.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell

.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell
by Ian Griffiths, Matthew Adams

.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell
List Price: $44.95
Our Price: $20.00
You Save: $24.95 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Ian Griffiths, Matthew Adams
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-03
ISBN: 0596003382
Number of pages: 936
Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Book Reviews of .NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell

Book Review: An API Reference especially for DataGrid using ADO.net
Summary: 4 Stars

The authors appear to go to great length for completeness in a companion reference for programmers creating DotNet Forms, an important new feature of the DotNet frameworks. We have been always looking for a capable web enabled report writer without integrating a third-party product, such as Crystal Reports for the Web. DotNet Forms promises in creating at least simple, yet dynamic, multi-paged reports without a whole lot of work.

DotNet provides for creating dynamic Excel-like forms for ASP.NET html. Additional form paging provides for DB presentation similar to Yahoo and eBay searches, which is a familiar and intuitive format. DotNet provides these DataGrid forms with the DotNet Forms API. The API architecture is listed in the last two-thirds of this book, which is an inch and a half thick.

While the authors claim to include a "very fast-paced" tutorial (p1) in the first third (313 pgs) of the book, the DataGrid portion is a mere 6 pages (p307-312), very steep indeed! I'd highly recommend its combined use with another MS Press book by Dino Esposito (0-7356-1578-0) which devotes about half of his book to DataGrid reports and code examples. Another is Jesse Liberty's O'Reilly book on VB.Net (0-596-00438-9) which has one chapter devoted to ADO.net (34pgs).

The publisher include a MS Visual Studio.Net Add-in on the accompanying CD which has the text of the book as integrated help files, 1.7MB MSI files for VS.Net 2K2 and 2K3. Appears a tad bit small? I have not tested the usefulness of the claimed dynamic integration of the O'Reilly Help files along with MS Help during coding process within VS. It appears that this is the initial product enhancement from this publisher. I wonder if an annotatable PDF file of the book would be more useful; at least this would be in a separate window. This tome was read at a local library.

At a local SQL Server Users Group meeting, a new technology that will embellish on the DataGrid and Forms was discussed and demoed. It is the forthcoming SQL Server 2K Reporting Services that will be a low/no cost add-on for SQL 2000 Server and authoring with a Visual Studio.Net 2003 download. It currently is in beta and will be released in 4Q03. It appears to be XML based and production reports can be rendered for browser, printer, PDF, and TIFF output. What a seemingly great idea.

Overall, this detailed 469-page reference on the DotNet Forms API appears needed for the programmer, although this is probably duplicates what's available on a MSDN subscription CD somewhere. The appendix includes another 69-page API term cross-reference and a 23-page index.

Summary of .NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell

.NET Windows Forms are a powerful technology for building a large class of applications for the Windows .NET platform. They offer nearly the same power and flexibility of classic Win32 development, but for a fraction of the effort. The programming model is lean and streamlined, and many of the tedious details that developers used to have to spend time on are now dealt with automatically by the platform.

.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell offers an accelerated introduction to this next-generation of rich user interface development. The book provides an all-inclusive guide for experienced programmers using the .NET Windows Forms platform to develop Windows applications, along with a compact but remarkably complete reference to the .NET Framework Class Library (FCL) Windows Forms namespaces and types. The authors present solid coverage of the fundamental building blocks, such as Controls, Forms, Menus, and GDI+, and enough detail to help you build your own fully featured reusable visual components so you can write visual component libraries as well as standalone applications.

.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell aims to provide not just the practical information and advice required to get programs working, but also to communicate the rationale behind the various parts of Windows Forms' design. The authors show how the thinking behind the framework enhances your productivity substantially. The new framework allows you to guess correctly what "the Right Way" to do things is a majority of the time, even if you've never tried what you're doing before. No more digging around in documentation for days to try to find the bit of information you need to use one particular feature.

Anyone who is involved in user interface development will appreciate the ease of creation and expanded capabilities provided by .NET Windows Forms, as well as the in-depth focus and straight-forward approach this book brings. Included on CD is an add-in that will integrate the book's reference directly into the help files of Visual Studio .NET.

Operating Systems Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Operating Systems Books
MCSE: Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0 ImageMCSE: Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0
by Kostya Ryvkin, Tim Hoffman, David Houde
Prentice Hall; Published: 1999-08-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.97
Price in other shops: $49.99
Stupid Window Tricks Header Card ImageStupid Window Tricks Header Card
by Bob LeVitus
Academic Press; Published: 1997-07; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $1.00
Windows 2000 Administration ImageWindows 2000 Administration
McGraw-Hill Companies; Published: 2000-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.58
Price in other shops: $48.95
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Solaris 9 ImageThe Complete Idiot's Guide to Solaris 9
by Martin Charles Brown
Alpha; Published: 2002-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $19.95
Excel 7: A Professional Approach for Windows 95 ImageExcel 7: A Professional Approach for Windows 95
by Carole K. Tobias
Glencoe/Mcgraw-Hill; Published: 1999-11; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $74.52
Gregg College Document Processing for Windows: Lessons 61-120 for Use With Wordperfect 7.0 ImageGregg College Document Processing for Windows: Lessons 61-120 for Use With Wordperfect 7.0
by Scot Ober, Robert N. Hanson, Jack E. Johnson, Arlene Rice, P. Poland Robert, Albert D. Rossetti
Glencoe/Mcgraw Hill Post Secondary; Published: 1999-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $61.20
Data Communications and Networking Fundamentals Using Novell Netware Release 3.11 ImageData Communications and Networking Fundamentals Using Novell Netware Release 3.11
by Emilio Ramos, Al Schroeder, Ann Beheler
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1993-09-29; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $699.99
Illustrator CS2 for Windows & Macintosh ImageIllustrator CS2 for Windows & Macintosh
by Elaine Weinmann, Peter Lourekas
Peachpit Press; Published: 2005-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $29.99
Pro Tools 6 for Macintosh and Windows ImagePro Tools 6 for Macintosh and Windows
by Steven Roback
Peachpit Press; Published: 2003-10-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.85
Price in other shops: $21.99
Microsoft Office Access 2003 QuickSteps ImageMicrosoft Office Access 2003 QuickSteps
by John Cronan, Virginia Anderson, Brenda Bryant Anderson
McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; Published: 2004-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops: $19.99
Similar Books and other products
C# 4.0 in a Nutshell: The Definitive Reference ImageC# 4.0 in a Nutshell: The Definitive Reference
by Joseph Albahari, Ben Albahari
O'Reilly Media; Published: 2010-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.42
Price in other shops: $49.99
Windows Forms in Action ImageWindows Forms in Action
by Erik Brown
Manning Publications; Published: 2006-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.44
Price in other shops: $49.95
ADO.NET 3.5 Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)) ImageADO.NET 3.5 Cookbook (Cookbooks (O'Reilly))
by Bill Hamilton
O'Reilly Media; Published: 2008-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.00
Price in other shops: $54.99
VB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell ImageVB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell
by Budi Kurniawan, Ted Neward
O'Reilly Media; Published: 2002-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.57
Price in other shops: $44.95
Windows Forms in Action: Second Edition of Windows Forms Programming with C# ImageWindows Forms in Action: Second Edition of Windows Forms Programming with C#
by Erik Brown
Manning Publications; Published: 2006-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.44
Price in other shops: $49.95
Windows Forms Programming in C# ImageWindows Forms Programming in C#
by Chris Sells
Addison-Wesley Professional; Published: 2003-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.95
Price in other shops: $59.99
Programming Microsoft® Windows® Forms (Pro Developer) ImageProgramming Microsoft® Windows® Forms (Pro Developer)
by Charles Petzold
Microsoft Press; Published: 2005-11-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $99.06
Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# ImagePro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C#
by Matthew MacDonald
Apress; Published: 2005-12-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $39.30
Price in other shops: $49.99
Data Binding with Windows Forms 2.0: Programming Smart Client Data Applications with .NET ImageData Binding with Windows Forms 2.0: Programming Smart Client Data Applications with .NET
by Brian Noyes
Addison-Wesley Professional; Published: 2006-01-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.87
Price in other shops: $64.99
Windows Forms 2.0 Programming (Microsoft .NET Development Series) ImageWindows Forms 2.0 Programming (Microsoft .NET Development Series)
by Chris Sells, Michael Weinhardt
Addison-Wesley Professional; Published: 2006-05-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $27.80
Price in other shops: $69.99