Book Description

Silverlight 4 is the latest iteration of Microsoft’s cross-browser technology for creating rich user experiences on the Web. Like its predecessor Silverlight 3, it rides atop the .NET Framework for maximum ease of use and coding efficiency. The new technology carries forward much of the work that has been done before and augments it in many important respects, including support for H.264 video, major improvements to the graphics engine (including true 3D rendering), and much richer data-binding options for interfacing with other applications.

Pro Silverlight 4 in C# is an invaluable reference for professional developers wanting to discover the new features of Silverlight 4. Author Matthew MacDonald’s expert advice guides you through creating rich media applications using Silverlight in the environment you’re most productive in—no matter what the target platform.

As you learn about the features that put Silverlight in direct competition with Adobe Flash, such as rich support for 2D and 3D drawing, animations, and media playback, you’ll experience the plumbing of .NET and the design model of WPF through Silverlight—all of the same .NET technology that developers use to design next-generation Windows applications. Matthew MacDonald provides a comprehensive tutorial written from professional developer to professional developer, complete with full-color graphics and screenshots. Download Now »

Book Description

Be the first to understand .NET 4.0 and Visual Basic 2010. Pro VB 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform provides developers with a complete guide to the new technology, explaining the importance of all the key C# 2010 language features. This new edition has been comprehensively revised and rewritten to make it accurately reflect the VB 10 language specification for the .NET 4.0 platform. You’ll find new chapters covering the important concepts of dynamic lookups, named and optional arguments, Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), improved COM interop, and variance for generics.

The first edition of this book was released at the 2001 Tech-Ed conference in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, the .NET platform was still a beta product, and in many ways, so was this book. This is not to say that the early editions of this text did not have merit—after all, the book was a 2002 Jolt Award finalist and it won the 2003 Referenceware Excellence Award. However, over the years that author Andrew Troelsen spent working with the common language runtime (CLR), he gained a much deeper understanding of the .NET platform and the subtleties of the VB programming language, and he feels that this sixth edition of the book is as close to a “final release” as he’s come yet!

If you’re checking out this book for the first time, do understand that it’s targeted at experienced software professionals and/or graduate students of computer science (so don’t expect three chapters on iteration or decision constructs!). The mission of this text is to provide you with a rock-solid foundation in the C# programming language and the core aspects of the .NET platform (assemblies, remoting, Windows Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML web services, etc.). Once you digest the information presented in these 25 chapters, you’ll be in a perfect position to apply this knowledge to your specific programming assignments and explore the .NET universe on your own terms. Download Now »

Book Description

There are over 1.7 billion internet users today. What are you doing to manage your web presence and reach your potential audience? A successful website guarantees serious business benefits and substantial cost savings for your company. Kentico CMS provides a flexible, all-in-one solution for web developers to create sites that ensure increase in brand loyalty, customer support savings and better brand management. However, making full use of Kentico CMS for attracting potential audience requires some guidance.

This practical guide gives you a head start using Kentico CMS to create professional and engaging web sites. It helps you get started quickly and covers how to build dynamic, scalable, and feature-rich websites that will keep your site visitors engaged and coming back. It moves beyond the basics to take advantage of the most powerful features to create highly interactive websites. Practical examples and tutorials show how to leverage the thirty-four different modules to create everything from a basic website to the most advanced and interactive e-commerce and social media sites. The focus is on clear instructions and easy-to-understand tutorials. This book is for you if you want to get the most out of any Kentico CMS installation!

By the end of this book, you will have learned how to build a dynamic, discoverable, and scalable website.

A clear, hands-on guide to build websites that get the most out of Kentico CMS 5′s many powerful features Download Now »

Book Description

Every day, architects and developers are asked to solve specific business problems in the most efficient way possible using a broad range of technologies. Packed with real-world examples of how to use the latest Microsoft technologies, this book tackles over a dozen specific use case patterns and provides an applied implementation with supporting code downloads for every chapter.

In this book, we guide you through thirteen architectural patterns and provide detailed code samples for the following technologies: Windows Server AppFabric, Windows Azure Platform AppFabric, SQL Server (including Integration Services, Service Broker, and StreamInsight), BizTalk Server, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). This book brings together – and simplifies – the information and methodology you need to make the right architectural decisions and use a broad range of the Microsoft platform to meet your requirements. Throughout the book, we will follow a consistent architectural decision framework which considers key business, organizational, and technology factors.

The book is broken up into four sections. First, we define the techniques and methodologies used to make architectural decisions throughout the book. In Part I, we provide a set of primers designed to get you up to speed with each of the technologies demonstrated in the book. Part II looks at messaging patterns and includes use cases which highlight content-based routing, workflow, publish/subscribe, and distributed messaging. Part III digs into data processing patterns and looks at bulk data processing, complex events, multi-master synchronization, and more. Finally, Part IV covers performance-related patterns including low latency, failover to the cloud, and reference data caching. Download Now »

Book Description

Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0 (WF) is a significant part of .NET Framework 4.0. WF makes workflow technology available to every single programmer that uses the .NET Framework 4.0. It is easy to create long running and distributed programs using WF with the right knowledge. With this book, you will discover that working with workflows is easy.

This book provides both step-by-step recipes and relevant background information. It covers all the important aspects of Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0. The best thing about this book is that all recipes are based on real-world experiences of Andrew Zhu. Andrew is a global WF and BizTalk technology support engineer for Microsoft. This book covers everything you need to know, when working with workflows. Get to grips with flow control activities, messaging, and transaction processes with easy to understand steps followed by explanations. You will quickly learn to use collection and custom WF activities and WF services.

You will see recipes that illustrate integration of Windows Workflow with other applications such as WPF, ASP.NET, WCF service, SharePoint 2010, and Silverlight. Lastly, you will discover how easily you can customize W4 Designer with WF rule engine and others.

A fast-paced handbook with all that you wanted to know about working with workflows Download Now »

Book Description

This unique book takes good ASP.NET application construction one step further by emphasizing loosely coupled and highly cohesive ASP.NET web application architectural design. Each chapter
addresses a layer in an enterprise ASP.NET application and shows how proven patterns, principles, and best practices can be leveraged to solve problems and improve the design of your code. In addition, a professional-level, end-to-end case study is used to show how to use best practice design patterns and principles in a real website.

Professional ASP.NET Design Patterns:

• Demonstrates how to use the Gang of Four design patterns to improve your ASP.NET code
• Shows how Fowler’s Enterprise patterns and the S.O.L.I.D. design principles fit into an enterprise-level ASP.NET site
• Provides details on how to layer an ASP.NET application and separate your concerns and responsibilities
• Details AJAX patterns using JQuery and Json, and messaging patterns with WCF
• Shares best practice tools for ASP.NET such as AutoMapper, NHibernate, StructureMap, Entity Framework, and Castle MonoRail
• Uncovers tips for separating a site’s UX and presentation layer using MVC, MVP and the Front Controller patterns Download Now »