Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Studio and SQL Server: Best Practice Architectures and Examples by William R. Vaughn, Peter Blackburn (With), Bob Muglia (Foreword by)

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
For years, Bill Vaughn's Hitchhiker's Guides have been the secret advantage wielded by thousands of SQL Server application developers. Now Vaughn's thoroughly revamped his classic. His Seventh Edition doesn't just reflect Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 superficially: It truly captures how their improvements enable more robust, high-performance databases.

This go-round, you'll find far more coverage of Visual Studio, now a full-fledged database development environment. (Vaughn illuminates what the tools can and can't do and warns you away from them when necessary. That's the charm of these books: always independent.)

Vaughn also spends more time on the "hows" and "whys" of stored procedures, functions, triggers, user-defined types, and aggregates. And, recognizing that many folks begin developing database applications without formal training, he's also added some outstanding "foundational" material on database architecture and design. The result: an even more useful book for an even wider audience. Bill Camarda, from the January 2007 Read Only

From the Publisher

Since 1994 when he wrote his first “Hitchhiker’s Guide”, William Vaughn has been providing developers all over the world the intimate details of how SQL Server can be accessed and managed from RAD languages like Visual Basic and Visual Basic.NET. With the 7th Edition, Bill has completely rewritten this encyclopedic work from cover to cover–giving readers his insightful views on how applications should be built to maximize both developer and code performance. Visual Studio and the languages it hosts have never been as sophisticated as they are today–the same can be said for SQL Server. This makes it even more important for developers to understand how to best leverage their features without being held back by their complexity. That’s what this book is all about–making it easier for developers regardless of their know-how.

The 7th edition is unique in that it’s designed to provide not only up-to-date tutorials on the latest development tools provided by Visual Studio and SQL Server, but also a solid platform of architectural advice and rich examples for developers trying to choose between the myriad of platform options. Beginners and experts alike will find comprehensive step-by-step instructions that can make the reader’s introduction to the latest versions of Visual Studio and SQL Server far easier.

Key topic coverage includes:

•  Data access architectures and how to choose the best strategy for Windows Forms, ASP.NET, XML Web Services, and SQL Server CLR executables. Where

do these make sense and how much will they cost to build and maintain?

•  SQL Server and relational database fundamentals and inner-machinery.

How does SQL Server work and why is it important that developers know?

•  Making the development experience more productive through judicious use of the Visual Studio toolset, and how to know when the wizards can help.

•  Using the latest ADO.NET data provider efficiently and safely.

•  How to protect the security of your database–and your job–by avoiding common mistakes.

•  How to build secure, efficient, scalable applications in less time with fewer resources–how to create faster code faster.

•  How to leverage the potential of SQL Server CLR executables and knowing

when these features make sense.

•  How to work with your DBA to maintain database integrity and security.

•  Working with the new Visual Studio report controls to expose your

organization’s data safely and easily with or without leveraging existing

SQL Server Reporting Services technology.

William R. Vaughn is the President of Beta V Corporation and a Microsoft MVP. In 2000 he retired from Microsoft after 14 years to focus on mentoring, speaking, and writing. His specialty is data access application design especially when connecting to SQL Server–over the years he’s written 12 books on the subject. He’s a popular speaker at technical conferences all over the world where his wit and no-holds-barred technical insights win him rave reviews. William is also a member of the prestigious INETA Speaker’s Bureau. His works include articles for SQL Server Magazine and a bi-weekly editorial for Processor Magazine as well as books published by Microsoft Press and Apress.

The book includes a DVD that contains a wealth of examples as well as several sample databases used to illustrate points discussed in the book. Authenticated readers will also have unrestricted access to the book’s supporting web site, www.hitchhikerguides.net, where additional examples, online forums, and other supplementary materials are available.

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Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Forewords & Introductions

Table of Contents

Forewords & Introductions

ForewordForeword

In 1992, Microsoft first launched Microsoft Access Version 1.0 as a competitor for FoxPro (which it bought), Btrieve, Paradox, PowerBuilder, and DBASE. Many think that this was Microsoft's first foray into the world of database engines. It wasn't—Microsoft introduced its first DBMS system in 1988 when it joined with Sybase and Ashton-Tate to launch its own version of SQL Server. While designed for use with OS/2, Microsoft quickly moved to leverage the considerable work they had been doing on their new NT operating system. This made the Microsoft version faster, smaller, and more competitive. It would eventually become the market leader in a very competitive DBMS industry.

Microsoft's first "RAD" development tool for Windows was created in 1991 with the introduction of Visual Basic. While Visual Basic took three versions to integrate data access into its user interface, Visual Basic was not the first Microsoft BASIC language to access SQL Server. That honor goes to Quick Basic after a Microsoft developer working on the SQL Server team built his own data access interface to make it easier to access SQL Server's only published API interface, DB-Library. Again, Visual Basic has evolved into the world-class Visual Basic 6.0 and more recently Visual Basic.NET languages. Much of the success of SQL Server can be directly tied to the ability of developers at all skill levels to create data access applications that leverage SQL Server's power, scalability, and flexibility.

I joined Microsoft in 1988 where I had the pleasure of serving as the first program manager for SQL Server. Our teams worked with Sybase earlyon and eventually helped create the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standard. Later in my career, we helped bring together the Visual Studio family of developer tools and drive the Win32 API, customer requirements, and product specification for the Microsoft Windows NT operating system. Since then, I have held many different roles at Microsoft and most recently have taken on the responsibility of Senior Vice President of the Server and Tools business unit that encompasses both SQL Server and the development languages.

During these years, we all witnessed SQL Server's market share grow steadily from an "all other" slice to over 50% market share and Visual Basic grow to be the most popular language on the planet. However, one problem Microsoft faced throughout this evolutionary period was documentation, training, and user-education. Since the SQL Server documentation team focused its attention primarily on SQL Server, and the Visual Studio User Education team focused primarily on user interface, tools, local data, and language issues, a gap was created that only someone familiar with both disciplines could tackle.

From the very earliest versions of SQL Server, while working for Microsoft University, Bill Vaughn wrote SQL Server courseware, managed and mentored SQL Server trainers, and wrote books and articles. This entire body of work was focused on helping developers understand how SQL Server and development languages like Visual Basic and Visual Basic.NET can be used to best leverage the power of SQL Server. His efforts to tie SQL Server and Visual Basic together were continued while he worked for the Visual Basic user education team and since retired from Microsoft in 2000. I first met Bill in 1988, and he was often a thorn in my team's side as he lobbied for more emphasis on SQL Server and IT data issues and better access to SQL Server's sophisticated features. It was clear that Bill was not afraid to express his opinions on how the languages and tools should be adapted to handle what he called "IT data." I guess this is because Bill had worked predominantly with very large databases at Electronic Data Systems and earlier in his 34-year career. Since Bill came in contact with so many IT developers while at MSU, many of his ideas were tempered with real-world field experiences offered by his students and conference attendees. No, we don't always like what Bill says in his books, but we respect his point of view. When Bill sees an issue with SQL Server, or the languages, or how they interact, he lets us know through his books and articles. Clearly, Bill is an independent thinker, and while he certainly knows and endorses Microsoft technology, he's quick to point out what works, what doesn't, and how developers can work around the issues.

Over the last 22 years, Bill has contributed a significant amount of quality data access documentation and training. His efforts have also yielded (now) seven editions of his well-respected Hitchhiker's Guides, as well as three additional ADO and ADO.NET books—many of which have been translated into nearly a dozen languages. Developers all over the world have learned to depend on and respect his vast body of work.

This most recent book has been a monumental effort for Bill. Working almost three years on this edition, Bill has drawn on many respected industry sources as well as many of my team members here at Microsoft. He's attended and actively participated in any number of professional conferences and been invited to our own Microsoft software design reviews where Program Managers gather feedback and suggestions from industry experts. His input was invariably on-target for the developer community he represents.

We're extremely excited by the success of.NET and, with 2.0, the opportunity for Visual Studio continues. One of the reasons I can heartily endorse Bill's latest book is that it simply makes it easier for developers at all skill levels to get up to speed quickly on.NET technology using prose that any of them can understand. I support his efforts and recommend this text strongly to developers.

Bob Muglia
Senior Vice President of the Server and Tools Business (STB), a part of the Platforms & Services Division at Microsoft

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