Java & XML, 2nd Edition: Solutions to Real-World Problems by Brett McLaughlin

Product Description

While the XML "buzz" still dominates talk among Internet developers, the critical need is for information that cuts through the hype and lets Java programmers put XML to work. Java & XML shows how to use the APIs, tools, and tricks of XML to build real-world applications, with the end result that both the data and the code are portable. This second edition of Java & XML adds chapters on Advanced SAX and Advanced DOM, new chapters on SOAP and data binding, and new examples throughout. A concise chapter on XML basics introduces concepts, and the rest of the book focuses on using XML from your Java applications. Java developers who need to work with XML, or think that they will in the future--as well as developers involved in the new peer-to-peer movement, messaging, or web services--will find the new Java & XML a constant companion. This book covers:
The basics of XML, including DTDs, namespaces, XML Schema, XPath, and XSL
The SAX API, including all handlers, the SAX 2 extensions, filters, and writers
The DOM API, including DOM Level 2, Level 3, and the Traversal, Range, CSS, Events, and HTML modules.
The JDOM API, including the core, a look at XPath support, and JDOM as a JSR
Using web publishing frameworks like Apache Cocoon
Developing applications with XML-RPC
Using SOAP and UDDI for web services
Data Binding, using both DTDs and XML Schema for constraints
Building business-to-business applications with XML
Building information channels with RSS and dynamic content with XSP
Includes a quick reference on SAX 2.0, DOM Level 2, and JDOM.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #508925 in Books
Published on: 2001-09
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
550 pages
Editorial Reviews

Book Info
New second edition focuses entirely on using XML from Java applications. New chapters on Advanced SAX, Advanced DOM, SOAP and data binding, and new examples throughout. Softcover.

About the Author
Brett McLaughlin has been working in computers since the Logo days. (Remember the little triangle?) He currently specializes in building application infrastructure using Java and Java-related technologies. He has spent the last several years implementing these infrastructures at Nextel Communications and Allegiance Telecom, Inc. Brett is one of the co-founders of the Java Apache project Turbine, which builds a reusable component architecture for web application development using Java servlets. He is also a contributor of the EJBoss project, an open source EJB application server, and Cocoon, an open source XML web-publishing engine. He is author of the soon-to-be-released O'Reilly book, Building Java Enterprise Applications.
Customer Reviews

A book worth owning
The author covers some background, but mainly sticks to the business end of dealing with XML using java. The book is set out so you can read the parts that are relevant to getting a particular piece of technology working quickly.

Before reading this book I had never written an XML parser, but within a couple of days I was able to rework a parser to make it work both faster and with a smaller memory footprint by following the guidelines in this book. The details are not covered in great depth, but enough to get a job done, and make this a portabe reference.

Another book worth owning from the O'Reilly press.

Good but could be more.
Second editions are always great. However, I find that I dont like all of the API reference in the book. I would rather look at APIs electronically and talk concepts in the book.

Good introduction, a little diffuse
Compared with .NET and XML this book tends to wander and rat hole a little. The book covers the basics. The SAX and DOM approaches. It also covers XSLT and serving XML. It also covers advanced topics like Castor, JDOM, and web services. But most of the subjects are covered at a cursory level and do not serve as a complete introduction.

There is a small reference at the end of the book which is not as easy to read as the APIs described in the Nutshell style.

I gave this book four stars because, while it does lack focus, it is a good introduction to the XML APIs for Java. In the third release they should concentrate a little harder editing in some focus and a better reference section at the end.

Java and XML Data Binding by Brett McLaughlin

Product Description

More Java developers today want to work with XML, the technology that enables data to be transported intact over the Internet, but they don't have time to become XML experts. If this describes you, then you'll appreciate data binding, the new way of converting XML documents into Java objects, so those documents can be worked on and manipulated like any other Java object, then converted back to XML

This new title provides an in-depth technical look at XML Data Binding. The book offers complete documentation of all features in both the Sun Microsystems JAXB API and popular open source alternative implementations (Enhydra Zeus, Exolabs Castor and Quick). It also gets into significant detail about when data binding is appropriate to use, and provides numerous practical examples of using data binding in applications.

As Author Brett McLaughlin says "Too many books are written about technologies by people who barely understand them. I've already written two data binding implementations (Zeus, and a previous one for IBM DeveloperWorks.) I've actually used data binding for longer than the official specification has been in existence, and I've really been able to dig into what it takes to code an effective data biding implementation, as well as use one correctly. This book is part user guide, part under-the-hood manual, and part use-case. It's a powerful combination, and one I think people need."
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #763478 in Books
Published on: 2002-05
Format: Illustrated
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
214 pages
Editorial Reviews

Book Info
Provides an in-depth technical look at XML Data Binding. Offers complete documentation on all features in both the Sun Microsystems JAXB API and and popular open source alternative implementations. Provides numerous practical examples of using data binding in applications. Softcover.

About the Author
Brett McLaughlin has been working in computers since the Logo days. (Remember the little triangle?) He currently specializes in building application infrastructure using Java and Java-related technologies. He has spent the last several years implementing these infrastructures at Nextel Communications and Allegiance Telecom, Inc. Brett is one of the co-founders of the Java Apache project Turbine, which builds a reusable component architecture for web application development using Java servlets. He is also a contributor of the EJBoss project, an open source EJB application server, and Cocoon, an open source XML web-publishing engine. He is author of the soon-to-be-released O'Reilly book, Building Java Enterprise Applications.
Customer Reviews

Outdated, incorrect information. Stay away!
This book was written before the version 1.0 release of the JAXB data binding API's. As a result much of the information in this book is incorrect and not current. If you follow the instruction in this book you will NOT sucessfully perform XML binding to java objects. For example, the book uses DTD's as the XML description model used by JAXB. This is wrong DTD's were dropped in favor of XML schemas. The instructions for using the JAXB jar files are wrong. The required jars have changed since this book was printed. The instructions for using the generated java data binding classes is wrong, the usage has changed since this book was written. The author tried to get to far ahead of the technology curve on JAXB and as a result authored this book too early in the JAXB life cycle. The book is of minimal value.

Outdated, incorrect information. Stay away!
This book was written before the version 1.0 release of the JAXB data binding API's. As a result much of the information in this book is incorrect and not current. If you follow the instruction in this book you will NOT sucessfully perform XML binding to java objects. For example, the book uses DTD's as the XML description model used by JAXB. This is wrong DTD's were dropped in favor of XML schemas. The instructions for using the JAXB jar files are wrong. The required jars have changed since this book was printed. The instructions for using the generated java data binding classes is wrong, the usage has changed since this book was written. The author tried to get to far ahead of the technology curve on JAXB and as a result authored this book too early in the JAXB life cycle. The book is of minimal value.

Waste of money
This does not talk about JAXB at all. What it talks is about some non standardised APIs that existed before JAXB.
The brief mention of JAXB ( 4 pages ) is only philosphical. Even that is w.r.t. an obselete version with DTD support.
( Current JAXB only supports XML schema )

Advances In Uml And Xml-based Software Evolution

Product Description

Advances in UML and XML-Based Software Evolution reports recent advances in applications of two popularly used languages, UML and XML, in the field of software evolution. This book covers topics such as: visualizing legacy systems with UML, augmenting UML
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #2446773 in Books
Published on: 2005-07-07
Released on: 2005-07-07
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
362 pages
Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Hongji Yang is Professor, the Head of Division of System Design and the leader of the Software Evolution and Re-engineering Group (SERG), in School of Computing at De Montfort University, England. He received his BSc and MPhil degrees in Computer Science from Jilin University, China, and his PhD degree in Computer Science from Durham University, England. His research interests include software engineering and distributed computing. He served as a Programme Co-Chair at IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM '1999), a Programme Co-Chair at IEEE International Workshop on Future Trends in Distributed Computing Systems (FTDCS '2001) and the Program Chair at IEEE Computer Software and Application Conference (COMPSAC '2002).

Learning XML (2nd Edition) by Erik T. Ray

Product Description

This second edition of the bestselling "Learning XML" provides web developers with a concise but grounded understanding of XML (the Extensible Markup Language) and its potential-- not just a whirlwind tour of XML.

The author explains the important and relevant XML technologies and their capabilities clearly and succinctly with plenty of real-life projects and useful examples. He outlines the elements of markup--demystifying concepts such as attributes, entities, and namespaces--and provides enough depth and examples to get started. "Learning XML" is a reliable source for anyone who needs to know XML, but doesn't want to waste time wading through hundreds of web sites or 800 pages of bloated text.

For writers producing XML documents, this book clarifies files and the process of creating them with the appropriate structure and format. Designers will learn what parts of XML are most helpful to their team and will get started on creating Document Type Definitions. For programmers, the book makes syntax and structures clear. "Learning XML" also discusses the stylesheets needed for viewing documents in the next generation of browsers, databases, and other devices.

"Learning XML" illustrates the core XML concepts and language syntax, in addition to important related tools such as the CSS and XSL styling languages and the XLink and XPointer specifications for creating rich link structures. It includes information about three schema languages for validation: W3C Schema, Schematron, and RELAX-NG, which are gaining widespread support from people who need to validate documents but aren't satisfied with DTDs. Also new in this edition is a chapter on XSL-FO, a powerful formatting languagefor XML. If you need to wade through the acronym soup of XML and start to really use this powerful tool, "Learning XML," will give you the roadmap you need.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #6714873 in Books
Published on: 2003-09-01
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
600 pages
Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Although Learning XML covers XML rather broadly, it nevertheless presents the key elements of the technology with enough detail to familiarize the reader with this crucial markup language. This guide is brief enough to tackle in a weekend.

Author Erik T. Ray begins with an excellent summary of XML's history as an outgrowth of SGML and HTML. He outlines very clearly the elements of markup, demystifying concepts such as attributes, entities, and namespaces with numerous clear examples. To illustrate a real-world XML application, he gives the reader a look at a document written in DocBook--a publicly available XML document type for publishing technical writings--and explains the sections of the document step by step. A more simplified version of DocBook is used later in the book to illustrate transformation--a powerful benefit of XML.

The all-important Document Type Definition (DTD) is covered in depth, but the still-unofficial alternative, XML Schema, is only briefly addressed. The author makes liberal use of graphics, tables, and code to demonstrate concepts along the way, keeping the reader engaged and on track. Ray also goes deep into some discussion of programming XML utilities with Perl.

Learning XML is a very readable introduction to XML for readers with existing knowledge of markup and Web technologies. It meets its goals very well--to deliver a broad perspective of XML and its potential. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:
XML overview
XPointer
XLink
XHTML
Presentation with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Document Type Definitions (DTDs)
XML Schemas
Transformation with XSLT
Internationalization
Simple API for XML (SAX)

Book Info
A guide to XML and its capabilities, including references to real-life projects. Teaches designers what parts of XML are most helpful, with coverage of basic concepts and core syntax, the use of stylesheets, document modeling with DTDs and XML schema, and internationalization using Unicode. Softcover.

About the Author
Erik T. Ray has worked for O'Reilly Media, Inc. as a software developer and XML specialist since 1995. He helped to establish a complete publishing solution using DocBook-XML and Perl to produce books in print, on CD-ROM, and for the new Safari web library of books. As the author of the O'Reilly best seller Learning XML and numerous articles to technical journals, Erik is known for his clear and entertaining writing style.
Customer Reviews

Great Book for Learning XML
This book taught me a lot about XML and how it is used in the digital publishing world. XML is not limited to web sites and is a great resource for businesses institutions and other publishing needs where a common format is needed for each and every document.

I recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn more about XML and how it is used.

Not a Standalone book, good otherwise
1. YOU WILL NOT TOUCH A KEYBOARD USING THIS BOOK, IT DOESN'T NOT WALK THROUGH EXAMPLES- for those books, try "XML step by step" by Young (Microsoft), and for more advanced, "XML in Action - Web Technology" by Pardi.

2. THIS BOOK IS GREAT: because it teaches in a fundamentally different way. Most of what we see of XML is tags, attributes, the structure of the data in the elements, etc. But this book focus on the DOM. This crucial focus helps understand XML with its uses, XPointer, and transformation.

3. If you want to do a lot with XML, beyond RSS feeds, buy this book along with a walkthrough, like the books listed above.

bad book, too much nonsense
full of nonsense in whole book.
For example, xml schemas chapter is from page 108 to 164 about 60 pages, but realy useful w3c xml schema only take less 8 pages, others, useless, forget them.
Hi my dear author,
you have a lot of work to do, from simple to complex, how can you just give a long example and finish. Do you know "learning" means ***FOCUSING ON CORE***

Professional InfoPath 2003 by Ian Williams

Product Description

What is this book about?

Microsoft InfoPath 2003 helps developers tackle forms-based information-gathering with the full range of XML technologies. This book quickly guides experienced Office and XML developers through InfoPath fundamentals, including XML form templates architecture, form definition file structure, available external data sources, and backend services. From there, you delve into validation and updating forms, both during development and as business needs change. Finally, you examine the InfoPath security model, learning to implement and deploy trusted forms.

The second part of this book is an intensive case study covering metadata processing, exporting XML data to Excel for analysis, and much more.

What does this book cover?

Here are just a few of the things you'll learn in this book:
The development options InfoPath makes available through XML technology
How to combine various form files into a customized template
The architecture of an InfoPath form template and the file types you can use in various applications
Ways to build a form interface using menus or objects on the task pane
Methods to support users at various levels of experience
Different means of validating forms and reporting errors
How to implement digital signatures and other form security measures with InfoPath

Who is this book for?

This book is for experienced corporate developers who have a strong knowledge of XML and related technologies as well as solid experience with Microsoft Office and related applications.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #322740 in Books
Published on: 2004-04-23
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
408 pages
Editorial Reviews

Book Info
Helps developers tackle forms-based information-gathering with the full range of XML technologies. Softcover.

From the Back Cover
Microsoft InfoPath 2003 helps developers tackle forms-based information-gathering with the full range of XML technologies. This book quickly guides experienced Office and XML developers through InfoPath fundamentals, including XML form templates architecture, form definition file structure, available external data sources, and backend services. From there, you’ll delve into validation and updating forms, both during development and as business needs change. Finally, you’ll examine the InfoPath security model, learning to implement and deploy trusted forms.

The second part of this book is an intensive case study covering metadata processing, exporting XML data to Excel for analysis, and much more.

What you will learn from this book
The development options InfoPath makes available through XML technology
How to combine various form files into a customized template
The architecture of an InfoPath form template and the file types you can use in various applications
Ways to build a form interface using menus or objects on the task pane
Methods to support users at various levels of experience
Different means of validating forms and reporting errors
How to implement digital signatures and other form security measures with InfoPath

Who is this book for?

This book is for experienced corporate developers who have a strong knowledge of XML and related technologies as well as solid experience with Microsoft® Office and related applications.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author
Ian Williams is an information designer specializing in XML technologies and a software technical writer. He worked in the UK publishing industry before getting involved in information technology at OWL International, developers of one of the first commercial hypertext products. Ian was a product manager there, and later a consultant working with large corporate customers.
Since 1998 Ian has worked independently on technical writing and information design projects for customers like Nokia and Reuters. He lives with his wife in London, England, from which they regularly escape to a house on a beach overlooking the English Channel.

Pierre Greborio is chief software architect of PEWay, an Italian software company providing services and Internet technologies for financial companies.
Born in 1971 in Belgium, he graduated as a telecommunication engineer from the University of Pavia in Italy.
His activity is characterized by a strong passion for technology. He participated in several talks at developer conferences and university workshops and wrote several articles for developer magazines and user groups about Microsoft .NET technologies and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003. In the beginning of 2003, Pierre was given the award of Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for .NET.
Customer Reviews

Ok, complicated topic, or is it ? Net/Net: Wait for next book.
Like so many technology books, this sits in a topic space where there is just not a lot of material to draw from. Much like its cousins, BizTalk, SiteServer, and CRM - there is not a wealth of information available in print media. Ok, so what makes this book a bummer?

A reasonable person would assume that when you buy a book for $40-60, that you are getting something insightful - something that you would have traded your sister for to have figured out without spinning your wheels endlessly or burning support incidents @ $225 a pop. Unfortunately, this book adopts the lowest possible threshold in terms of content. Here's the irony: I sat down to plug away at an InfoPath Solution and figured I'd follow the book just to see what happened. By Page 10 I was annoyed. By Page 20 I was checking the Index and Appendix to search for my specific interests (after all, I had something I wanted to get on with). An hour later, I was consulting some very cool material online, complete with blow-by-blow examples, code shots, and visuals. Book has been sitting in its last known good configuration since then. What's worse, a simple search on the InfoPath help topic yielded EXACTLY the same material as in the book. Well WTF. It turns out that Wrox's authors basically pillaged and regugitated the Help file - almost verbatim. That's what prompted me to write this. I didn't have to pay for the book, but if I did - I would be plenty pissed-off right now....and shortly after I calmed down, Barnes and Noble (err...or Amazon, yeah that's it!) would be getting my return. Naturally, at that point I would have burned 5 hours between shopping, buying, reading, commenting and returning the book - which is a gross waste of time. Save yours: listen up.

The first 4 chapters of this book talk about XML, Schemas, DTD's, XSLT, and reference materials. Honestly, there's so much useless information here, you might as well read the intro and go straight to Chapter 5. Why? For several resons: I don't need a reference book on XML, or any of its cousins. That's already published for free. Plus, InfoPath takes all of that pain away. Drag and drop, link controls to bindings, choose a data source, link it to your bindings and away you go. I don't need to read 100 pages of materials on the inner workings - we know it works, that's why we're using it. Only the most bleeding edge / neurotic / hardcore developers with weird requirements are ever going to have to mess around with that stuff. Rapid Applications Development anyone? - That's what InfoPath was designed for.

Chapters 5,6,7,8 are the meat. Chapters 15,16,17 have worthwhile examples of ADO.NET script.


What I would like to see:

Working examples of full-on solutions. Fabrikam, BizTalk, SQL, BI.

More code shots.

Show me how to design a Form within Visual Studio.Net 2003/2005, and work the code-behind to do neat stuff.
Show me how I can develop solutions using SharePoint, XML, and BizTalk.
Show me how to create a custom Web Service? (this is, ahem, rather important, and not very well done)

Solutions people. Rapid development. Small books that put you in the driver's seat ASAP.

This isn't it.

Note: One of the best publishers I have seen recently re: Technical Books has to be Rational Press. I have found their books to be highly insightful, right to the heart of the matter, and @ sub-100 (or thereabouts) pages, you get a lot of bang for $20 bucks.

(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/ref=s_sf_b_as/002-0585726-2670403)

Wrox: Are you listening? Bad Monkeys. Stop the proliferation of title after title. It's like like dating a Narcissitic woman: they're so in love with themselves that they LIVE to hear themselves talk: even if it's complete Tripe that comes out of their mouths.

Technologists (aspirinig or professionals) would do well to remember that Wrox is in the business of publishing and selling books: that doesn't always mean that they are worth your time or your money. I have watched Wrox's value as a print resource slowly degrade since I stated reading their titles in 2000. In my opinion, they are no longer a trusted (and valued) informational resource. Wrox has saturated the marketplace with title after sub-title - many of which never should have received their own cover, much less their whopping price tags. (Do you guys publish books at any other price point other than $50.00?) Not many, to be sure.

Potential buyers: think, read, and review before you buy any technology book. Wait for the next offering on InfoPath (if there is one before Office v.12). Your best bet will be online: MSDN, GotDotNet, BizTalk, and some other very neat sites that specialize in valuable content - for free! Google it. You won't be sorry.

ch

Not for Dummies
Professional InfoPath 2003 is definately not "InfoPath for Dummies". This in-depth look at the behind the scenes technology of InfoPath is an XML-lovers dream - excellent details regarding how InfoPath uses xml technology. If you are looking for a "how to use InfoPath" book, this isn't it. If you are a programmer who wants or needs to know every detail of how InfoPath uses xml, you've found the right book.

Software Evolution With UML and XML

Product Description

Software Evolution with UML and XML provides a forum where expert insights are presented on the subject of linking three current phenomena: software evolution, UML and XML. Software evolution and reengineering are a real problem in the software industry; various attempts have been made in these areas and there is still room for improvement. Tackling evolution with the help of UML and XML can be very beneficial to the software community, especially as the cost of software evolution makes up a considerable proportion, sometimes even 70-80%, of the total budget of a software system. Software Evolution with UML and XML not only investigates the potential powerful applications of two popularly used languages, UML and XML, in the field of software evolution, but also discovers what will happen when these three are linked to work together.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #3098351 in Books
Published on: 2005-04-30
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
405 pages
Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Hongji Yang is currently the Head of Division of System Design in the School of Computing at De Montfort University and also Deputy Technical Director in the Software Technology Research Laboratory at De Montfort University. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Durham University, England, his M.Phil. in Computer Science from Jilin University, China, and his B.Sc. in Computer Science from Jilin University, China.

XML For Dummies by Lucinda Dykes

Product Description

See how XML works for business needs and RSS feeds

Create consistency on the Web, or tag your data for different purposes

Tag — XML is it! XML tags let you share your format as well as your data, and this handy guide will show you how. You'll soon be using this markup language to create everything from Web sites to business forms, discovering schemas and DOCTYPES, wandering the Xpath, teaming up XML with Office 2003, and more.

Discover how to
Make information portable
Use XML with Word 2003
Store different types of data
Convert HTML documents to XHTML
Add CSS to XML
Understand and use DTDs
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #182974 in Books
Published on: 2005-05-20
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
384 pages
Editorial Reviews

Download Description
"
Offering the most recent XML core and related specifications including XML 1.1 and Microsoft Office 2003, this book is an ideal introductory resource on the basics of XML, the flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data
With more than 70 percent revised text, the new coverage includes how to use the XML features in Office 2003, a discussion of the many practical business applications for XML, and how to actually implement XML in a business setting
Takes into account that XML is not exclusively for Web designers any longer and targets newcomers to XML who need to learn how to solve business issues as well as those who need practical XML solutions
The companion Web site contains programming code, trial software packages, XML tools and parsers, and sample XSLT transforms
"

Book Info
Discover how to understand XML fundamentals, build document type definitions, style pages using XSL, work with XML linking languages, harness the latest XML applications and tools, and more. Softcover.

From the Publisher
An ideal beginner's guide to XML!
Customer Reviews

Great Book
I'm never disappointed with Dummies books and this one is no exception. Great read, easy to learn.

Reviews Are About A Different Edition of XML For Dummies
These reviews are all very misleading as they refer to a previous edition of the book which is no longer available, the third edition of XML For Dummies. XML For Dummies, 4th edition, the book featured here, addresses many of the concerns raised in the reviews of the third edition.

Just flat out wrong sometimes
As a complete newbie to XML this was a good starter. As I got deeper into XML I found several mistakes/deficiencies in the book, and sometimes the author just flat out seemed to not know what he was talking about. For instance, the claim on page 86 that (#CDATA) is a valid DTD element content definition is flat out wrong. His description of Schema element declarations (pp. 114-115) teaches that using globals/refs is the only way to define complex elements, and is inappropriate for his example. He makes no mention of globals at all, leaving the reader confused. I have ceased to trust this book as a valid source of XML information.

XML For Dummies by Lucinda Dykes

Product Description

See how XML works for business needs and RSS feeds

Create consistency on the Web, or tag your data for different purposes

Tag — XML is it! XML tags let you share your format as well as your data, and this handy guide will show you how. You'll soon be using this markup language to create everything from Web sites to business forms, discovering schemas and DOCTYPES, wandering the Xpath, teaming up XML with Office 2003, and more.

Discover how to
Make information portable
Use XML with Word 2003
Store different types of data
Convert HTML documents to XHTML
Add CSS to XML
Understand and use DTDs
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #182974 in Books
Published on: 2005-05-20
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
384 pages
Editorial Reviews

Download Description
"
Offering the most recent XML core and related specifications including XML 1.1 and Microsoft Office 2003, this book is an ideal introductory resource on the basics of XML, the flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data
With more than 70 percent revised text, the new coverage includes how to use the XML features in Office 2003, a discussion of the many practical business applications for XML, and how to actually implement XML in a business setting
Takes into account that XML is not exclusively for Web designers any longer and targets newcomers to XML who need to learn how to solve business issues as well as those who need practical XML solutions
The companion Web site contains programming code, trial software packages, XML tools and parsers, and sample XSLT transforms
"

Book Info
Discover how to understand XML fundamentals, build document type definitions, style pages using XSL, work with XML linking languages, harness the latest XML applications and tools, and more. Softcover.

From the Publisher
An ideal beginner's guide to XML!
Customer Reviews

Great Book
I'm never disappointed with Dummies books and this one is no exception. Great read, easy to learn.

Reviews Are About A Different Edition of XML For Dummies
These reviews are all very misleading as they refer to a previous edition of the book which is no longer available, the third edition of XML For Dummies. XML For Dummies, 4th edition, the book featured here, addresses many of the concerns raised in the reviews of the third edition.

Just flat out wrong sometimes
As a complete newbie to XML this was a good starter. As I got deeper into XML I found several mistakes/deficiencies in the book, and sometimes the author just flat out seemed to not know what he was talking about. For instance, the claim on page 86 that (#CDATA) is a valid DTD element content definition is flat out wrong. His description of Schema element declarations (pp. 114-115) teaches that using globals/refs is the only way to define complex elements, and is inappropriate for his example. He makes no mention of globals at all, leaving the reader confused. I have ceased to trust this book as a valid source of XML information.

Imperfect XML: Rants, Raves, Tips, and Tricks ... from an Insider by David Megginson

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #989449 in Books
Published on: 2004-12-18
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
256 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"Most books in this area are either beginners' guides, in-depth reference works to the foundational standards, or guides to using XML in particular environments or application areas. This book takes a broader approach for non-beginners and describes where XML can be used profitably in the real world. Highly recommended."
--Dr. Marc J. Hadley, Senior Staff Engineer, Web Technologies and Standards division, Sun Microsystems

"Imperfect XML is a thorough and engaging exploration of the issues XML practitioners are likely to face, with considered advice from one of the trailblazing authorities in the field."
--Neil Bradley, XML and Publishing Consultant and author of The XML Companion, The XSL Companion, and The XML Schema Companion

XML projects can fail for all kinds of reasons, from unrealistic overall goals to mishandled low-level technical decisions. Fortunately, one of the world's leading XML experts is ready to show you how to avoid XML pitfalls on your next project.

Since its invention, David Megginson has been helping to drive XML to new levels. He led the team that developed the SAX streaming API now used worldwide, has been a key contributor to the World Wide Web Consortium, and has served as a consultant to many of the world's leading companies, including Boeing, Reuters, and McGraw-Hill. Drawing on this vast experience, Megginson offers in this book expert solutions and problem-solving guidance for virtually any XML project challenge. You'll discover best practices for planning, budgeting, scheduling, and managing any XML project: content management, data interchange, legacy integration, or Web services. And you'll find technical insights that only an expert like Megginson can offer.

Coverage includes
Setting expectations and planning for extensibility-- key success factors in XML projects
Choosing standards, technical approaches, and architecture
Overcoming hidden pitfalls in single-source publishing from XML source
Intelligent searching with XML: essential design and implementation strategies
Using XML in enterprise integration: practical realities and workarounds
Scaling smoothly from demo to production system
Making XML fast: real help for overcoming XML performance problems
Managing the security risks associated with sending XML data across the Internet
Recognizing when XML technology is wrong for your project

From start to finish, Imperfect XML presents a clear-eyed view of XML's advantages and limitations--and technical and management solutions proven to make it work.



About the Author

David Megginson, principal of Megginson Technologies, has been active within the SGML and XML communities since 1991. He led the original initiative that created SAX, the leading streaming API for XML that has been implemented in products by IBM, Oracle, Apache, and Sun. He also chaired the XML Information Set Working Group at the W3C Consortium and was a member of its XML Working Group. In 2000, he received the Java Technology Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Java Community from Sun and JavaPro magazine.



Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Welcome to your second book about the Extensible Markup Language (XML). This may in fact be your third or twentieth XML book, but I did not design it to be your first. This book does not introduce the basics of XML syntax, explain how popular APIs and tools work, or offer design patterns or recipes for writing XML applications--many other XML books do an excellent job of that. Instead this book is about XML planning and decision making. Everyone involved with an XML project has to make decisions of some kind: whether to support XML at all, how to plan and schedule a project, what kind of goals to set, what standards to support, or what technical approaches to take. The best standards and libraries available will not help you at all if you try to use XML the wrong way or if XML is not the right technology for your project.

XML and its family of related specifications can be a complex and disruptive technology. The business success or failure of many XML projects hinges on the tiniest technical details, such as the choice of a parsing API; the technical success or failure of many XML projects depends on human factors, such as human resources and office politics. These responsibilities are usually divided between technologists and managers, but that division does not work as well for XML: A manager needs to master an unusually large number of technical details to plan and run an XML-related project, and a technologist needs to spend much more time than usual thinking about business needs and people skills to build effective systems.

As a result, this book deliberately takes a middle-level view of XML decision making, concentrating on the gray area between low-level technical issues and high-level management issues, the area that most technical books ignore. This book has many simple examples of XML markup and some source code listings, but nothing too complicated; there are many basic references of costs and benefits but little hard-core business theory and few case studies--and not a single pie chart--guaranteed. This is a book of XML rants, raves, tips, and tricks.

Together with facts, such as descriptions of specifications, this book contains many of my personal opinions, such as statements about the success or failure of individual specifications. I trust that you will be capable of distinguishing the two and that even when you disagree with the opinions, you will find them useful for identifying areas where other people are likely to disagree. In particular, unlike most XML-related books, this book tries not to overhype the technology.
The Idea of XML

Some of us inside the XML community believe that the technology is very useful but that it has been oversold. When XML first emerged in the late 1990s, the World Wide Web Consortium W3C and others promoted it not only as a technology but also as a social idea. Technically, XML was a simpler replacement for the older, complicated Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). Socially, it was supposed to be the next logical step past the Hypertext Markup Language HTML and the Web, ending the browser wars and enabling users to do new kinds of things on the Web, such as using software agents to analyze structured online information and perform such tasks as finding the lowest price for a pair of jeans. A common early description of XML, "SGML for the Web," touches on both ideas.

Technically, the core XML standard has been a runaway success. Several years on, there is little doubt that XML has replaced SGML: Vendors do not release new SGML products, and nearly all markup conferences have dropped SGML from their titles. People do not start new SGML projects, and the number of older SGML projects still being maintained shrinks every year. As a technology, XML has met and surpassed its technical goal of providing a simpler alternative to SGML. XML is easier than SGML ever was: For example, I spent six fruitless months of spare evenings trying to implement even a skeletal SGML parser in Java; I had the first prototype of the AElfred XML parser running after a few hours' work. SGML documents were almost never perfectly portable across systems, because all parsers supported different entity-resolution mechanisms and different SGML declarations; XML documents move seamlessly from parser to parser, XSLT engine to XSLT engine. XML is not without its own warts, but it has done well enough that it has infected many areas that SGML barely touched, such as save formats and configuration files for desktop applications. It has come to the point that developers feel that they have to justify not using XML as the basis for any new file format.

Socially, however, XML has not done nearly so well. Technical superiority is not enough: New technologies, such as the Internet, railroads, or vaccination, succeed because of a strong, contagious social message. Parents convince other parents to have their children inoculated; friends get their friends to use e-mail or text messaging so that they can communicate; small towns once competed with one another to have railroads pass through them to avoid being left behind by the new economy.

Most people do not care that XML is cleaner and easier to implement than other file formats: People want to know what XML will let them do and why they should do that. If XML does not capture people's imaginations--if it does not, at least in some small way, change their lives--it will stay just another tool in a technologist's toolbox, like Unicode or structured programming. If that happens, all the people who have invested heavily in XML start-ups and products are going to be very disappointed.

To date, XML in general has not managed to affect people's lives the way peer-to-peer file transfer, cell phones, video games, text messaging, or automated teller machines have. XML came out in 1998; today, one compelling social trend--Web logs, or blogs--happens to use XML, but more general XML applications have not yet succeeded. In 2004, despite the continuing hype, XML lacks momentum.

That lack of momentum matters a lot to anyone planning an XML project: An XML implementer has to start almost from scratch each time, convincing yet another small group of managers and users that XML is a good idea for them and working with their strengths and weaknesses to integrate XML into their small social group. If the project is successful, it ends up as an XML island, with little or no connection to other small XML islands.
If XML is not the answer, however, it may be part of it. Many quiet but critical infrastructure technologies--ASCII, Unicode, the Internet Protocol (IP), and the Transmission Control Protocol--provide a firm foundation for higher-level successes, such as the Web. As mentioned earlier, XML is already the foundation of the Web log movement, and that movement has significantly transformed the Web. XML did not make that transformation happen but provided a basic technology that made it easier for bloggers to share information, and provided software, libraries, and best practices to help them do it.
Structure of the Book

This book consists of three major parts.
Part One (Chapters 1 and 2) deals with making initial high-level decisions about XML, concentrating on standards support and project planning.
Part Two (Chapters 3-5) introduces the three major areas of XML work--documents, data, and networking--together with detailed discussions of the advantages, disadvantages, and special issues involved in making design and implementation decisions for each one.
Part Three (Chapters 6-8) concentrates on special issues that affect all areas of XML and require more detailed discussion: searching, working with legacy, or non-XML data, and XML performance and size.

You do not need to read the chapters in order: Each one is designed as a free-standing essay or article on a major XML topic, with only occasional cross-references. It would probably be a good idea, however, to start by reading Chapter 1, on XML standards and specifications, as a knowledge of XML specifications is useful background information for any XML reading.

If you are looking for information on specific topics, the glossary, bibliography, and index make excellent starting points. Use the glossary to find definitions of unfamiliar terms or concepts, and then use the index to find where the book discusses them.


0131453491P11192004
Customer Reviews

good descriptions of XML disadvantages
Ideally, you should already be using XML, to gain the most from this book. The author gives a guide to the huge overlayer of extensions and standards that have accrued atop XML, like barnacles on a ship. Unfortunately, threading this maze to understand what you might really need is not easy for many. So his viewpoint might help you.

Also, at the implementation level, he offers practical advice about such key usages as XML data. He gives advantages and disadvantages. The latter is the best part of the book. Because other books that might explain the topic to someone new to it often just talk about the syntax and the great things that you can accomplish. Rarely will such texts discuss any limitations that have been found through painful experience.

It's not just for XML data that he does this. For documents, networking, searching, performance and legacy information, he analyses the disadvantages.

If only the title matched the content
It's a little tough to review this book since in general this is a nice walkthrough of a variety of XML standards. The title, however, hints at a book that would discuss schema design and common XML issues. There is a need for that book, but this is not that book.

This book is a relatively short straightforward walkthrough of XML markup, data standards, searching, legacy conversions and performance. It's around 200 pages with around 20 pages. The tone is light but terse. Graphics are sparse and are used effectively.

I think this would be an ideal introductory work for someone just starting out with XML. Though I think there are other books that are as good or better.

If only this book had the content implied by it's title.

Effective XML: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your XML (Effective Software Development Series) by Elliotte Rusty Harold

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #196943 in Books
Published on: 2003-10-02
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
336 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Praise for Effective XML

“This is an excellent collection of XML best practices: essential reading for any developer using XML. This book will help you avoid common pitfalls and ensure your XML applications remain practical and interoperable for as long as possible.”
—Edd Dumbill, Managing Editor, XML.com and Program Chair, XML Europe

“A collection of useful advice about XML and related technologies. Well worth reading both before, during, and after XML application development.”
—Sean McGrath, CTO, Propylon

“A book on many best practices for XML that we have been eagerly waiting for.”
—Akmal B. Chaudhri, Editor, IBM developerWorks

“The fifty easy-to-read items cover many aspects of XML, ranging from how to use markup effectively to what schema language is best for what task. Sometimes controversial, but always relevant, Elliotte Rusty Harold’s book provides best practices for working with XML that every user and implementer of XML should be aware of.”
—Michael Rys, Ph.D., Program Manager, SQL Server XML Technologies, Microsoft Corporation

“Effective XML is an excellent book with perfect timing. Finally, an XML book everyone needs to read! Effective XML is a fount of XML best practices and solid advice. Whether you read Effective XML cover to cover or randomly one section at a time, its clear writing and insightful recommendations enlighten, entertain, educate, and ultimately improve the effectiveness of even the most expert XML developer. I’ll tell you what I tell all my coworkers and customers: You need this book.”
—Michael Brundage, Technical Lead, XML Query Processing, Microsoft WebData XML Team

“This book provides great insight for all developers who write XML software, regardless of whether the software is a trivial application-specific XML processor or a fullblown W3C XML Schema Language validator. Mr. Harold covers everything from a very important high-level terminology discussion to details about parsed XML nodes. The well-researched comparisons of currently available XML-related software products, as well as the key criteria for selecting between XML technologies, exemplify the thoroughness of this book.”
—Cliff Binstock, Author, The XML Schema Complete Reference

If you want to become a more effective XML developer, you need this book. You will learn which tools to use when in order to write legible, extensible, maintainable and robust XML code.
Page 36: How do you write DTDs that are independent of namespace prefixes?
Page 82: What do parsers reliably report and what don't they?
Page 130: Which schema language is the right one for your job?
Page 178: Which API should you choose for maximum speed and minimum size?
Page 257: What can you do to ensure fast, reliable access to DTDs and schemas without making your document less portable?
Page 283: Is XML too verbose for your application?

Elliotte Rusty Harold provides you with 50 practical rules of thumb based on real-world examples and best practices. His engaging writing style is easy to understand and illustrates how you can save development time while improving your XML code. Learn to write XML that is easy to edit, simple to process, and is fully interoperable with other applications and code. Understand how to design and document XML vocabularies so they are both descriptive and extensible. After reading this book, you'll be ready to choose the best tools and APIs for both large-scale and small-scale processing jobs. Elliotte provides you with essential information on building services such as verification, compression, authentication, caching, and content management.

If you want to design, deploy, or build better systems that utilize XML—then buy this book and get going!



About the Author

Elliotte Rusty Harold is an adjunct professor of computer science at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York, where he lectures on object-oriented programming and XML. His Cafe con Leche Web site has become one of the most popular sites for information on XML. In addition, he is the author and coauthor of numerous books, the most recent of which are The XML Bible (John Wiley & Sons, 2001) and XML in a Nutshell (O'Reilly, 2002).


0321150406AB08272003

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Learning the fundamentals of XML might take a programmer a week. Learning how to use XML effectively might take a lifetime. While many books have been written that teach developers how to use the basic syntax of XML, this is the first one that really focuses on how to use XML well. This book is not a tutorial. It is not going to teach you what a tag is or how to write a DTD. I assume you know these things. Instead it's going to tell you when, why, where, and how to use such tools effectively (and perhaps equally importantly when not to use them). This book derives directly from my own experiences teaching and writing about XML. Over the last five years. I've written several books and taught numerous introductory courses about XML syntax, APIs, and tools. Increasingly I'm finding that audiences are already familiar with the basics of XML. They know what a tag is, how to validate a document against a DTD, and how to transform a document with an XSLT style sheet. The question of what XML is and why to use it has been sufficiently well evangelized. The essential syntax and rules are reasonably well understood. However, although most developers know what a CDATA section is, they are not sure what to use one for. Although programmers know how to add attribute and child nodes to elements, they are not certain which one to use when.

Since XML has become a fundamental underpinning of new software systems, it becomes important to begin asking new questions, not just what XML is, but how does one use it effectively? Which techniques work and which don't? Perhaps most importantly, which techniques appear to work at first but fail to scale as systems are further developed? When I teach programming at my university, one of the first things I tell my students is that it is not enough to write programs that compile and produce the expected results. It is as important (perhaps more important) to write code that is extensible, legible, and maintainable. XML can be used to produce robust, extensible, maintainable, comprehensible systems or it can be used to create masses of unmaintainable, illegible, fragile, closed code. In the immortal words of Eric Clapton, "It's in the way that you use it." XML is not a programming language. It is a markup language; but it is being successfully used by many programmers. There have been markup languages before, but in the developer community XML is far and away the most successful. However, the newness and unfamiliarity of markup languages have meant that many developers are using it less effectively than they could. Many programmers are hacking together systems that work, but are not as robust, extensible, or portable as XML promises. This is to be expected. Programmers working with XML are pioneers exploring new territory, opening up new vistas in software, and accomplishing things that could not easily be accomplished just a few years ago. However one definition of a pioneer is someone with an arrow in their back, and more than a few XML pioneers have returned from the frontier with arrows in their backs.

Five years after the initial release of XML into the world, certain patterns and antipatterns for the proper design of XML applications are becoming apparent. All of us in the XML community have made mistakes while exploring this new territory, the author of this book prominently among them. However, we've learned from those mistakes, and we're beginning to develop some principles that may help those who follow in our footsteps to avoid making the same mistakes we did. It is time to put up some caution signs in the road. We may not exactly say "Here there be dragons", but we can at least say, "That road is a lot rockier than it looks at first glance, and you might really want to take this slightly less obvious but much smoother path off to the left."

This book is divided into four parts beginning with the lowest layer of XML and gradually working up to the highest:
Part I covers XML syntax, those aspects of XML that don't really affect the information content of an XML document, but may have large impacts on how easy or hard those documents are to edit and process.
Part II looks at XML structures, the general organization and annotation of information in an XML document.
Part III discusses the various techniques and APIs that are available for processing XML with languages such as C++, C#, Java, Python, and Perl and thus local semantics to the labeled structures of XML.
Part IV explores effective techniques for systems built around XML documents, rather than looking at individual documents in isolation.

Although, this is how I've organized the book, you should be able to begin reading at essentially any chapter. This book makes an excellent bathroom reader. :-) You may wish to read the introduction first, which defines a number of key terms that are used throughout the book, and which are frequently misused or confused. However, after that feel free to pick and choose from the topics as your interest and needs dictate. I've made liberal use of cross-references to throughout to direct you along other paths through the book that may be of interest.

I hope that this book is a beginning, not an end. It's still early in the life of XML, and much remains to be discovered and invented. You may well develop best practices of your own that are not mentioned here. If you do I'd love to hear about them. You may also take issue with some of the principles stated here. I'd like to hear about that too. Discussion of many of the guidelines identified here has taken place on the xml-dev mailing list, and seems likely to continue in the future. If you're interested in further discussion of the issues raised in this book, I recommend you subscribe and participate there. Complete details can be found at http://lists.xml.org/. On the other hand, if you find out and out mistakes in this book (The ID attribute value on p. 87 is missing a closing quote. The word "Cat" is misspelled on p. 46.) you can write me directly at elharo@metalab.unc.edu. I maintain a web page listing known errata for this book, as well as any updates at http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/effectivexml/. I hope this book makes your use of XML both more effective and more enjoyable.

—Elliotte Rusty Harold
elharo@metalab.unc.edu
Brooklyn NY
April 22, 2003


0321150406P06062003
Customer Reviews

Excellent resource for both quality control and ideas
I bought this book quite a while ago and I absolutely the format. It's a great resource to just pick up and get great ideas, verify that you are on/off the right track and generally learn how to get to the next level with XML. Highly recommended

How to Effectively Use XML
Elliotte Rusty Harold states in the introduction of Effective XML that the book is neither an introductory book nor an XML tutorial. Rather, it is a distillation of the author's experience using and teaching XML and how to use it effectively. The book does a great job of explaining how to use XML and its related technologies.

The book is divided into four major sections: Syntax, Structure, Semantics, and Implementation. Each of the fifty Items packs a lot of information into a few pages. The Items span topics such as why you should Include an XML Declaration (Item 1), Make Structure Explicit through Markup (Item 11), Program to Standard APIs (Item 31), and Write in Unicode (Item 38). Even the Introduction is valuable because it sets the definitions for XML-related terms used in the rest of the book that the author has found to be used interchangeably or inconsistently.

Item 24, Choose the Right Schema Language for the Job, provides a typical example of the great information contained in Effective XML. This Item discusses the strengths and weaknesses of four schema languages: W3C XML Schema Language, DTDs, RELAX NG, and Schematron. The use of programming languages to handle situations that the schema languages can't handle is also discussed. The Item ends with a set of questions to think about when selecting the schema language to use.

I found the book very readable and like that the information is presented in digestible chunks. Effective XML isn't meant to hype XML but to identify what the actual capabilities of XML and its related technologies are and how best to use them. The book does an outstanding job at this task.

Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book for review.

I wish the XML Schema working group had a copy per member
This is not a book explaining XML. This is not a book that goes into any depth on XML APIs. It is not a book explaining any one XML format like XSLT, RSS, or XSD.

Instead it is a book on how to work with XML. How to design an XML application to take full advantage of the facilties of XML: schemas, processing instructions, XSL transforms, namespaces. It is all structured to slowly introduce you into the complexities, and deserves to sit up on the bookshelf with Effective C++, Java and Enterprise Java.

If you already know the basics of XML, it is actually quite a good way to learn about some of the more esoteric concepts -from the pragmatic perspective. Too many XML books rant about how wonderful some feature like XML schema's extension stuff is, why XML is the most universal format ever, SOAP and WS-* the best protocol for distributed systems ever, and XQuery everything you need for an XML database.

This book bursts the bubble of hype with rational analysis of what makes sense, and what doesn't. Item 28: Use only what you need, is my favourite: A review of the main XML specs and analysis of what really matters, which comes down to #35, navigate with XPath.

If you are designing an XML schema/system/application, you need this book. If you have to put up with architects telling you about WS-MetadataExchange, WS-Transfer and RDF, you need a copy to roll up and hit them over the head. And, if like me, you are involved in standards bodies that produce XML related things, you need to buy a copy for all the other participants, so that what you produce will actually work.

Remember that XML is a language designed for use by people and machines. The machines have the upper hand. But with this book, and some thinking, you can design XML applications that people can use.

Mastering Integrated HTML and CSS (Mastering) by Virginia DeBolt

Product Description

This unique approach to learning HTML and CSS simultaneously shows you how to save time and be more productive by learning to structure your (X) HTML content for best effect with CSS styles. You’ll discover how to create websites that are accessible to the widest range of visitors, build CSS for print and handheld devices, and work with a variety of CSS-based layouts. Using the latest standards, best practices, and real-world examples, this book offers you with a thorough grounding in the basics and also includes advanced techniques.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #73816 in Books
Published on: 2007-02-20
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
600 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
A Unique Approach to Learning HTML and CSS Simultaneously.

Master Hpertext (or Extensible Hypertext) Markup Language (HTML/XHTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and You're well on your way to creating modern, accessible Websites. This comprehensive guide offers integrated instruction in both. You'll save time and get more productive by learning to structure your (X) HTML content for best effect with CSS styles, from the start.

Using the latest standards, best practices, and real-world examples, web expert Virginia DeBolt offers a thorough grounding in the basics plus advanced techniques for those who want to improve their current skills or learn more modern ways of working. You'll find out how to create websites that are accessible to the widest range o visitors, learn the latest specs, build CSS for print and handheld devices, and work with a variety of CSS-based layouts.

COVERAGE INCLUDES:
Writing XHTML and CSS using correct syntax
Working with fixed and fluid two- and three-column layouts
Styling links as CSS popups
Creating and applying styles to make an accessible form
Mastering hierarchy, alignment, focal point, and other design concepts
publishing and testing your pages
Working bloat-free with CSS in Dreamweaver®
Weaning yourself from table-based layouts and out-of-date coding

FEATURED ON THE CD
The companion CD includes all the materials you need to work through each chapter, as well as sample site materials, Style Me test pages, bonus color palettes, and trial software.
A Complete Solution for Integrating (X) HTML and CSS from the Start
Covers the Latest Standards from the World Wide Web Consortium
Full Coverage for Users of All Skill Levels
Classroom Ready! Full Courseware and Instructor Support Materials Included
Gain Inspiration from Top-notch Examples of Real Websites Built Using CSS

About the Author
Virginia DeBolt grew up in southern Colorado, where her father often took her fishing and hunting. She can still walk off with a teddy bear from the shooting gallery at the fair. After receiving her college degrees, she taught in public schools in Colorado and New Mexico. Her first computer was a Commodore 64. The schools were using Apple IIe computers and Virginia quickly became the “computer person” in the school.
Her first four books were written to teach writing using cooperative learning and are still in print and selling well. She graduated to a blazingly fast 8 MHz Mac Classic to celebrate her status as a working writer.
In the mid-1990s, she moved to Texas and took some classes with the notion of finding work as a technical writer. One class was in HTML, and Virginia’s life was never the same after that. HTML took over her thoughts, dreams, conversation, time, and energy. Soon she had a contract tech writing job by day, and a part time gig teaching HTML at the community college by night. The dining room of her home was filled with office tables and a web of wires between two Macs, two Windows boxes, assorted scanners, printers, and Zip drives. In the free time between her two jobs, she was making web sites for fun.
The HTML teaching job sent her searching in places like SXSW Interactive conferences for answers and ideas. But what she heard in the conference halls and what she saw in the books that were available to teach HTML and Dreamweaver were 180 degrees apart. In 2001, she started writing reviews of these books on her blog at www.webteacher.ws.
The Web Teacher blog brought her to the attention of computer book publishers. After contributing to books written by other people, she decided to write her own book to promote her theory that HTML and CSS should be taught as integrated skills, not as two distinct and separate ideas. The first book was Integrated HTML and CSS: A Smarter, Faster Way to Learn (Wiley, 2004). The second is the one you hold in your hand now.
Oh, her latest computer? There’s just one. A Mac laptop that needs almost no wires strung about and does Windows on demand.
Customer Reviews

simple to understand full of information
Clear and concise, this book has taken me from knowing nothing about web design to publishing a site of my own in 3 weeks. While there is much more to learn, my site is running smoothly and 100% W3C Strict compliant.

Great Book!
this book is the greatest that i have read ever.
though that i have a little expiriance with HTML and CSS , but this book give you the actually way to write your code only at XHTML and CSS , with a great way of explaining .

Excellent resource for modern, standards based design
Virginia DeBolt's newest book is an excellent resource for modern, standards based design. It combines the depth of a well qualified instruction with lively, real world examples of practical web applications. This book will save you so many hours of work and research by showing you how techniques have evolved and how each application meets the various standards. Webpage structure (including columns), various navigation methods, working with images and picture galleries, banners, links, blogs, and much more are all discussed. Also included (in color) are inspirational website designs showing these modern CSS based techniques.

In the course of designing our numerous large websites for parent support I have read over a dozen design and coding books on html and css, and this is one book I return to over and over again.

Professional C# 2005 (Wrox Professional Guides) by Christian Nagel

Product Description

Professional C# 2005 prepares you to program in C#, and it provides the necessary background information on how the .NET architecture works. It provides examples of applications that use a variety of related technologies, including database access, dynamic web pages, advanced graphics, and directory access. The only requirement is that you are familiar with at least one other high-level language used on Windows—either C++, VB, or J++.

It starts with a tutorial on C# and the .NET framework. This introduction assumes no prior knowledge of .NET, but it does move rapidly, on the assumption that the reader is an experienced programmer. Once this background knowledge is established, the book starts to sweep through the vast .NET class library, showing how you can use C# to solve various tasks. This comprehensive coverage is one of the key selling points of previous versions of the book, and is maintained and enhanced with this new edition by adding new chapters on Generics, ObjectSpaces, Yukon, and Indigo. Some reference material is included either as appendices or is available to download from the Wrox website.

After the introduction and initial chapter, the book is divided into a number of sections that cover both the C# language and its application in a variety of areas. Coverage includes:
Writing Windows applications and Windows services
Writing web pages and web services with ASP.NET
Manipulating XML using C# 2005
Understanding .NET Assemblies
Using ADO.NET to access databases
Integration with COM, COM+, and Active Directory
Distributed applications with .NET Remoting
Generating graphics using C# 2005
Accessing files and the Registry, and controlling .NET security
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #167802 in Books
Published on: 2005-11-07
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
1416 pages
Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Professional C# 2005

C# and .NET are set to revolutionize the way that you write programs. Updated for .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio® 2005, this bestselling book will give you the tools to program in C#, while also providing you with the necessary background in how the .NET architecture works.

You'll first explore the fundamentals of C#, including its basic syntax, data types, and object-oriented features. You'll then discover how to apply the language to a number of innovative applications that use related technologies, including database access and advanced graphics. This approach will help you gain a well-rounded understanding of C# so that you can begin programming like an expert right away.

This book covers everything you need to know in order to write dynamic Web pages, an XML Web service, a component of a distributed application, a classic Windows® desktop application, and much more.

What you will learn from this book
The principles of programming in the .NET environment
Ways to create Windows applications and Windows services
How to use existing COM components with .NET applications
Steps for writing dynamic Web pages and Web services with ASP.NET
Techniques for manipulating XML using C# 2005
How to access databases with ADO.NET and interact with directories
Tips for writing cutting-edge components that will run on Web sites

Who this book is for

This book is for the experienced developer, although no previous knowledge of C# or .NET programming is assumed. It is also for programmers who know .NET 1.0 and are interested in getting up to speed with .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author
Christian Nagel is software architect and developer, associate of Thinktecture, who offers training and consulting on how to design and develop Microsoft .NET solutions. He looks back to more than 15 years’ experience as a developer and software architect. Christian started his computing career with PDP 11 and VAX/VMS platforms, covering a variety of languages and platforms. Since the year 2000 — when .NET was just a technology preview — he has been working with various .NET technologies to build distributed solutions. With his profound knowledge of Microsoft technologies, he has also written numerous .NET books; is certified as Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Solution Developer (MCSD), and Systems Engineer (MCSE); and is Microsoft Regional Director and MVP for Visual C#. Christian is a speaker at international conferences (TechED, DevDays, VCDC) and is the regional manager of INETAEurope (International .NET User Group Association) supporting .NET user groups. You can contact Christian via his Web site, http://www.christiannagel.com and http://www.thinktecture.com.

Bill Evjen is an active proponent of the .NET technologies and community-based learning initiatives for .NET. He has been actively involved with .NET since the first bits were released in 2000 and has since become president of the St. Louis .NET User Group (http://www.stlusergroups.org). Bill is also the founder and executive director of the International .NET Association (http://www.ineta.org), which represents more than 125,000 members worldwide. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Bill is an acclaimed author and speaker on ASP.NET and XMLWeb services. He has written XMLWeb Services for ASP.NET, Web Services Enhancements: Understanding the WSE for Enterprise Applications, Visual Basic .NET Bible, and ASP.NET Professional Secrets (all published by Wiley). Bill is a Technical Director for Reuters, the international news and financial services company. He graduated from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, with a Russian language degree. You can reach Bill at evjen@yahoo.com.

Jay Glynn started writing software nearly 20 years ago, writing applications for the PICK operating system using PICK basic. Since then, he has created software using Paradox PAL and Object PAL, Delphi, VBA, Visual Basic, C, C++, Java, and of course C#. He is currently a Project Coordinator and Architect for a large financial services company in Nashville, Tennessee, working on software for the TabletPC platform. He can be contacted at jlsglynn@hotmail.com.

Karli Watson is a freelance author and the technical director of 3form Ltd (http://www.3form.net). Despite starting out by studying nanoscale physics, the lure of cold, hard cash proved too much and dragged Karli into the world of computing. He has since written numerous books on .NET and related technologies, SQL, mobile computing, and a novel that has yet to see the light of day (but that doesn’t have any computers in it). Karli is also known for his multicolored clothing, is a snowboarding enthusiast, and still wishes he had a cat.

Morgan Skinner began his computing career at a tender age on a Sinclair ZX80 at school, where he was underwhelmed by some code a teacher had written and so began programming in assembly language. After getting hooked on Z80 (which he believes is far better than those paltry 3 registers on the 6502), he graduated through the school’s ZX81s to his own ZX Spectrum.
Since then he’s used all sorts of languages and platforms, including VAX Macro Assembler, Pascal, Modula2, Smalltalk, X86 assembly language, PowerBuilder, C/C++, VB, and currently C#. He’s been programming in .NET since the PDC release in 2000, and liked it so much he joined Microsoft in 2001. He now works in Premier Support for Developers and spends most of his time assisting customers with C#.
You can reach Morgan at http://www.morganskinner.com.

Allen Jones has a career spanning 15 years that covers a broad range of IT disciplines, including enterprise management, solution and enterprise architecture, and project management. But software development has always been Allen’s passion. Allen has architected and developed Microsoft Windows-based solutions since 1990, including a variety of e-commerce, trading, and security systems.
Allen has co-authored four popular .NET books including the C# Programmer’s Cookbook (Microsoft Press) and Programming .NET Security (O’Reilly), and he is actively involved in the development of courseware for Microsoft Learning covering emerging .NET technologies.
Customer Reviews

Look at the Cover!
Those guys on the cover actually wrote this book! What a bunch of geeks.., er I mean, professionals. When you have to know this kind of stuff, these are the kind of people you need to ask. I expect to be mining information from this book for years to come.

good book, easy reading, no need to read between the words
Great book. So far seem very clear and decent coverage. Good starter book at least.

Not Helpful
I have been programming for quit a while in Visual Basic 5.0. I purchased Visual Studio 2005 recently and wanted to try to program in C#. The main problem I have with this book is that all most all of the code examples are for Console application. I don't know why you would want to program in Console applications. I want to make Windows programs, not Console applications. I lost interest in chapter 10 when the code was still Console examples. Maybe I'm wrong in this, but I think all the code should be for Windows applications not Console applications.

Professional SQL Server 2005 XML (Programmer to Programmer) by Scott Klein

Product Description

Discusses SQL Server 2005 XML from the server and client sides
Examines using XSLT to render the XML data that is retrieved from SQL Server, particularly for ASP.NET
Addresses SQL Server relationship with schemas, SOAP, XML security, and .NET
Makes extensive use of examples to solve problems that programmers face on an everyday basis and features Server 2005 XML best practices
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #314875 in Books
Published on: 2006-01-11
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
552 pages
Editorial Reviews

Download Description
Discusses SQL Server 2005 XML from the server and client sides Examines using XSLT to render the XML data that is retrieved from SQL Server, particularly for ASP.NET Addresses SQL Server relationship with schemas, SOAP, XML security, and .NET Makes extensive use of examples to solve problems that programmers face on an everyday basis and features Server 2005 XML best practices

About the Author
Scott Klein is a software developer and architect, and his passion for SQL Server, .NET, and all things XML led him to Greenville, South Carolina, where he currently works as a SQL/.NET developer for CSI, a software solutions company. He has written several articles for TopXML (www.TopXLM.com) and is a frequent speaker at SQL Server and .NET user groups around Greenville and the surrounding areas. When he is not sitting in front of a computer or spending time with his family, he can usually be found aboard his Yamaha at the local motocross track.

Download Description
Discusses SQL Server 2005 XML from the server and client sides Examines using XSLT to render the XML data that is retrieved from SQL Server, particularly for ASP.NET Addresses SQL Server relationship with schemas, SOAP, XML security, and .NET Makes extensive use of examples to solve problems that programmers face on an everyday basis and features Server 2005 XML best practices
Customer Reviews

lazy edition
I didn't read all of it but the code samples in the first 3 chapters has a terrible mismatch with variables names. Some of the chapter's paragraphs are repeating them self.
I got the feeling they get to rush in this edition.
But you should take into account that i'm very pedantic.
Search inside before you make your decision.

examples and rest of book do not correlate.
Just been thru Chapter 1 - what is in the book and the snippets of the code that follow do not correlate. This is just like a developer code, wrote something and threw it across the wall for testing, never matters if the code matches requirements or not.

You Need this Book
If you are considering using XML in SQL Server 2005, this book will pay for itself quickly. The clear examples of creating XML Schema collections, altering them, etc. are very helpful.

The only problem with this book is that SQL Server 2005 does not fully support XML Schemas. Because this book was written using a beta product (I believe) perhaps the author could not have know exactly how the final version would shake out. However, partial support of standards is important to any developer. You often find out only by trial and error what is supported and what isn't. The Wrox web site offers nothing of the kind for this book. So buy this book, but be aware if you are using complex XML Schemas there may be some surprises (e.g., notation not supported).