Book Description

Entity Framework 4 in Action is an example-rich tutorial for .NET developers with full coverage of EF 4 features. The book begins with a review of the core ideas behind the ORM model and shows through detailed examples and larger case studies how Entity Framework offers a smooth transition from a traditional ADO.NET approach.

Entity Framework builds on the ADO.NET persistence model and the language features of LINQ to create a powerful persistence mechanism that bridges the gap between relational databases and object-oriented languages.

Entity Framework 4 in Action is an example-rich tutorial that helps .NET developers learn and master the subject. It begins by explaining object/relational mapping and then shows how you can easily transition to EF from ADO.NET. Through numerous focused examples and two larger case studies, the book unfolds the EF story in a clear, easy-to-follow style. Infrastructure and inner workings of EF are discussed when you need them to understand a particular feature.

Who Should Read It
This book is written for .NET developers. Knowledge of ADO.NET is helpful but not required.

What’s Inside

• Full coverage of EF 4 features
• Layer separation, Data Layer, and Domain Model Download Now »

Book Description

If you want to build applications that take full advantage of Windows Vista’s new user interface capabilities, you need to learn Microsoft’s Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). This new edition, fully updated for the official release of .NET 3.0, is designed to get you up to speed on this technology quickly. By page 2, you’ll be writing a simple WPF application. By the end of Chapter 1, you’ll have taken a complete tour of WPF and its major elements.

WPF is the new presentation framework for Windows Vista that also works with Windows XP. It’s a cornucopia of new technologies, which includes a new graphics engine that supports 3-D graphics, animation, and more; an XML-based markup language, called XAML, for declaring the structure of your Windows UI; and a radical new model for controls.

This second edition includes new chapters on printing, XPS, 3-D, navigation, text and documents, along with a new appendix that covers Microsoft’s new WPF/E platform for delivering richer UI through standard web browsers — much like Adobe Flash. Content from the first edition has been significantly expanded and modified. Programming WPF includes:

• Scores of C# and XAML examples that show you what it takes to get a WPF application up and running, from a simple “Hello, Avalon” program to a tic-tac-toe game
• Insightful discussions of the powerful new programming styles that WPF brings to Windows development, especially its new model for controls Download Now »

Book Description

EXAM PREP GUIDE Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCTS Exam 70-516—and on the job—with this official Microsoft study guide. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce and apply what you’ve learned through real-world case scenarios and practice exercises.

Maximize your performance on the exam by mastering the skills and experience measured by these objectives:

• Modeling data
• Managing connections and context
• Querying data
• Manipulating data
• Developing and deploying reliable applications

PRACTICE TESTS Assess your skills with the practice tests on CD. You can work through hundreds of questions using multiple testing modes to meet your specific learning needs. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers—including a customized learning path that describes how and where to focus your studies.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 ADO.NET Disconnected Classes
Lesson 1: Working with the DataTable and DataSet Classes
Lesson 2: Serialization, Specialized Types, and Data Binding Download Now »

Book Description

With the incarnations of ASP.NET 3.5 and SQL Server 2008, programming dynamic data–driven web sites with Microsoft technologies has become easier and much more efficient than ever before. Fewer mouse clicks and fewer lines of code can now enable more powerful features and the tools you need—Visual Web Developer and SQL Server 2008 Express Edition—are free. In Beginning ASP.NET E-Commerce in C#: From Novice to Professional, you’ll learn how to best use the free development tools offered by Microsoft to build an online product catalog. You will gain an intimate understanding of every piece of code you write. This understanding will enable you to build your own powerful and flexible web sites efficiently and rapidly with ASP.NET 3.5.

• Build a complete site, including a shopping cart, checkout, product searching, product recommendations, control panel, customer accounts, order processing, and much, much more.
• Explore new challenges and theoretical concepts, which are carefully analyzed and explained throughout the book, with each feature you add to the web site.
• Learn to handle payments by integrating PayPal and DataCash into your site.

What you’ll learn

• Use Microsoft’s Express products to build an online product catalog
• Add payment processing with PayPal and DataCash
• Expand your site’s product listing through web services
• Implement an order pipeline Download Now »

Book Description

Applied WPF 4 in Context sets the standard for leveraging the latest Windows user interface technology in your business applications.

Using this book, you’ll learn how to implement world-class WPF solutions in a real-world line of business applications, developing the code from the ground up, and understand how to apply best development practices and related .NET products and technologies to your solution.  You will cover designing and developing the application, testing and debugging, data access, reporting, and applying styles and themes to enhance the look of the user interface, all using WPF in a very practical, eminently useful context. You’ll create asynchronous and parallel code, and learn how to distribute the application’s components using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). You’ll also apply the Model-View-ViewModel pattern, again in a real-world WPF application.

Elegant and functional WPF applications are easier to create than ever before with Applied WPF 4 in Context.

What you’ll learn

• Learn XAML (the Extensible Application Markup Language) through hands-on practice.
• See how to integrate Windows Forms, DirectX, ActiveX, or other non-WPF technologies into your WPF application.
• Discover how to integrate WPF with report writers such as Crystal Reports and SQL Server Reporting Services. Download Now »

Book Description

Beginning C# Object-Oriented Programming brings you into the modern world of development as you master the fundamentals of programming with C# and learn to develop efficient, reusable, elegant code through the object-oriented programming (OOP) methodology. Take your skills out of the 20th century and into this one with Dan Clark’s accessible, quick-paced guide to C# and object-oriented programming, completely updated for .NET 4.0 and C# 4.0.

As you develop techniques and best practices for coding in C#, one of the world’s most popular contemporary languages, you’ll experience modeling a “real world” application through a case study, allowing you to see how both C# and OOP (a methodology you can use with any number of languages) come together to make your code reusable, modern, and efficient.

With more than 30 fully hands-on activities, you’ll discover how to transform a simple model of an application into a fully-functional C# project, including designing the user interface, implementing the business logic, and integrating with a relational database for data storage. Along the way, you will explore the .NET Framework, the creation of a Windows-based user interface, a web-based user interface, and service-oriented programming, all using Microsoft’s industry-leading Visual Studio 2010, C#, Silverlight, the Entity Framework, and more.

What you’ll learn

• Learn to use the Universal Modeling Language (UML) to quickly design an application correctly from the first time Download Now »