach, 2005
526 pages
Examples in C#
ISBN 1-890774-35-9
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890774359/larkware-20
Are you working in C# on ASP.NET applications? Has it come to your attention that it's about time to start thinking about ASP.NET 2.0, and you've just realized what a huge heap of software there actually is in Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0? If you're reasonably experienced with ASP.NET 1.1, and want a hands-on look at the new bits and how to use them, this book can help you work through the issues much more quickly than anything you'll find in the product itself. Microsoft ships good products, but they're not focused on providing tutorials for upgraders. This guide slips neatly into that gap.
Like all of the Murach books, this one has a layout that strikes me as well-suited for learning and reference. The pages are larger than usual, and paired with the left-hand ones introducing topics and the right-hand ones showing corresponding figures, source code (of which there is plenty - and it's downloadable), and reference information. The topics are focused, for the most part, on practical things: "How forms-based authentication works," for example, or "How to change the data source mode." Everything is illustrated in the context of reasonably realistic applications (a shopping cart motif carries throughout, which has the benefit of being very familiar even though it isn't especially exciting) rather than as isolated examples.
The book starts with a broad overview of the new features, and then drills successively into master pages, data access (including chapters on the GridView, DetailsView, and FormView controls), site navigation, login controls, profiles, themes, web parts, and other new controls. There are also discussions of migration, configuration, and deployment issues, as well as a few other odds and ends. The book is based on beta 2 of the product, with notes on some of the more substantial beta 2 bugs (and their workarounds) and a promise of online updates to reflect changes in the shipping version of the product.
Mike Gunderloy is the lead developer for Larkware and author of numerous books and articles on programming topics.
Published August 24, 2005