[close] Written for any Web developer making the move to the latest Microsoft .NET Web development technologies, Professional ASP.NET provides both a tutorial to APIs and a real guide to the best practices for this new platform. Ideal for those with a little previous ASP experience, this book strikes just the right balance between theory and practice to show what works with the new .NET.

Although this is quite a big volume (over 1,300 pages), it is never a dense one. Written by a team of authors, it still manages to keep a fairly consistent tone and approach to programming with the new ASP.NET. The book first covers what's new and improved in .NET and why ASP.NET offers a better way to develop Web applications.

Throughout this text, short code excerpts are used to illustrate key programming principles, from the basics of building dynamic Web pages using "code behind" functions and (eventually) business objects. There's excellent coverage on the many choices for server-side components from HTML Controls to Web Forms, to wireless support and even building your own custom server components. (Most of the coding examples rely on the new Visual Basic.NET, but there is also help on using C# and JScript.NET.) Besides APIs and sample code, the authors give numerous concrete tips. For instance, for programming ADO.NET databases and XML, they cover a wide range of choices and provide recommendations for selecting the right objects for better performance.

The book also covers the emerging world of Web services on .NET in good detail with a high-level view of what Web services are, plus practical examples of how to implement them. Importantly, you'll learn how to build business objects, a must for scalable Web applications. (These techniques come together at the end with a case study for an online store that sells outdoor gear.) There's also coverage of basic .NET classes for common programming tasks, like working with strings, collections, and files.

Though .NET is still under construction, Professional ASP.NET offers a real benefit in showing readers the right ways to use new features and APIs. Besides presenting a really understandable tutorial to the basics of ASP.NET, their expert-level insight into what works best on the new platform should pay off with faster and more scalable Web applications on .NET. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: <ul><li>Introduction to ASP.NET and the Microsoft .NET platform <li>ASP and ASP.NET compared (including benefits and design goals of ASP.NET) <li>.NET vs. the Windows Distributed interNet Architecture (DNA) <li>The Common Language Runtime (CLR) explained <li>Basic introduction to ASP.NET development languages (Visual Basic.NET, C#, JScript.NET, and C++ compared) <li>Performance issues <li>Declaring variables, functions, and procedures <li>The ASP.NET Page class <li>Using "code behind" scripts and page caching <li>Custom controls <li>Tutorial for the ASP.NET HTML Server controls <li>Using input validation controls <li>Tutorial for the ASP.NET Web Form controls <li>Data binding controls explained <li>Using styles and templates <li>Editing data with bound controls <li>ADO.NET database APIs and programming techniques (using the DataReader and DataSet objects) <li>ADO.NET and XML support <li>XML basics (including the XML DOM and navigating, writing, and reading XML) <li>Relational database programming techniques (complex and nested data, calling stored procedures) <li>The DataTable object <li>Sorting and filtering data <li>Updating data (the Command object, transactions, DataSet, and managing concurrency) <li>XML data techniques in .NET (XML and DataSet objects, XML, and SQL Server) <li>Validating, creating, and editing XML documents <li>Quick tutorial on XSL and XSLT <li>Administering Web applications (including global.asax, state management, and application events) <li>Configuring ASP.NET (including common configuration settings, plus tracing, custom errors, authentication, and authorization) <li>In-depth tutorial on security <li>Tutorial for working with basic .NET classes (including collections, lists, directories, and files) <li>Creating custom .NET business objects (including cross-language inheritance) <li>Building custom ASP.NET Server controls (plus composite controls) <li>Introduction to Web services (creating and using a simple Web service, SOAP and XML standards, and .NET Web service class support) <li>Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) and the Web Service Description Language (WSDL) described <li>Web service security issues <li>ASP.NET support for wireless with mobile controls <li>Debugging, tracing, and error-handling techniques <li>Migration and interoperability issues for older code and COM used with ASP.NET <li>Case study for a sample online e-commerce store using .NET business objects <li>Quick reference to the .NET common system namespaces <li>Performance hints for ASP.NET</ul> [close]