Book Description

Microsoft Silverlight is a programmable web browser plugin that enables features including animation, vector graphics, and audio-video playback – features that characterize Rich Internet Applications. However, Silverlight is a great (and growing) Line-Of-Business platform and is increasingly being used to build data-driven business applications. Silverlight Data Services enable efficient access to your data, allowing you to draw on multiple sources of data and solve particular data problems. There is very little existing material that demonstrates how to build data-driven solutions with the platform. Silverlight 3 made a big step into Line-Of-Business data services and Silverlight 4 builds further upon this. This book will enable .NET developers to get their finger on the pulse of data-driven business applications in Silverlight.

This book is not a general Silverlight 3/4 overview book; it is uniquely aimed at developers who want to build data-driven applications. It focuses on showing .NET developers how to interact with, and handle multiple sources of data in Silverlight business applications, and how to solve particular data problems following a practical hands-on approach, using real-world recipes. It is a practical cookbook that teaches you how to build data-rich business applications with Silverlight that draw on multiple sources of data. Most of the covered features work both in Silverlight 3 and 4. However, we cover some that are specific for Silverlight 4, which will therefore not work with Silverlight 3. Where this is the case, it is clearly indicated. Download Now »

Book Description

The perfect resource for beginning XML programmers, this guidebook clearly shows you what XML is, how to use it, and what technologies surround it. The authors build on the strengths of previous editions while covering the latest changes in the XML landscape such as XQuery, RSS and Atom, and Ajax. The most recent specifications are presented along with best practices to follow when developing XML solutions.

The fourth edition will help you quickly progress from XML basics to more advanced programming techniques. You’ll delve into the state of the art for XML and databases, discover how to query XML information, retrieve data, and create new XML documents. In addition, you’ll learn how to publish information on the web, design dynamic interactive graphics, and make interactive forms. You’ll be able to apply this information to build robust applications in real-world situations.

What you will learn from this book

• Specific rules to follow for constructing XML
• How to create and use different XML vocabularies
• Steps for extracting information and converting it to HTML or other formats
• Strategies for storing and retrieving XML documents
• How to manipulate XML using DOM and SAX Download Now »

Book Description

Blogging can help you deepen customer loyalty, reach new customers, gain indispensable feedback, and drive more sales. This no-nonsense guide shows how to craft a business blog that does all that, and more–building your business and increasing your profits. Top e-marketers and business bloggers Eric Butow and Rebecca Bollwitt help you define clear goals, generate the right content with the right tools, attract visitors, build communities, and avoid costly mistakes. They draw on their own extensive experience, as well as the work of innovators from companies such as Intel, Wal-Mart, Google, HP, and BusinessWeek.

Whatever your role in the business, you’ll learn how to:
• Launch a blog that truly represents the best of your business
• Create a comprehensive, long-term blogging strategy
• Staff your blogging initiative
• Integrate blogs with other offline and online marketing programs
• Use your blog to drive customers and prospects to the business
• Push up-to-the-minute information to customers via RSS
• Build a thriving online community–and learn from what it tells you
• Manage comments (and decide whether to have them)
• Utilize podcasts, vlogs, microblogging, and other new techniques
• Gain business value from hot new Web 3.0 technologies, including widgets, mashups, personal agents, and the Semantic Web Download Now »

Book Description

Originally developed by Netscape in 1999, RSS (which can stand for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format that allows web developers to describe and syndicate web site content. Content Syndication with RSS offers webloggers, developers, and the programmers who support them a thorough explanation of syndication in general and RSS in particular. Written for web developers who want to offer XML-based feeds of their content, as well as developers who want to use the content that other people are syndicating, the book explores and explains metadata interpretation, different forms of content syndication, and the increasing use of web services in this field. Topics covered in the book include:

• Creating XML syndication feeds with RSS 0.9x and 2.0
• Beyond headlines: creating richer feeds with RSS 1.0 and RDF metadata
• Using feeds to enrich a site or find information
• Publish and subscribe: intelligent updating
• News aggregators, such as Meerkat, Syndic8, and Newsisfree, and their web services
• Alternative industry-centric standards

If you’re interested in producing your own RSS feed, this step-by-step guide to implementation is the book you’ll want in hand. Download Now »

Book Description

Whether you want to create your own RSS feeds or just would like to locate and add them to your Web site, this is the book for you. In the Secrets of RSS, author Steve Holzner provides real-world guidance and advice to introduce you everything you need to know about effectively implementing and using RSS:

• How to connect to RSS feed, handle them, and track down what you want
• The difference between RSS and blogs, and how nearly every major RSS reader works
• How to design an RSS feed, what you’ll find in RSS feeds, and formats and links
• Create your own first RSS feed from scratch:and subscribe to it
• Putting RSS to work in the real-world
• The free tools and software available to help you create RSS files
• Finding, subscribing to, and creating podcasts
• Spreading the word about your RSS feed
• RSS best practices
• And more! Download Now »

Book Description

There is no easier way to learn XML!

XML (Extensible Markup Language) is the language that enables efficient interchange of structured data across the Web. Written in non-technical language, this book covers the details of the language and demonstrates its use through real-world examples. The book also explains how to build an XML application from start to finish.

From the Back Cover
The fast and easy way to learn XML

Start programming in XML right away using this easy-to-follow guide. XML Demystified explains how to build XML web applications that work on any platform or browser. Step-by-step instructions with lots of examples help you learn quickly.

This one-of-a-kind self-teaching text offers:

• An easy way to understand XML
• A quiz at the end of each chapter
• A final exam at the end of the book
• No unnecessary technical jargon
• A time-saving approach

The book begins by introducing you to the building blocks of XML. Then, you’ll learn about XML documents, document type definitions (DTDs) Download Now »