Book Review: ASP.NET Data Presentation Controls Essentials
Not long ago I received an email from someone at Packt Publishing asking if I would review their latest ASP.NET book. I gladly accepted as this is something I'd like to do more of. I have another book on my bedside table waiting for a review and I'm in the middle of performing a technical edit of a book due for publication in July. I'm thoroughly enjoying this kind of work and hope to continue it. More on that in a future entry I imagine.
The book is called ASP.NET Data Presentation Controls Essentials. This book is clearly marked as not being for beginners to the ASP.NET framework and I would suggest potential readers follow that warning. The book is littered with helpful snippets of C# code showing you how to obtain data-driven output in your ASP.NET pages. These snippets can be confusing if you're not fairly comfortable with the ASP.NET framework and the event model. There are not that many instances of a full walk-through in the examples provided, so it's hard to follow unless you know what you're doing. I personally found no trouble in keeping up with the book. So, beginners, you've been warned. :)
The author has a clear understanding of the subject matter and it shows in this book. The topics presented cover a solid portion of data access and presentation in ASP.NET. I do wish there had been some introduction to ADO.NET at the very beginning of the book. Being as ADO.NET is the fundamental building block to this book, I think it would have been a welcome addition. The book itself is just over 200 pages that are broken down into 8 chapters. At a $40 list price in the US, that's a hard sell to many in the technology world. A chapter or two in some of the background required for the text could have helped this potential problem for would-be buyers. It will not be a concern to everyone but the technology group is quite sensitive to the "price per page" ratio found in their technical materials.
As a first edition, there are a number of formatting and technical mistakes present in this book. I noticed a specific code example towards the beginning of the book where quotations had been replaced by another character, which certainly would not compile and run for the reader. A reader with C# experience would notice this instantly, but it's a mistake that should have been corrected. The indentation of the code examples in this book are widely varied. As a developer, it's fundamental to see correct formatting in code, and a book should hold that to a higher standard. I also noticed a few instances of code that was simply formatted in such a way that made it invalid. It would not compile if sitting in Visual Studio. Again, something an experience reader would catch easily and wouldn't impede their progress through the book.
Overall, I liked the book. It contains valuable information if you need a lesson in data presentation controls for ASP.NET. If you are considering this book, I would pick it up at your local book store and determine if the content is what you're looking for and whether the list price can be justified to you. Even with the technical mistakes and being a quick read, it will be a worthwhile purchase to many developers looking to understand the data presentation controls available in ASP.NET.