Book Description

This Wrox Blox is a value-packed resource to help experienced .NET developers learn the new .NET release. It is excerpted from the Wrox books: Professional C# 4 and .NET 4, Professional ASP.NET 4, and WPF Programmer’s Reference by Christian Nagel, Bill Evjen, Scott Hanselman, and Rod Stephens, and includes more than 100 print book pages drawn from these three key titles. It is an excellent resource to help .NET developers get up to speed fast on .NET 4, C# 4.0, ASP.NET 4, and WPF, providing all the information needed to program with the important new features, including: C# Dynamic Types and Parallel Tasks; ASP.NET Ajax, Chart Controls, MVC, and Object Caching; and key WPF principles as developers move from WinForms to WPF. In addition, it provides examples built with the native Visual Studio 2010 tools that developers are comfortable with.

Table of Contents
Part I. Professional C# 4 and .NET 4

• Covariance and Contra-variance
• Tuples
• The Dynamic Type
• Code Contracts
• Tasks
• Parallel Class
• Cancellation Framework Download Now »

Book Description

Professional Visual Studio 2008

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is the latest version in the ongoing evolution of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE), and this resource examines the diverse facets of the IDE—from common tasks to intricate functions to the powerful tools that accompany the main code editing and design windows. Written by a unique author duo and offering an in-depth look at the powerful and fascinating features and techniques of the IDE, this book explores each aspect of the development life cycle from the perspective of how Visual Studio 2008 can make your life easier.

Each chapter is packed with examples that illustrate uses for various tools, commands, and shortcuts of Visual Studio 2008. You will gradually learn to identify where a feature is used, conclude how you can use it to its fullest potential, and then seamlessly apply that feature to help solve real-world problems.

What you will learn from this book

• How to create project templates and wizards
• Methods for using IntelliSense, code refactoring, class modeling, and unit testing
• Tips for using DataSets, LINQ, and Synchronization Services for working with data
• How to build web applications using ASP.NET AJAX, Silverlight, and ASP.NET MVC
• Ideas for building Office and Mobile applications, WPF, WCF, and WF projects
• Ways to effectively analyze and identify bugs using the advanced debugging features
• How to automate repetitive tasks using the Visual Studio 2008 add-ins and macros Download Now »

Book Description

In the Fifth Edition, Advanced Visual Basic 2010 helps those who are familiar with the fundamentals of Visual Basic 2010 programming harness its power for more advanced uses. Coverage of sophisticated tools and techniques used in the industry today include various database, ASP.NET, LINQ, WPF and Web Services topics. After studying the book and completing the programming exercises, students should be able to create small- to medium-sized Windows and Web applications that use databases. They will also gain essential concepts in object-oriented programming, event-driven programming, and test-driven development. Each subject is presented in an understandable style that makes this book a leader in the field.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Classes
Chapter 2. Input Validation and User Interfaces
Chapter 3. Collections
Chapter 4. Using SQL Server Databases
Chapter 5. ADO.NET Database Objects
Chapter 6. Advanced Classes
Chapter 7. LINQ to SQL
Chapter 8. Creating Web Applications
Chapter 9. Programming Web Forms Download Now »

Book Description

Your expert guide to designing and building dynamic user interfaces

Sharpen your application design and development skills using XAML—the declarative markup language used in Microsoft® Silverlight®, Windows® Presentation Foundation (WPF), and the Windows 8 Runtime APIs. Led by two XAML experts, you’ll learn practical ways to build rich, interactive user interfaces with data integration capabilities and support for multimedia, graphics, and animation. This hands-on guide is ideal for Microsoft .NET developers and web designers alike.

Discover how to:

• Control UI behavior and implement business logic with code-behind solutions
• Manage UI element positioning with the XAML layout system
• Use templates to customize UI elements—without affecting their functionality
• Apply different types of property and event systems in WPF and Silverlight
• Bind various kinds of data to your UI, and display them in the format you want
• Implement 2D and 3D vector graphics and animations
• Reuse control styles and properties to maintain consistency throughout your application

Table of Contents
Part I: XAML Basics
Chapter 1. Introducing XAML
Chapter 2. Object Elements and Attributes Download Now »

Book Description

Pro Reactive Extensions and LINQ is a deep dive into the next important technology for .NET developers: Reactive Extensions. This in-depth tutorial goes beyond what is available anywhere else to teach how to write WPF, Silverlight, and Windows Phone applications using the Reactive Extensions (Rx) to handle events and asynchronous method calls.

Reactive programming allows you to turn those aspects of your code that are currently imperative into something much more event-driven and flexible. For this reason, it’s sometimes referred to as LINQ for Events.

Reactive programming hinges on the concept of the observable collection, as opposed to the simple enumerable collection with which we’re all familiar. For example, to extract data from a collection and add it to a list box, you would traditionally iterate through the list box, extracting each object in turn. This approach works fine, but it requires significant knowledge about the data you’re working with, which can be limiting. In Rx programming, you’re instead informed about each object in turn and then free to react to each notification however you like, which affords much greater flexibility.

This book shows you how reactive programming can be applied to a range of situations—from WPF applications to Windows Phone apps—to improve coding efficiency and boost performance.

What you’ll learn

• How to create, debug and manage reactive extensions in many situations Download Now »

Book Description

Ready to learn programming? Start Here!™

Learn the fundamentals of modern programming with Visual C# 2010—and begin building your first apps for the desktop and web. If you have absolutely no previous experience, no problem—simply start here! This book introduces must-know concepts and techniques through easy-to-follow explanations, examples, and exercises.

Here’s where you start learning Visual C#

• Learn how an application performs tasks by tracing its code
• Query and manipulate application data with LINQ
• Access web services with REST and SOAP
• Build simple apps with Windows® Presentation Foundation
• Explore rich Internet apps with Microsoft Silverlight®
• Find and fix errors by debugging your applications
• Put it all together by creating your first programs

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Getting to Know C#
Chapter 2 Developing a Web Project
Chapter 3 Basic Data Manipulation Techniques
Chapter 4 Using Collections to Store Data
Chapter 5 Working with XML
Chapter 6 Accessing a Web Service Download Now »