Web Database Development Step by Step (Dv-Dlt Fundamentals)

Buyens, Jim

ISBN 10: 0735609667 / ISBN 13: 9780735609662

Published by Microsoft Press, 2000

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Web Database Development Step by Step (...

Publisher: Microsoft Press

Publication Date: 2000

Binding: paperback

Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

As Web sites continue to grow in complexity and in the volume of data they must present, databases increasingly drive their content. "Web Database Development Fundamentals" is ideal for the beginning-to-intermediate Web developer, departmental power user, or entrepreneur who wants to step up to a database-driven Web site -- without buying several in-depth guides to the different technologies involved. This book uses the clear Microsoft "RM" Step by Step tutorial method to familiarize developers with the technologies for building smart Web sites that present data more easily.

Review:

This isn't a book, it's a developer's self-study kit, according to the blurb, complete with a CD-ROM of sample files and code. Each chapter starts with objectives and an estimated time for assimilation and ends with a very brief summary. What lies between is hard work for the uninitiated.

Web database development: three little words that cover so much. This book attempts to steer a course through all the required technologies whereby you learn just enough to get started. It's a good approach: you can get results quickly and delve further when the need arises. However, even before you start, Buyens assumes you know how to create ordinary Web pages and have some understanding of databases, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and Visual Basic. From those beginnings, the floodgates open and acronyms abound: Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript), ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) and Structured Query Language (SQL) are all part of the recipe.

Practical work starts on the first few pages of Part I, which is good, though the discovery at the end that you cannot see your handiwork without a properly configured web server to hand is less welcome. Despite this hiccough, progress continues rapidly through database and SQL basics, using ADO and ODBC (Open DataBase Connectivity) to access databases, using ADO to access tables and records, VBScript and ASP objects and organising your Web environment. And that's only Part II. The remaining four parts cover application development, advanced topics, exchanging data with XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and tuning/debugging.

There's a vast amount to be learned from this book; dedication to the task is required, of course, but its approach and accessible style are a great help. --Mark Whitehorn