Product Description
Java & XML For Dummies shows experienced Java developers how to start incorporating XML data in to their applications.
Topics covered include Java/XML Bindings, SAX (Simple API for XML), DOM, SOAP, Web Services, data binding, XML from Java Applications, messaging with XML and Java, DTDs, namespaces, Xpath, CSS, UDDI, HTTP handing servers for SOAP and other XML format messages via serverlets, differences between parsers, Java API programming tools for handling XML, using XML to solve real-world programming problems, WSDL, UDDI, EAI, Message routing, turning java objects into XML, databases in XML. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A great overview
I'm a big fan of Barry Burd's books. This is the third book I've read from him. I bought it in 2008 and it was written several years earlier. This makes some of the material dated, but throughout most of the book, the examples compile fine. Before this book, I knew nothing about XML but knew how to program in Java. And by the time I was about a third of the way through the book, I had one of my Java programs pulling in an XML feed and displaying the results. I would recommend this book after you read Barry's Java for Dummies.

Just what he wanted
This was one of the gifts my son wanted for Christmas.He was so thrilled to add it to his "library".When I browsed through it, I discovered that it's even simple enough for me to understand!..ha ha
Keep the Dummies books coming.

Not this one for sure!
I am not sure what book the other two readers have read but it sure is not this one, I have been in the business for a number of years and the author offers trite remarks and even worse idioms to pad the book out. If you are interested in XML or Java I would suggest another book such as Mastering Java which actually tells you what Java and XML are for.

This book is awesome!
If you're a Java developer looking to get up to speed on how XML/Java/XSLT/Web Services, and lots of other topics, then this book is a great place to start.

The book doesn't pretend to (and says so) teach every topic it covers (XSL, for example is presented in context but not really taught -- that would take a MUCH bigger book). Still, with some familarity with the topics, the code presented is great. XML (part of the book's title) is covered quite nicely.

It's assumed that you're somewhat familiar with Java.

In my case, I needed to find some clear explanations of how to create an XML file and then read that XML file along with an XSL stylesheet (I was learning XSL using Java/XSLT by O'Reiley at the same time). Barry's JDOM chapter and the chapter on putting data on the Web solved both these issues.

Don't get put off that this is a "Dummies" book. I have found it useful for at least two projects (the most recent I wrote about above).

Also, when there was a minor problem with the code where IE 6 wouldn't recognize the stylesheet processing instruction when it was at the bottom of the XML file, the author was extremely helpful and responsive to this issue. He helped me research the problem and wrote me back with his findings.

To put my review in perspective: I'm the kind of developer who likes to learn to walk before I learn to run. If you like to just jump into a complex book and wade your way though the material, then this book might not be for you. But, if you like to get a feeling for the technology and get relatively straightforward examples *working* first, then check out this book.

Barry explains topics clearly and simply.

All in all, I found this book to be completely refreshing compared to most of the books out there.

Java & XML for dummies
I have 18 years exp. with IBM BAL and I'm also doing some work with modern technologies. I have looked through many JAVA/XML books and this is definitely the best book for both beginners and advanced users.Author presents in good depth a vast array of present technology, samples are working like that!!It has helped me a lot to get a grip of advanced matter such as SAX, DOM, JDOM, schema, SOAP and so on...Some other nice features of this book is a good readable style and more than usual coverage of the main subject.
I am gratefulto the author for the enormous scope of what has been accomplished. And,of course, I'll try to follow the recommendation to buy another books by Barry Burd in two copies: one for my home, and another for my office. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn how to build XML Web services and server components with Microsoft® Visual Basic® .NET and Visual C#™ .NET?as you prepare for MCAD or MCSD certification. Includes study guide for Exams 70-310 and 70-320, evaluation software, eBook, and testing tool. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Messy
Messy. I have been reading lessons; I haven't got any big picture. I did not know why it worked like that. The only place I could look for "big picture" was usually lab, at the end of each chapter. This book also lacks reference to ADO.NET object and interface model which is essential in multi-database engine applications. The most disappointing part is so-called "advanced" web service programming. What author thought was advanced level was really a basic level...

Good Resource for XML Editing
I have found "Developing XML Web Services and Server Components with Microsoft VB.NET" an invaluable tool in XML editor development. It is quite detailed about accessing and manipulating XML data.

More confusing
I was reading it as first book for most of the topics, It was total waste of time to read it.

Might help if you are already well expreinced with .NET but not for beginner

Very Poorly Written
Judging by the positive reviews, this book must have some merit but it is certainly not in the quality of its writing or its accuracy.Perhaps the editor was reassigned to Longhorn duties.Here are some examples of what you can expect in the first two chapters:

"A COM+ component exists in three states: exists and activated, exists and not activated, and nonexistent."

"The pool objects are not destroyed even after their release from the client application. COM+ retains the destroyed object in the pool for recycling..."

" If the value of the CanStop property is set to False, the SCM does not pass the Stop command to the service application."

It's main value to me is as a syllabus.You can use it to direct your search for better explanations on MSDN and, of course, everyone should have Troelsen's "C# and the .NET Platform" which is the best textbook I have read.Ever.

If you find this book useful, don't take the exam yet.
It is at a very basic level. It can be useful for starting in XML webservices, but not enough for the exam.
Some information is outdated.
It has errors. So does the practice test.
Doesn't cover at least one topic which is in the practice test.
The practice test doesn't tell you what is considered the correct answer.
If you find this book useful, you're not yet prepared for the exam. ... Read more

Product Description

Knowledge and ability to apply XML are de rigueur in today’s world, and SQL Server developers and administrators are no exception to that rule. Pro SQL Server 2008 XML is your key to unlocking the powerful XML feature set first introduced in SQL Server 2005 and since refined in SQL Server 2008. Author Michael Coles shows how to store XML using SQL Server’s built–in XML data type. Learn to query and manipulate XML data using standard technologies such as XQuery and XSLT. No SQL Server database professional can afford to be without knowledge of the XML feature set. Pro SQL Server 2008 XML delivers on the knowledge that you need to remain competitive in your career.

• Shows how to store, query, and manipulate XML documents in SQL Server
• Provides step–by–step examples showing best practices and advanced features
• Accurately discusses how SQL Server’s XML feature set stacks up against the ISO XML standards

What you’ll learn

• Store XML documents using SQL Server’s built–in XML data type.
• Query those stored documents using SQL/XML and XQuery.
• Manipulate and transform XML using XSLT and XPath.
• Understand how SQL Server’s XML support compares to the ISO XML standards.
• Create SOAP endpoints for use in web services applications.
• Create primary and secondary XML indexes to improve performance of XML queries.

Who is this book for?

SQL Server SQL/T–SQL developers and .NET developers who want to take advantage of the specific server–side XML functionality available in SQL Server 2008

About the Apress Pro Series

The Apress Pro series books are practical, professional tutorials to keep you on and moving up the professional ladder.

You have gotten the job, now you need to hone your skills in these tough competitive times. The Apress Pro series expands your skills and expertise in exactly the areas you need. Master the content of a Pro book, and you will always be able to get the job done in a professional development project. Written by experts in their field, Pro series books from Apress give you the hard–won solutions to problems you will face in your professional programming career.

Customer Reviews (6)

Pro Server 2008 XML
Had the pleasure of hearing the author. He knows his subject well and is able to speak to it. Book arrived quickly and is very gtood.

Fantastic Book
This book is a fantastic resource when learning to work with XML within the SQL Server.

Book. Pro SQL Server 2008 XML
Arrived in time == fact;
"as new" condition == true;
5 stars == is my take.

I found the book helpful and useful.
Let me rephrase it: I could not find a better coverage of the subject elsewhere.
I wish us to see more on the subject (XPath, XQuery) both:
- the best practices (apart from particular DB engine);
- what are the choices out there: XML native DB including.

Kindle experience
I have been reading this book on a Kindle and it works but it is not excellent. The structure of the book is good you get explanation of XML and how it works. The problem I feel I would like to have a more "concentrated" book. in this book XML XSD XSLT etc should be explained but the language in the book is as it is in many computer books a little bit to talkative. I would preffer a book that focus on SQL Servers implementation of XML and not in a half stringent way tries to explain XSD et al.

Reading in a Kindle I would like to have more links, better pictures (Kindle support for zooming in picture is not good), a more compact book where .query is explained in just one place.

I recommend the book but there are areas that can be improved.

Ultimate XML Reference for SQL Server 2008
The Pro SQL Server 2008 XML book dives right into the details of XML from the first page. This book was written by a developer for developers, and the author goes to great lengths to demonstrate all the concepts presented in the book. In my opinion, this book scores highly in many areas.

The author assumes a basic knowledge of SQL, but he thoroughly explains every step of SQL Server's XML functionality along the way. The book even compares and contrasts the SQL Server implementation of XML to the W3C and ISO standards, pointing out where the SQL Server implementation differs.

However, while the book assumes this basic understanding, any developer interested in getting the most out of SQL Server's XML functions will find the book both informative and enjoyable. The author goes to great lengths to explain XML and why it's relevant in the database. This is absolutely the best reference for SQL Server XML that I've seen.


The author provides what he calls "Cross-Platform Tips" at various points to call attention to limitations of the SQL Server implementation, or areas where it differs from the standards. These types of tips, generously portioned throughout the book, are designed to keep people from wasting hours trying to figure out why the XQuery code sample they copied from the Internet (or some other source) isn't working as advertised on SQL Server. While this book is written for SQL Server 2008, much of the functionality described works with (or is similar to) SQL Server 2005 functionality (as the author points out, some notable exceptions include the added support for Geography Markup Language "GML", and the FLWOR statement "let" clause). As the book explains, the difference between SQL Server 2005 XML functionality and SQL Server 2008 XML functionality is not nearly as large as the leap was from SQL 2000 to 2005. New SQL Server 2008 features aside, this book works equally well as a reference to SQL Server 2005 XML functionality!



Another thing I like about this book is that the author builds on the code samples from one chapter to the next. There is a particularly detailed example of a hierarchical "bill of materials" that the author continually adds newly introduced functionality to over the course of a few chapters. He uses this example to demonstrate how to layer XML functionality to build an intricate application from a very basic premise. I really like the fact that this book provides examples and addresses the problems that most books go out of their way to avoid. Where many books give you a simple top-down hierarchical organization chart that's been done 100 times by 100 different people, this book gives you recursive XML Schemas. Instead of just rehashing the well-advertised SQL Server limitation that Document Type Definitions can't be used to validate your XML this book gives you working examples of code to get around the issue. The book provides many more real world examples, with some pretty intriguing ideas as well (like grabbing an XML RSS feed or searching eBay directly from SQL Server). A nice bonus: Almost all examples are designed to run directly in the AdventureWorks 2008 sample database, and all are freely downloadable from the publisher's website.



And this book doesn't just stop at the server. The author provides analysis of client-side tools including LINQ to XML, SQLXML, HTTP SOAP Endpoints, and a wide supporting cast of XML support tools - many that are provided "out of the box" with SQL Server.


This is the ultimate reference for all things XML on SQL Server 2008.
... Read more

Product Description

• Offering a unique approach to learning XML, this book walks readers through the process of building a complete, functional, end-to-end XML solution
• Featured case study is an online business product catalog that includes reports, data input/output, workflow, stylesheet formatting, RSS feeds, and integration with external services like Google, eBay, and Amazon
• The format of presenting a problem and working through the design to come up with a solution enables readers to understand how XML markup allows a business to share data across applications internally or with partners or customers even though they might not use the same applications

Customer Reviews (1)

Great book for "real-world" XML
Everybody or most of everybody that are in web design in some form or another have heard about XML or even used it a bit.But personally I feel there are a small amount of resources out there that really teach you how to use XML in "real-world" scenarios. It's nice to know what it is and know that many applications use it behind the scenes, but it still doesn't help people understand how to use it for our own web applications.

This book solves that problem wonderfully by first showing you first what XML is and how to format proper XML documents. Then the author discusses how to publish XML documents in a couple web site examples (web catalog for one) and showing how to style these documents using regular CSS and XSLT, schemas as well as other technologies such as XPath and XQuery.

Each chapter presents a new problem (rendering XML to print, searching and merging documents, integrating web services, RSS feeds) and goes through step by step in how to work it out with really nice code examples. You really don't need to read this book end to end to get the most out of it. Just pick a chapter and read through it since the author re-summarizes what was previously covered to bring you up to speed.

So for example, if you have XML documents that you need to integrate into a database (DB2, SQL Server, etc) or want to learn how to create XML documents from a database table(s) it first shows the necessary SQL to pull the data you need, then how to use various tools to create your format.

The book does use one program (Stylus Studio 2006) in particular but the author mentions other open-source programs that you can use as well (in Appendix too). A great little book (under 300 pages) that shows you some great uses for XML as well as teaching you how and why you should use it.

A great buy! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

Who is the target audience of this book?
As a Java programmer (not a web developer) that is interested in exploring the use of XML (for non-web based applications), this book is useless.Most books outline basic concepts and then provide examples with explanations of how these examples work and what they do.The following quote from the beginning of chapter 3 (page 41) demonstrates the author's take on this convention:

'I'm increasingly of the "learning is best done by doing" philosophy, so I'm not going to hit you with a bunch of concept and theory before getting to code.SAX is a simple API, so you only need to understand its basic model, and how to get the API on your machine; beyond that, code will be your best teacher.'

This loosely translates to "I'm just going to throw a bunch of samples at you.You can use trial and error (or read other books) to figure out what's going on."

If you are already familiar with using Java and XML together, then it might be interesting to read about the author's take on the topic.If, however, you want to learn how to use Java and XML together, the only thing this book really provides is a bunch of plugs for other O'Reilly books that (presumably) contain the information that is missing from this one.

OK, and better than the rest
While I have never much liked this book, I have found this better than the others I have and the book I turn to most.

I didn't know much about XML when I started, but I am now proficient at using the StAX parser thanks to this book. So there is some proof in the pudding there.The explanations and examples were sufficient, although not particularly expansive.The book provided me with enough knowledge to know which parser I needed to use, and I also a liked this book's coverage of JAXB.

I have Processing XML with Java(TM): A Guide to SAX, DOM, JDOM, JAXP, and TrAX, which doesn't cover Stax or JAXB (perhaps for good reason?) so I found it useless. Further I have Pro XML Development with Java Technology where I found the examples too encompassing, that is it requires you to become intimately involved with each example in order to follow it.

So compared to the other two books, Java & XML was the easiest book to use for learning, and the one that I would recommend for using Java and XML.

Best book on working directly with XML in Java
This is probably the best book currently out about working directly with XML and Java. It seems to be the most up to date with respect to coverage of the most commonly used Java XML APIs.The book gives a good overview of SAX, StAX, DOM, JDOM, dom4j, and JAXB.In reading the book, I got a good sense of the ideas behind the different API's.I also got a good sense ofand when and how to use them.After looking through many other Java-XML books, this one is my first choice.The book still functions well for me as a reference when I have an XML processing task that I need to do in Java.

Good for early XML w/ Java info
I'm not using the technology in this book right now, and just wanted an overview of Java and XML together.I never expected this book to be super-in-depth, if it was covering this broad space in a book that isn't huge.

The good points:I found the book fairly easy to read for at least the first third of the book.The rest seemed a bit dry, but I think that is largely because I was getting out of my depth.Once I'd worked with the early material some, I think the later material would have been more readable.

I got the information I was looking for, which was an overview of XML and how it connects to other tools in real life.The book also had lots of ideas for further reading.Handy.

The bad points:The author seems to have a blatant open-source bias.While that isn't shocking in a Java book, it does come across as a bit unprofessional, is somewhat little minded, and is distracting from the key subject matter.

Also, while this was a good overview, I was left feeling that more could have been said about XML, Java, web services, and working with client-server architectures.Another reviewer mentioned that these chapters were dropped from a previous edition.I will probably be looking for that previous edition to see if I like it better.

Of several XML books I've looked through, this is the only one so far I would consider buying. However, I will also be considering getting a more in-depth book for my bookshelf after checking this one out of the library for an introduction to the subject.

Poor packing resulted in damage
Although the seller's description of the book as being in good shape was surely truthful, their use of an envelope, rather than a more rigid shipping container resulted in the softcover book sustaining cosmetic damage during shipping. ... Read more

Product Description
Excel 2007 VBA Programming with XML and ASP offers a hands-on approach for those looking to extend and customize Excel functionality. From recording a simple macro and writing VBA code to working with XML documents and using ASP to access and display data, this book takes you on a programming journey that will change the way you work with Excel!Learn how to: Automate spreadsheet tasks with macros. Write VBA code to program PivotTables, generate charts, build dialog boxes, and customize the Ribbon. Handle errors and debug programs. Create hyperlinks and publish HTML files. Retrieve data from the web directly into Excel. Develop and manipulate smart tags using XML. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Resource for VBA programming involving XML
This book is an excellect resource for those people trying to expand their capability in programming in Excel VBA when it involves manipulating XML. ... Read more

Product Description
* Covers all the most recent XML core and related specifications including XML 1.1, J2EE 1.4, Microsoft .NET's latest iteration, as well as open source XML items from the Apache project.
* Strong coverage of XML use with databases, transactions, and XML security.
* Discusses both Microsoft (.NET) and Sun (Java) programming integration with XML, an approach not taken in any other book.
* Presents extensive business examples, including several major applications developed throughout the book.
* No previous exposure to XML is assumed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A good description of XML
This book does a great job at describing XML.It does not contain any exercise (although it contains some codes) to help you get your feet wet.
This is a good reference book.If you are a beginner, you will still need another book to help you get started.

Excellent book!
As a follow-up to the XML 1.1 Bible review, I took a look at the XML Programming Bible by Brian Benz with John Durant (Wiley).For those who want to use XML within their application development (as opposed to just web pages), this is the perfect follow-on book to have.

The chapter breakout...
Part 1 - Introducing XML - XML Concepts; XML Documents; XML Data Format and Validation; XML Parsing Concepts; Parsing XML with DOM; Parsing XML with SAX; XSLT Concepts; XSL Transformations; XSL Formatting Objects
Part 2 - Microsoft Office and XML - Microsoft XML Core Services; Working with the MSXML DOM; Generating XML from MS Access Data; Creating an Excel Spreadsheet from an XML Data Source
Part 3 - XML Web Applications Using J2EE - XML Tools for J2EE: IBM, Apache, Sun, and Others; Xerces; Xalan; XML APIs from Sun
Part 4 - Relational Data and XML - Accessing and Formatting XML from SQL Server Data; Accessing and Formatting XML from Oracle Data; Accessing and Formatting XML from DB2; Building XML-Based Web Applications with JDBC; Transforming Relational XML Output into Other Formats
Part 5 - Introducing Web Services - Web Services Concepts; SOAP; WSDL; UDDI; Microsoft Web Services; J2EE Web Services
Part 6 - Microsoft .Net and Web Services - Creating and Deploying .Net Web Services; Accessing .Net Web Services; Building a .Net Web Services Client
Part 7 - Web Services and J2EE - Web Service Tools for J2EE: IBM, Apache, Sun, and Others; Web Services with the Sun Java Web Services Developer Pack; Apache Axis; Access Web Services from Java Applications
Part 8 - Advanced Web Services - Accessing Relational Data via Web Services; Authentication and Security for Web Services; Index

I think I got finger cramps just typing all that!:-)

Seriously, there's really good material here.The assumption is made that you already understand basic XML technology.Benz doesn't spend an inordinate amount of time covering introductory material.Part 1 does do a bit of that, but only enough to establish the basic direction for the rest of the book.There is much more attention paid to XML concepts that come into play for programmers, such as the document object model of XML and how the two types of parsers (DOM and SAX) work.The rest of the book is highly practical, with examples of how to generate or access XML data using a variety of platforms, such as Microsoft Office, .Net, J2EE, Oracle, etc.

For me personally, I appreciate the emphasis on code and working examples.I have always learned more by taking something that works, tearing it apart, and using it as the basis for my own efforts.Benz has provided many examples that provide just that opportunity.Being that he doesn't restrict his writing to a single platform (like .Net or J2EE), this is one of few books that have a cross-over appeal to many technology platforms.If you happen to work in a shop that uses both Microsoft and Java technologies, you'll be able to get a single book that will assist you on both sides of the fence.

Basically, there's nothing I can find fault with for this book.It's solid writing of essential information you need for using XML in your various applications.This is a book that gets my highest recommendation.

Great Book!
Brian covers the topic areas complete, with examples and walkthroughs. Anyone who will touch more than 1 or 2 implementations of XML should have this book in their library.

Going from "heard of" to "knowing about" XML in a few mins
As a graduate student who had "heard of" XML and was given a brief (as in a half of a powerpoint slide) introduction, I found myself in need of a XML reference book for the new job I had taken.My first choice was unavailable at the local Barnes & Noble so I picked up a few book and browsed the pages that were related to what I was going to be doing (updating parser and API code).Not only was able to find what I was looking for in this book, but in the twenty second glance that I gave it I noticed that the physical layout of the book was easy on the eyes.

The books pages seemed to be made of the same material most for-pleasure reading books are composed of instead of the college textbook type material.While that may seem trivial to some, what good is a book if the pages within it evoke memories of long, don't-want-to-read-five-more-chapters-but-I-have-to-study-for-test-in-six-hours days?Its still a reference book but every little bit helps.

Like the original, this bible uses examples to help illustrate the various topics covered in the book.The examples are to the point and pretty easy to understand, and where necessary, some screen shots are provided to help as well.The book also has a very comprehensive listing of methods, their parameters, details of their usage, and what APIs/languages/libraries support them.The contents are well laid out, most of the time you can simply just start skimming and quickly find what your looking for without even visiting the index.

In all honesty, if you have never programmed anything more than a VCR in your life, this book is probably not something that you should start with.However, if you are going to be doing anything XML related then this a very good book to have within arms reach.

I�ve found my new favorite XML resource.
Because I do a lot of XML and XSLT my shelves are littered with XML and XSLT books. Although the information I am looking for is somewhere on the shelf, I sometimes have a hard time finding it. The first part of the XML Programming Bible largely fixes this problem. It provides the core information in an easy to find manner. For example, the XML Schema (XSD) elements are alphabetically listed as a group instead of broken out on the basis of there task. It also includes the type of minutiae I occasionally can't avoid - like the long list of the current DOM working drafts. This part of the book hit the right slot for me between a primer and deeper reference texts that sometimes obscure basic information with more details than I want to accomplish a given task.

The second and third sections offer an overview of using XML in Office and J2EE respectively. The fourth section is an overview of interacting with relational data. This part is a light reference into technologies like SQLXML but it should be enough to get you started, such as interacting directly with SQL Sever with FOR XML and updategrams. The book ends with four sections on Web Services. The nice thing about the WebServices sections is that it covers a bunch of technologies used on both .NET and Java/Unix platforms. The coverage of individual technologies isn't deep, but it's enough to understand the basic approach and capabilities of each tool. I don't need this type of information often, but nothing previously on my shelf covered this range of technologies.

This isn't a book for rank XML beginners. It doesn't spend waste explaining well-known fundamentals or the grisly history of schemas. Nor is it an in depth reference on any of the topics it covers. But it captures the depth I need when I'm trying to remember some specific piece of information, need a quick review, or need to dive into something I haven't done before - like working with XML from Excel. ... Read more

Product Description

Essential Skills--Made Easy!

Get started programming in XML right away with help from this hands-on tutorial. XML: A Beginner's Guide explains how to store data in and retrieve data from XML documents, format data with Cascading Style Sheets, display data in Web browsers, and use Java and JavaScript. The book covers the latest innovations in XML, including Ajax, XHTML, XPath 2.0, XSLT 2.0, and the new XQuery specification. Now it's easier than ever to learn how to create your own XML solutions!

Designed for Easy Learning:

• Key Skills & Concepts--Lists of specific skills covered in the chapter
• Try This--Hands-on exercises that show how to apply your skills
• Numerous screenshots--Examples that illustrate real-world results
• Annotated Syntax--Example code with commentary that describes the programming techniques being illustrated

Customer Reviews (2)

A shocker
This book is a dreadful mix of repetitive, redundant code chunks and a strained chatty style of writing.It will leave most readers determined never to go near XML again.Indeed, nowhere in the book are reasons why you would wish to use it. But worse is that the book focuses on Internet Explorer exclusively, including Active-X and Microsoft's non-standard brand of the DOM.Under the aegis of XHTML Transitional it introduces beginners to the likes of the "popular" tag with all its long-deprecated attributes, not to mention many other deprecated tags, inline JavaScript event handlers, and other aspects more suited to the state of markup in 1999than to 2009 - the year of publication.

During the course of the book there is no signal to the reader that this or that code approach is proprietary and not standard.If beginners wish to learn standards-compliant, interoperable code and where and why you might want to deploy it, they should give this book a wide berth.

I'm sorry to have to write a negative review - rare for me.

Excellent for all levels of experience
I highly recommend this title. There is something for everyone regardless of your level of expertise. ... Read more

Product Description
Offers a careful explanation of XML-based systems development, for faculty, students, and professionals. Includes extensive pedagogic features, including Internet resources. The CD-ROM contains thousands of hyperlinks and other information. System requirements: Pentium 133 MHz+ processor, Windows 95+ or Linux 6.0+, CD-ROM drive and Internet access. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Not a complimentary book to E-business and E-commerce
I bought this text thinking it would compliment the E-business and E-commerce How to Program text (it was recommended that way).However, it is really just a reconstituted version of the other text, which also falls short of its advertised use.Don't waste your money!

Solid XML Book
I read some of the other reviewer's comments on the book and I agree with some and disagree with others. In comparison to other popular XML books it's not perfect but it's solid. If you are like me, a beginning XML programmer then you need to learn XML hands on and the book gives just that. Giving you examples and problems to apply what you just read is the best way to learn and thats what this book does. I read the "XML by Example" by Marchal and although that was a solid book also, it doesnt give you the material or examples for YOU to practice. Marchal doesnt offer the code samples for download either. One reviewer said that in order to complete this book's self review exercises you have to use outside sources. This is true but think about it...what better way to learn than by being challenged?

I also read some of Erik T. Wray's (O'reilly series) XML book. That book is the better of all 3 books in my opinion but again it doesnt offer you that hands on material that I need. Love or hate the Deitel's books, the bottom line is that until these other authors challenge the enthusiast on whatever topic they are writing about people will always turn to these books. Yes the line by line styles are annoying but you know exactly what functions, (tags in this case) the author is referencing. Theory is great but the only way you will truly know any language you learn is by doing it! Last but not least I DO NOT WORK FOR THE COMPANY!!!!!!

Not suitable for self-teaching, barely good for classroom
I recently took an XML class at my university, and Deitel's "XML How to Program" was our textbook.

I have to say, it's one of my least-favorite XML books--nay, one of my least-favorite *computer* books overall.

Sure, it's thick and heavy, something many geeks like in a book (myself included).But within the covers are sometimes rambling discussions about a particular topic that leave you still wondering what you were supposed to learn, while other sections get cut short just when things are getting interesting.

My biggest beef: You won't be able to complete some of the exercises without the use of outside resources.Of course, multiple sources are great for any project, but you should certainly be able to answer a book's exercises with just that book!(Specifically, one exercise was within the XSLT chapter, and deals with a number-type element.)

When I was assigned to write an essay on a topic, XML Topic Maps, I first consulted the book.Only a couple of paragraphs as I recall.RDF, an up-and-coming XML technology, gets nary a page.

Mind you, there is a bit of good in the book, mainly with the introductory material.It's a bit Java-centric, but that's to be expected, and there is a decent Java primer in the back of the book.I also appreciate the code samples on both the CD-ROM and Deitel's Web site.

I wanted to like the book, but I found it useless for most of the projects I was working on.In a different class, we used Marchal's "XML by Example, 2/e", and I vastly prefer that book over this one.Especially with the price of the Deitel book, I can't recommend this one to anyone.

Very clear, good learning book - not perfect though.
I much enjoyed this book as the presentation of complex topics is made very clear. I feel that this book helped me to understand several topics that I never fully understood before (for instance XLink).

Generally the approach in this book is to give a clear and concise coverage of each important topics. This is the best approach to learn but reader should be aware that the coverage is not exhaustive enough for the book to serve as reference. In fact I would have prefered that the author added complete reference on several topics (XML DOM, XPath, XSLT, XSLFO) instead of the 'bonus programming chapter'.

The book is catered for programmers. As a result the table of content will satisfy programmers (unlike many beginning XML books it gives ample coverage of XML APIs) but examples are sometimes non-trivial and written in high-level programming languages. Although generally, it must be said that effort has been made to use various programming languages (i.e. Perl, Java, ASP, etc) so that everybody should find some useful examples.

I would have prefered additional coverage of XML services, SOAP, etc. Also, I found that several chapters (Programming java, programming Perl, etc.), while not useless, were clearly off topic and added to fill-in pages. Only other criticism is that the book is really quite expensive. However, it is one of the best book to LEARN xml (even though you may require additional reference to use it).

One last thing: do not buy the CD ROM training kit of the book. The CD ROM included is very disappointing.

Edit: I wrote this review a while back. Since then, I revisited the book and I must say that it does appear dated. In particular the coverage of schema (an important topic) fails to suitably cover the W3C Schema recommendation and focusses mostly on Microsoft's version of schema which are now hardly used. For this reason, I would recommend another book instead (for instance, Beginning XML from Wrox) until the publisher comes with an updated edition.

GET THIS BOOK!Wonderful format, etc
This book was written in easily understood jargon that helped take the mystery out of XML programming for me.Additionally, the links to actual working code allowed me the opportunity to watch it work.The self review and tests at the end of each chapter really ensures that you get everything out of the chapter that you need to continue on.Loved it.You will, too. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (33)

Good Reference along with Introductory Info
I had worked with XSLT for some time when I purchased this book.I needed something to help me move to the next level.This book provided a lot of help to improve XSLT scripts I wrote.The book is relatively large compared to other cookbooks I've used (over 700 pages) which means it is full of good recipes.

I expected this book to be a cookbook and, as such, have solutions to common problems.It definitely offers that.It has a good structure that includes recipes for discrete problems such as string and date/time manipulation.It also has recipes for advanced composite scenarios such as XML to SVG, code generation, and extending XSLT.

One of my favorite aspects of this book is that it provides some foundational, introductory information as well.It's not *just* a cookbook.There is a chapter dedicated to XPath as well as chapters on Testing, Debugging, and Functional Programming.This is excellent for those who both want to advance their skills from beginner or from intermediate.

I think XSLT is an often overlooked yet powerful tool and I rely on this book to help me with XSLT generation.It has been useful in many scenarios such as customizing SharePoint data views, converting XML data to XHTML for display, modifying 3rd-party-generated XML for saving and restoring in custom situations, and for streamlining data storage.And this book has helped me with all of that.

Truth in Advertising
Having twenty years of experience in programming, but being a novice with XSL, I needed help on a project. I purchased this book for its title, hoping to gleam examples that may assist with what I needed. I was not disappointed! This book is filled with example XSL transformation code! But, buyer beware! This book is for developers with knowledge of XSLT. If you need to learn the language, then purchase the XSLT for Dummies book, it is quite competent in it's content. (I did.) But for what the title indicates it is, then it is a fantastic purchase! I highly recommend this book, as it saved me through the project I was assigned.

Better Than The Internet
While much of the examples can be gleamed from the internet, they are organized and indexed very usefully here.

I do very little XSLT, and this book has saved me countless hours of research and development.

Note that this book is not for beginners.And that makes it even better.

Excellent reference book
Excellent reference book for what I need to do. I learn XSLT in a hard way by myself with no aware of existence of this great book. I found code sniped on internet, this book is time saver with lots of great examples with practical use. The review before this review was dated 2008, I guess XSLT is not hot any more, eh? At least this is not popular technology.

XSLT Cookbook by Sal Mangano
This book is a real eye-opener about what and how can be done with XSLT. It is a great Cookbook with a huge variety of extremely useful solutions for various problems.
Viktor Melekhine
... Read more

Product Description
* Updated and better than ever, this more focused revision provides comprehensive coverage of XML to anyone with a basic understanding of HTML and Web servers
* Featuring all-new examples, this book contains everything readers need to know to incorporate XML in their Web site plans, designs, and implementations
* Continues expert Elliotte Rusty Harold's well-known track record for delivering the best XML guidance available
* Includes coverage of the most recent XML 1.1 specification and the latest trends in XML Web publishing
* Companion Web site includes additional examples and reference material found in previous editions that readers may find usefulAmazon.com Review
The emergence of XML is having an enormous impact on Webdevelopment, and scaling the learning curve of this new technology isa priority for many developers. The XML Bible offers a superbintroduction to the subject and the groundwork to understand XML'sfuture developments.

Author Elliotte Rusty Harold uses a patient,step-by-step discussion that clearly points out the potential of XMLwithout boring his readership with tons of SGML spec-speak. Haroldopens quickly with a "Hello World" example to get the reader codingearly, and follows that with a simple but powerful example of XML'sdata management benefits--presenting baseball statistics. Once you'vecoded your first XML documents, you'll be hooked on the technology andmotivated to learn about the more sophisticated topics.

Style sheetlanguages are covered comprehensively to illustrate the presentationpossibilities and pitfalls. An unusually long list of real-life XMLapplications also shows how XML is already being used, and there isin-depth coverage of the Resource Description Framework, ChannelDefinition Format, and Vector Markup Language. The book wraps up witha section that helps you design your own XML application fromscratch.

Titling a book a bible is a bold move, but thisengaging and informative guide is entitled to make thisclaim. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered: XMLbackground, example XML applications, type definitions (DTDs), stylelanguages, Xlinks, Xpointers, Namespaces, application planning, andXML 1.0 specification. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

Great For Beginners
This book is not only concise, but breaks down the process of creating XML apps into small steps that anyone could follow.Before purchasing this book, I also checked out XML for Dummies and a few others.This book was much easier to understand and is completely thorough.

Verbose
I bought Harold's book to help me move from XHTML to XML and to handle data with PHP which does not fit well in a relational database / SQL.This book bogs down quickly in very long explanations & examples which could have been a fraction of the size.I think it has good coverage, but Harold uses too many words every time he approaches a subject.To paraphrase someone else, Harold could write 10,000 words on the color red.

The problem with Wiley's Bible series (I have several of them) is that the goal seems to be to make them as big and heavy as a boat anchor.This results in verbose books, which may be ok for use as a reference but way to hard to read cover to cover for initial learning.The time needed to read these books cover to cover exceeds the value of the book itself.If you buy books by the pound (or kilo), this is a good buy.But if you value your time more than you value impressive size, there are better alternatives.

On a positive note:I have not found a bunch of typo or editing errors and Harold seems to know the subject.I'm just frustrated by the slow pace, although I will continue trying to read it at least a little longer.

Warning: [Some opinions given here appear to be by paid reviewers.ie: Feb 3, 2005, and others.How many others are also raw attempts to sell books without honor?Can you trust anyone who writes hundreds or thousands of 5 star opinions??Heck no!Hint: Check out the person writing the review before actually reading it.Look for how many opinions he/she writes and how many stars.Distrust all high opinions in the first few months after publication, all high opinions by people who have only written a couple of opinions, and all high opinions from people who only write high opinions.Thanks for the lack of honesty Elliotte &/or Wiley &/or big A.(my opinion, 2 cma).]

Doesn't cover DOM and SAX
I haven' read the book, only browsed its TOC. It doesn't cover the Document Object Model (DOM) and the Simple API for XML (SAX). It also discusses CSS in too much detail. These days, web development professionals will probably have a knowledge of both HTML and CSS before starting with XML.

Consider "Beginning XML" or "Professional XML" instead, both published by Wrow.

Pulp paper
I have purchased many books from Amazon, but this one is printed on the lowest-quality paper I've ever experienced.Though it's relatively new, the yellowed pages look like a 1960's pulp novel.There is literally a 2mm yellow border surrounding each page.Come on "Hungry Minds" publishers, you can do better than this.

Sola Scriptura
Review for XML 1.1 Bible (3rd Edition):

Elliotte Rusty Harold is that rare technical author who can write about anything and make it interesting.In this case, he has written 1,000 pages on XML providing us with an excellent guide book to this technology.Whether you are a beginner or advanced user of XML, there will be something in this book for you.

The book is divided into five parts.The first part discusses the basics of XML giving us an introduction to what XML is, what it is used for, and explaining the basics of creating a well-formed XML document.Part two discusses DTDs and explains how namespaces are used.Part three looks at various style languages including CSS and XSL.The section on CSS will be useful to anyone wishing to use CSS to format their HTML documents.Part four gives us a tour of some supplemental XML technologies including XLinks, XPointers, XInclude, and Schemas.The chapter that most interested me was on Schemas and the explanations were clear and complete, leaving no mystery about how to use this technology.The final part looks at a few XML applications including XHTML, RDDL, and SVG.The book does not cover writing programs to process XML documents using SAX or DOM, for example.The author has another book on that topic if that is of interest to you.

Each part of the book does an exceptional job of explaining the topic.The author gives us plenty of examples to make the text crystal clear.The author writes as a colleague helping out fellow programmers and not as an instructor droning away at a blackboard.You really get the idea that the author enjoys XML and enjoys explaining it.If you are interested in working with XML this book is truly an indispensable guide.
... Read more

Product Description
In Microsoft's Office 2003, users experience the mergerof the power of the classic Office suite of applications with thefluidity of data exchange inherent in XML. With XML at its heart, thenew version of Microsoft's desktop suite liberates the informationstored in millions of documents created with Office software over thepast fifteen years, making it available to a wide variety of programs.

Office 2003 XML offers an in-depth exploration of the relationshipbetween XML and Office 2003, examining how the various products in theOffice suite both produce and consume XML.Developers will learn howthey can connect Microsoft Office to others systems, while power userswill learn to create and analyze XML documents using familiar Officetools.

The book begins with an overview of the XML features included in thevarious Office 2003 components, and explores in detail how Word,Excel, and Access interact with XML.This book covers both the userinterface side, creating interfaces so that users can comfortably (andeven unknowingly) work with XML, and the back end, exposing Officeinformation to other processes. It also looks at Microsoft's newInfoPath application and how it fits with the rest of Office. Finally,the book's appendices introduce various XML technologies that may beuseful in working with Office, including XSLT, W3C XML Schema, RELAXNG, and SOAP.Office 2003 XML provides quick and clear guidance to aanyone who needs to import or export information from Office documentsinto other systems. Both XML programmers and Office power will learnhow to get the most from this powerful new intersection between Office2003 and XML. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good concise introduction to Office XML and Smart Documents
This book provides a good overview of Microsoft's Office XML formats. In addition to covering these formats, it also provides some useful material related to Microsoft Office smart documents, an extension mechanism for Microsoft Office applications.

Note: Microsoft Office XML is completely distinct from the Open Office.org XML format (OASIS OpenDocument) which is not covered in this book.

<w:t> Loved it! </w:t>
Clear, concise, and packed with practical knowledge. I work with XML, XSLT, and C# for a living, and this book had me using XSLT to whip up WordprocessingML documents in no time. I especially appreciated learning how to turn off the default "Word" display of ML documents in Internet Explorer. I'm also using Evan's great XSLT that mimics Word's "data-only" output format-- as part of a process to validate foreign tag sets in WordML documents. Thank you!

If you think you might need it - BUY IT
This book answers a very specific need - you are working with the new Office xml formats. If you are directly reading or writing WordML, SpeeadsheetML, or the other xml formats - stop what you are doing, buy this book, and read it. It will put you miles ahead.

Clear, concise, and about as complete as it can be with Microsoft's incomplete documentation to work from. I had it open on my desk next to me the whole time I was working with these file formats.

It has some stuff for InfoPath and Office WebServices. I didn't read those part but the rest is so well written I would bet that part is indespensible too.

Excellent resource for end-users and developers
I've read the Addison Wesley book on Microsoft's new Office XML standards and this book is much much better. The book covers four applications; Word, Excel, Access and Infopath. It covers both the storage XML format for Word and Excel, as well as the use of XML within Word and Excel itself from the end-user side. The coverage of the storage format is excellent, and that, being a developer, is something I can appreciate.

For end-users of Word and Excel who are just looking to consume XML in your document or spreadsheet, or to mine XML using Infopath, this is a well written book that is worth your money and you can ignore the technical segments. For engineers looking to work with the new Microsoft XML storage formats you will find a lot to like here, and you may just find some cool things to do with XML to do on the forward facing end-user side of the house.

Much nicer way to get at MS Office data
Hurrah! Microsoft has said for several years that it strongly supports XML. Well MS Office 2003 is one of the first major products that conforms to this. As you probably know, earlier versions read and wrote to Microsoft's own doc format. A binary format. Third party developers then had to write code to read and write files in this format. Doable, but certainly an aggravation to some, given the complexity of the format.

Which is why MS Office 2003 was eagerly awaited. Now, XML is a fully supported data format. It also lets you see in an easy and direct way the complexity of deciphering the doc format, if you had never tried to do that firsthand.

Here, the book walks you through the various XML outputs and their associated schemas. There is the usual XML verbosity. (No surprises here.) But you can now read, in plaintext, how the suite structures its code in an OO fashion. So much nicer!

Not that the book is trivial. Manyexamples show how a lot of XML's capabilities are used. Like namespaces, XSLT, XSL and XPath. A reassuring point is that your needs might not have to extend to all these usages. The book also has many very simple XML examples that could be germane. ... Read more

Product Description
XML (Extensible Markup Language)has emerged as the industry standard for describing data for e-commerce, particularly forbusiness-to-business exchange. Oracle Corporation supports XML in a wide rangeofproducts, and the company describes Oracle8i, its "Internet database"as "the first XML-enabled database."XML is a key part ofthe company's e-business strategy.Building Oracle XML Applications gives both Java and PL/SQLdevelopers a rich and detailed look at therange of available OracleXML technologies. The book shows how tocombine the power of XML andXSLT with the speed, functionality,and reliability of the Oracledatabase to build flexible applications. The author delivers nearly 800pages of entertaining text, helpful and time-saving hints, and extensiveexamples that developers can put to use immediately to build custom XMLapplications.Products covered include:

XSQL pages and the XSQL servlet JDeveloper XSLT Processor XML Parser interMedia Advanced Queuing

This fast-paced handbook is packed with example code. The presentation is clear, and the technical content is based on the author's deep knowledge of Oracle in general and XML technologies in particular. Highly recommended.--Tim Anderson, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Nice, but out of date
Unless you're still running 7 or 8i, I can't recommend this book.As another reviewer noted, Oracle has added a lot of XML features in 9i and 10g.The content itself is great -- the authors should consider a second edition that covers the current Oracle XML features.

Good Book
If you want to learn about using Oracle's XML packages and functions, this is a good book.It fills in for the lack of Oracle documentation.

THE book for Oracle and XML
This book with real working code samples saved the day for me when building an XML Loader.One drawback: It doesn't explain XSL real well which is crucial for transforming your XML document into the canonical format so I really give it 4.5 stars.

Good reference for old versions of Oracle
This book was written in 2000, prior to 9i, which has added a lot of functinality.If you already know XML well and need to augment the rather pathetic Oracle Press books and Oracle On-Line documention, then this is the best book I have read. Many of the examples used in the book do not reflect the real-world examples I have had to deal with, so keep an open mind.

Many XML details are assumed by the author or are skipped-over entirely, so if you do not know XML, pick-up an XML book at the same time.

The book is dominated by Java; relatively little PL/Sql coverage.

One of the best Oracle books recently
This is one of the best Oracle books I've read for the last 2-3 years. It combines the importance of the subject with the depth and clarity of presentation technique. For instance, Ch.5 can serve not only as XML with PL/SQL but also as a great source of the PL/SQL scripts and approaches. The author deserves very high marks for the job he's done. I wish I had more books like this.
Vad Roytman,
Oracle DBA ... Read more

Product Description
Access 2007 Programming by Example with VBA, XML, and ASP shows non-programmers how Access databases can be created, managed, and customized with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) a powerful programming language built into Access. Hundreds of hands-on examples and projects throughout the book show users how to take charge of their Access databases with programming.Learn how to: Write and debug your programming code with the Visual Basic Editor. Access and manipulate databases with Data Access Objects (DAO) and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO). Use the Data Definition Language (DDL) to enforce data integrity and manage database security. Modify the behavior of forms, reports, and controls by writing event procedures. Publish dynamic Access data to the web using Active Server Pages (ASP) and Extensible Markup Language (XML). Work with the new features for tables, forms, reports, macros, and templates that are available in the Access 2007 user interface. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Covers obscure topics well but code has errors
In particular, the chapter on Arrays.Most books skip this topic entirely or will have a page or 2.This has an entire chapter on it, with many "complete" examples, and the reason I bought the book. This may, in fact, be the definitive reference for arrays. But there is a remarkable error in that chapter, which describes how, for 2D arrays, the first index is for rows, the second for columns, such as Array(rowindex,columnindex).But I discovered, after a few hours of confusion, that it's the other way around!The problem is evident from the continuous "out of range" errors I was getting. I had to print.debug almost every cell in my array to confirm this. Also, the SELECT statement in the example that uses the GetRows Method to fill a 2D array (ironically not in the chapter on Arrays) should include the ORDER BY clause, so the data in the array will be in the same order as in the table from which it's importing. I was printing the table, for reference, but the array was, not obviously, sorted in a different order!For sure, the code in these books often doesn't work, but I'm sure it's hard to proof all the code, since typos in code just aren't as obvious as with regular prose.

Not exactly the whole nine yards
I'll keep this brief: It's a pretty good book, but doesn't cover everything.For example, OpenArgs is not mentioned at all.

Not what you think!!!!!
I tried this book because I thought it would be a good book which would teach me, a complete novice, how to program in Access with VBA. Not only were the fist few pages of this book complete garbage, half of the exercises in the book don't make sense or have code that works. I stood there frustrated for hours trying to understand why the code in the book doesn't work the same way when I tried the exercises. I don't know how people are giving this book 5 out of 5 stars, but they are completely wrong. DO NOT USE THIS BOOK FOR VBA!!!!! I haven't tried this whole book out yet, but I do know that it's not all that it's cracked out to be.

So Good I bought 2
This is not a book for beginners but if you want to learn the in's and out's of Access VBA this is the book for you!I bought 1 for work and one for home.I use the examples everyday.

This is the way to learn to program Access
I have been trying to learn how to program Access for a few years and this is the only book that I am confident will help me master programming Access 2007.I purchased the Access 2003 version last year and then the 2007 Access a couple months ago.To my surprise, Ms. Korol had added more than 200 pages to ensure that folks understand how to use Access 2007's new features, including the Multi-value Data Type, Attachment Data Type, Append Only Memo Field, Rich Text Memo Field, and PDF/XPS files. Although I have not studied it yet, there's an entire chapter on customizing the Ribbon.

The very best aspect of the book is that it contains code samples for just about everything that you'll need to build a robust Access application.Most code samples are given as both DAO and ADO.

You'll still need other books in your Access library but you'll probably want two copies ofAccess 2007 Programming by Example -- one for home and one for the office.This book will save you lots of time on user community boards whether you are a beginner or an advanced developer. And although the first section says no previous programming experience is necessary, I would still recommend a beginning Access VBA course or programming class. ... Read more

Product Description
Here's the eminently practical, pocket-sized reference for Web developers and IT professionals working with XML, XSL, and XSLT. This portable guide delivers a brisk overview of XML, and quickly proceeds to such topics as DTD components, document modeling, document formatting, and XML standards-including XSL, XLink, and XPath. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Best XML book out there
This book is an excellent resource for anyone who needs to use xml and doesn't know what that means.

The author breaks everything down in the smallest usable parts and then explains what is going on. This approach makes using this book to compose complex solutions very natural for an OO programmer. The layout is such that you can find what your looking for very quickly, and the Index is very Itemized.. like a good XML document should be.

I had been using a friends copy, but loved it so much I bought one for myself... good reference for the novice and experienced.

Money's worth
Pretty much what I was looking for. Relatively thin book packed with 'to the point' info, with mostly unambigious explanation. Have not found any printing mistakes yet.
Money's worth.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
If you are a knowledgable IT professional and need to either learn XML or increase your knowledge quickly, this book is for you. Complete, fast-paced, no dead wood, and designed with the busy IT professional in mind. It reminds me of the Wrox "Handbook" series.

It's 370 pages but half-size, so equivalent to a normal-size 185-page book. Best book purchase I've made all year. Weird for an MSPress book to be so good :-)

Take the hint, MS Press... make all of your books like this!

Buy this book!
I seldom award five stars but this book deserves it.If you can only buy one XML reference book, buy this one; if you have XML books that you're not satisfied with, buy this one: The XML Pocket Consultant is *the* XML "sleeper" title.

In my mind, I've retitled the XML Pocket Consultant "The XML Comprehensive Quick Reference."The book presents every aspect of XML and related technologies in a clear, crisp, understandable style. The book's excellent content is augmented by a professionally crafted visual style (page layout, whitespace, typeface, headings, list construction, examples) that facilitates information access and transfer; I mention this because too many books of this type look like they were designed and produced using consumer-level desktop publishing software.

I'm not normally this enthusiastic about a book, but The XML Pocket Consultant is truly a treasure: It's the single most useful, helpful, 5.5" x 8" x 1.2" compendium of XML information I've so far found.

Fantastic
"XML Pocket Consultant" is the best XML book on the market. It is really worth every penny. This book is packed with useful information. My biggest disappointment is that I had such a hard time find the book. For anyone wanting to learn XML, XSL, XPath this is the book I recommend. ... Read more

Product Description
XML, the Extensible Markup Language, is a platform-independent language for describing data. The XML and related specifications, as well as the Document Object Model, have all been developed with language independence in mind. This was done to allow any programmer to use these powerful protocols and object models in their own language of choice, thus providing a huge development potential for the XML community and offering a myriad of opportunities to developers working with established technologies.

ASP has long been leading technology for server-side, dynamic web applications. And XML, as the newest markup language and a standard format for the universal sharing of data, is undoubtedly set to become an intrinsic part of all major development both on the Web, and in the wider business community. The next generation of web sites will inevitably combine these technologies as e-commerce matures and developers look for more efficient ways to integrate Internet presence with business systems. Amazon.com Review
Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) are two of the hottest Web technologies, but each, because it is a complex topic in its own right, usually is documented individually. Professional ASP XML ties the two together in an important way, illustrating how to utilize them both to produce next-generation Web applications.

This product of several Wrox authors shows how and where XML fits in with ASP development, and whets the reader's appetite for creative solutions to typical data-handling problems. Because the focus of the book is a step beyond the XML specification itself, the basics of XML are covered up front in a quick and practical discussion. The authors do a great job of explaining the Document Object Model, as well as the DTD-versus-schema controversy. Then it's on to the fun stuff: a look at how to build XSL style sheets dynamically from a database, bind XML data locally with data islands, and construct a component that encapsulates reusable XML file operations.

The best way to grasp the power of XML, however, is to see it in action. Fortunately, the authors devote a large portion of the book to case studies that use XML in various ways: to drive an online survey system, generate programmer documentation for DLLs, represent a shopping cart, and serve as the glue behind a workflow application. If you're developing for the Web, sooner or later you will find XML either useful or necessary. This book should be required reading for any serious ASP developer. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

• XML syntax
• DTDs and schemas
• XSL and CSS
• ASP/XML integration,
• ADO/XML integration
• Client-side XML data binding
• XML procedure libraries
• Schema repositories
• SOAP
• Data transferring
• Data presentation

Customer Reviews (31)

Notice the Dates on the Reviews
I got this book from a friend and after reading a few chapters I checked the Amazon reviews to see if "it was just me" or if this book was horrible. I was surprised to see it had even 3 1/2 starts. Then I read the reviews carefully...

Just days after the book came out, there was a rush of excellent reviews, most of which where only a few sentence long and lacked any detail. Then reality set in. People who really read it, universally hated it. -- And gave detailed examples why.

Now, I'm not going to say the original reviews where astroturf... but read them in order and watch the dates. Then consider you have a book with 14 authors all of whom use the internet and know the power of good Amazon reviews...

Things just don't add up.

Best for Programmers to implement XML in ASP
Excellent! for ones who are pro to ASP and need to intergrate XML with ASP! A must buy!

Best for Programmers to implement XML in ASP
This is definitely a good book for developers having good knowledge of ASP and XML and how to integrate XML in ASP. I just loved this book. People who say they don't like it, they have not read the book I am sure. Its sure worth the money!

Bad examples, choppy, dated and not for beginners
I'm a big fan of the WROX publications (for ASP in particular), but this book was a disappointment.The writing was choppy - as you might expect from a book with 14 guys on the cover.The examples were cryptic and raise more questions than they answer.

The author(s) seem to me to be attempting to impress us (and each other) with their knowledge of the subject rather than really trying to write a digestible explanation of ways to utilize XML in an ASP environment.

Not worth it (at all)
This book was a real dissapointment.

I LOVE wrox ASP 3.0 Ref and ADO 2.6 Ref. Maybe Wrox should have taken that approach with this book -- instead of trying to act like this book can in any way teach anything about XML.

The examples in this book are horrid, they aren't in depth enough, and more importantly, don't even correspond well with each other.

Too many of the chapters jump into the middle of a subject, then try to work back to the beginning and then forward to the end.

Trust me, I've read the first 5-7 chapters of this book and finally got so sick of all the ambiguity that I went out to the MS Site and learned more in 30 minutes there than I ever could have with this book.

Some of the case studies in the back are nice, and this book would have made a great reference (had they gone that route), but it is a horrible book to learn how to integrate XML with ASP.

Save your money. ... Read more

Product Description

XML is the de facto language for communication within and between distributed applications, whether theyre on the Internet or a corporate network. XML is successful because of two strengths: it has a highly-structured human readable format and it can be transmitted as pure text. No matter how disparate applications and their architectures may be, text files can always be read, and therefore can accept XML data. This makes XML-based solutions advantageous over rival technologies like remoting.

Customer Reviews (5)

Good Book, but obsolete
This is the best dot net 2.0 XML book around. The content is clear and objective, covering every XML class that you can use in an application.

But if you need to use XML, and framework 3.0 is not a problem, try looking for a LINQ for XML Book: faster, easier and much more simple!

And remember: LINQ for XML is the best LINQ part ever! The other LINQ classes are not so amazing like those ones.

Excellent starter for .NET & XML
I was looking for a book to get me started in XML. I wasn't interested in Web Services or anything like that, I just wanted to learn how to read through and do some clever things with XML.

This book really helped me a lot. This should be the starting place for all .NET programmers wanted to begin XML. I appreciate the book it has helped me tremendously.

Great C# XML Guide
This book is very well written with practical examples in C#. If you are an experienced developer you won't need much more. Enough said.

Solid book, broad but shallow
This book has a number of flaws, but it's still a useful book for learning about using XML in the .NET world.

There are a number of weakness in the book in that it's rather shallow and leaves out details or concerns on a number of topics.Examples include skimming over a DataSet's ability to infer a schema when reading data in.Are there any drawbacks?When would you use this?When might you want to avoid it?

So with the negatives out of the way, let me focus on the positives, because they're definitely there.There's a lot of content on a broad range of topics.There's a very solid introduction to XML which is soundly and concisely written.The discussion of SAX and DOM is nicely done, and there are a large number of fundamentals which are well-written.

You'll be able to learn the basics on things like XML's use of DTDs, how schemas roll into things, the basics of validation, and a number of other topics.The chapter on XML in ADO.NET has some good coverage on XML support in DataSets, and there are solid chapters on Web Services, SQL Server support, and a chapter which combines remoting, XML in ASP.NET, and configuration files.Joshi also wraps in a chapter on XML's role in WCF.

I think the book's a solid introduction to XML in the .NET world.

no more "pro" books for me
Book is extremly poorly written and covers just a little more than MSDN documentation.

The entire book is copy-pasted template paragraphs of the following format:
- 2-3 lines of code
- a paragraph of 5-10 lines explaining what it does, almost always following the same template:
"The code creates a class named Employee with five public properties: EmployeeID, FirstNmae, LastName, HomePhone and Notes... " page 284
"The code creates an instance of the proxy class... The code then binds..." 287
"The code creates a form-level var... The code then creates..." 288
"The code creates an instance ... It then sets..." 289...
and so on the entire book.

Imagine someone commenting every line of code he's written. EVERY line. And using the same copy-pasted phrase for that.

For example:
page 283 contains a simple class Employee with 5 simple properties (name, id etc.) Nothing more. That simpliest straight-forward code is spread over 2(!) pages (seriously, I can send you a scan of the page if you like, huge empty space in between the code lines), with a paragraph before the code and after, explaining what is inside this class.
... Read more

Product Description
St.Laurent's popular primer offers Web developers a quick start to understanding and implementing XML. This third edition of XML: A Primer, 3rd Edition, includes new developments in XML technology regarding XLink, XPointer, XPath and XSLT. This guide for Web developers explains the differences and similarities between SGML, HTML, and XML, and provides you with a solid understanding of how to create custom tags and Document Type Definitions (DTDs). You'll also find discussion on the impact of XML Schemas and RELAX.Amazon.com Review
Simon St. Laurent's foray into XML is best described by an adjective not often used with computer books: charming. From its portable size to its playful code examples, XML: A Primer is an interesting and well-crafted read. Stylistic considerations aside, it is also a useful introduction for anyone who does considerable work in HTML or SGML.

St. Laurent explains the nuanced differences between XML and HTML, stating, "Using XML requires a different focus, demanding that designers examine the way that their documents are built rather than the way they are formatted." He later comments, "XML doesn't go nearly as far as SGML in requiring conformance to standards, but it may still come as a shock to HTML developers. XML standards refer to processors (parsers), not to browsers, because much XML development will be intended for machine-readable data applications rather than graphically exciting web pages."

If you are curious about the hype surrounding XML, ready for an XML book you can read cover to cover, and comfortable with lengthy code examples, XML: A Primer will offer you the knowledge you need to understand this emerging technology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Not for curious folk!
I'm a web developer who knows both HTML and CSS. I bought this book wondering what the world of XML could be about. I was told that it was the "future" of the internet or something. I browsed some online tutorials, and found that this was not just some simple language you could learn in a couple weeks. As I opened the book, I started reading the introduction. The beginning of the book is very interesting because St. Laurent gets into much detail about where XML came from and the roots of practically every language it derived from (like C). But as I read on into the book, he was very wordy. this book needed a CD-ROM with it. The language itself is very simple. But there are many rules that you must follow. To a typical, experienced developer his language is probably most understandable. As I was reading about DTDs n such (i had to read it over a bzillion times) I got even more confused. Finally, I just decided to put it down. His explanations were NOT in layman's terms so the curious user could understand. True, he did give lengthy explanations, but it could be because I read it all during school in small snippets. I never tried out his onlione stuff he has pasted all over the book. What I'm saying is I don't think this book is for curious new users. Maybe users thatr understand all the basic stuff, then just wanna use it as a reference or be told why exactly something does something. A user said earlier that he doesn't leave the reader guessing random code. Well, if you flip thru the back, you can see that the lengthy code pages offer tiny explanations. The IS a ton of code pages. Just thought I'd point that out. I would not recommend this book to anyone. The cheapest is not always the best.

Great Introduction
I first read this book a few years ago, and still read excerpts from it periodically as friends get involved.In one of the early chapters, St Laurent basically asserts that WYSIWYG was actually a technological setback.I knew at that point I was going to enjoy the book.

If you're into computer science, and want to understand the technology - this is a great place to start.

Still the Best Place to Start
It's February 2001, and this book still does a better job of explaining what XML is all about than ones with a 2001 copyright date. St. Laurent's understanding of a Primer is right on target. Instead of having tons of code for the reader to cluelessly hammer out, he explains how XML works, and so when the reader does code the examples, he understands far better what's going on. The explanation of the Document Object Model is unmatched in any of the other books published on XML. Likewise, the crucial topic of Document Type Definitions (DTD) is handled far better and in intelligent detail than anything published since.

Unfortunately, XML is deceptively complex. While it doesn't take a rocket scientist to crank up an XML file, toss in some CSS and claim XML is yet another programming language one has conquered, understanding how the DTD works requires more than a couple of examples and a reassuring pat on the shoulder that the reader can do it in an afternoon. What St. Laurent does, and does well, is to prepare the serious developer/programmer for understanding XML. To be sure, the book represents a foundation for using XML and is not an entire treatise on all that XML can do. However, unlike some of the books I've seen on XML that contain code that will not validate (including on their CD ROMs), this book gets it right. If you want to get XML right, this book is the place to start.

Update: This book is really bad. Get Beginning XML instead.
Data organization is XML's strength, making it an excellent mechanism for transfering information from one application to another -- whether it is a database, a legacy system, or a web site.Strangely, the author never really gets the point across.

Even near the end of the book, the author only briefly mentions the XML parsing tool called SAX (the popular XML/Java API).Unfortunately, he fails to provide details on it use.SAX offers an easy way for computers to read an XML file and extract the data.Perl and Active Server Page APIs are also available for those who do not program in Java.But, data organization is only one of the strengths of XML.Many others exist. (The author misses these, too.)

This book is the worst technical book I've ever purchased.If it were feasible, I'd give it negative stars.If you are interested in learning AND using XML's capabilities, check out David Hunter's "Beginning XML".Compare the table of contents. You'll see the difference.

A very disappointing book for software developers
Some people appear to really like this book.It has received many glowing reviews, but I can only shake my head in disagreement.This book is a dud -- too much text, and not enough practical advise or code examples.

The author could not adequately describe how to use basic XML components such as Document Type Definitions (DTDs), and failed to show how Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) can be used to display XML on the web.

If you are a web programmer or need to do something useful with

XML, look elsewhere.This is not the book for you.In fact, I'm selling this book.Wanna buy it?I'll use the proceeds to purchase "Beginning XML" by Kurt Cagle. That book looks promising. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Could have been better
This book has a few shortcomings. The author goes about building a toy CMS that stores various content types. One of the content types is an article. A big disappointment is that he uses a CDATA section to encapsulate the content of an article - it simply contains XHTML tags. I was quite disappointed when I saw this because it cheapened the book and gave it less technical depth. A more suitable example would have been to use simplified Docbook or even come up with a simple article DTD consisting of custom element tags. Then show by example XML/PHP/XSLT on that DTD. That would have been way more useful.

For PHP developers, this book doesn't use much of it until well into the middle chapters. There are quick tutorials on DTDs, RSS, and SimpleXML that are good. The chapter on client side Javascript should have been removed (wasn't this book about PHP?). The templating framework is backwards - the author uses php includes to build out the page. He should have used XSLT to create a proper XHTML transformation instead.

The writing is generally quite good and the reading light. You can go sit outside on the porch without a computer and follow it quite nicely. The organization and topic coverage is good also. I would have liked to see more technical depth and thought put into it, rather than what appeared to be a quick surface introduction. For example, show more how you can pass variables between PHP and XSLT as well as how to cache the pages. The admin panel should also take into consideration that to see 1000 articles on one full page is silly - use a pager.

Because the author used too many shortcuts to write this book, I gave it an average rating. If you are looking for a basic book on XML/PHP development, this is a good start. For those more experienced, I'm afraid this won't suit your experience level and would be left looking for more.

Is XML as useful as claimed?
This book is helpful and easy to understand and follow, however, the more I read about XML the less useful it seems to be.If I knew then what I know now I probably wouldn't bother learning about XML because I work with web design and nothing else.I am familiar with PHP and MYSQL so I can't really find a purpose for XML at this time.The book is great but the technology is not as useful as I thought it would be.

I may change my mind in the future but for now XML is on the back burner and PHP/MYSQL is my current focus.

My point in this review is to let others know that if you already know PHP and MYSQL and only work on the web then you may find learning XML redundant or maybe even useless.I'm sure it would look great on a resume though.

Ok but not great
This is my revised and rewritten review of this book.

The first review dated Feb 19 was just two stars, titled `Disjointed and Superficial', and read...

I bought Myer's book to help me move from XHTML to XML and to handle data with PHP which does not fit well in a relational database / SQL. I am not interested in writing a CMS, and therefore tried to skim or skip those parts. Unfortunately, some key points are buried in the CMS discussion. Subjects (ie: Namespace) seem to be mentioned or touched on in several places without doing a thorough job at any one point or multiple points. The subjects which are discussed, are not discussed in depth. And why is Ralph Waldo Emmerson given ink on page 59, and then included in the index??? I found myself working a little too hard to just get the important points.

I know Myer tried very hard to write a good book, and it is not a 'really bad' book. On a positive note: The editing error rate seems to be low as compared to a lot of first edition, first printing computer books. There is some good material in it, but this book does not work well for me. I have at least temporarily given up on this book a little short of the half way point. Since finding a really good XML book seems harder than it should be, I may come back to this one, and if so, I'll update this opinion.

Warning: [3 opinions given here appear to be by paid reviewers. ie: 9/14/05, 10/7/05, and 11/8/05. I now suspect some of the others are personal friends of the author. Hint: Check out the person writing the review before actually reading it. Look for how many opinions he/she writes and how many stars. I distrust all high opinions in the first few months of publication, all high opinions by people who have only written a couple of opinions, and all high opinions from people who only write high opinions. Bottom Line: Distrust all high opinions except those from people who have established some evidence of independence by posting negative as well as positive opinions about other books. Thanks for the lack of honesty Tommy &/or Sitepoint &/or big A. I would have given 3 stars if there were not so many false ones posted here. (my opinion, 2 cma).]

Now, having finished Myer's book (except for most of the CMS stuff), I have changed it to 3 stars and concluded ....

There are about an equal number of pros and cons.It is somewhat light and easy to read, and the editing error rate is good.It is kind of a quick survey of subjects which Myer thinks are important.I did like chapters 7 & 9 (Manipulating XML with PHP, & XML and Web Services).

On the con side: The Appendix listing of PHP functions / methods is not complete and no examples are given.Where he discusses ways to extract XML from a database, two different sources (tables) are used, so the results are not comparable.I wish he had spent more ink on handling XML with PHP and less on client side technologies which are not well supported yet.I found the example listings a little short and lacking some additional code which would have helped follow what was supposed to happen.More output/results listings would also have helped.

The book is not particularly complete, and could not be used as a reference, but it may be ok (not great) as an overview or introduction.A better intro book may be `Beginning XML, 3rd Edition' by David Hunter etc., although that is a much bigger book.

Lastly, do not trust any high star rating review unless the source has proven his/her impartiality by posting positive as well as not so positive reviews of other books.Too many opinions of this book do not pass that simple test.The basic problem is determining who to believe and which postings to suspect are covertly trying to sell books because they have a vested interest or undisclosed motive.

Don't let the PHP in the title fool you.
This is a book about XML, all the power and flexability that the language gives you.It just happends to use PHP for the database access.Which means that no matter what language you use, this is a must have reference guide.

Thomas Myer has managed to put into writing one of the very best XML primers out there.It starts so gently, dealing with the familiar (HTML), and steps you through some basic examples.By the end of chapter 2 you are doing transforms.Before you close out Chapter 6 you will have worked with XPath Queries.These are no small concepts, but I never felt overwhelmed or lost.Mainly due to the precise and comprehensive writing, but the familiar examples (for web developers they are very familiar) helped keep me on some familiar ground.

If you are using XML over the web (in any language), I urge you to pick this one up.It wil be time very well spent.

A PRACTICAL AND NO NONSENCE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR SURE!
Do you want to teach yourself XML the easy way? Well, you're in luck! Author Thomas Myer, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that introduces readers to a large part of the XML world, and to walk them, step by step, through the creation of an XML-powered Website.

Myer begins by introducing XML. Next, the author introduces you to the XML family, namely XHTML, XML Namespaces, and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT). Then, he covers DTDs for consistency. The author continues by talking about XSLT and how to use it to transform XML for display in a browser. In addition, the author next covers XSLT in detail. He also shows you how to manipulate XML with client-side tools. Next, the author tackles the server side, specifically addressing the question of PHP 5 as he explores the differences between SAX, DOM, and SimpleXML function libraries for working with XML. Then, he delves into the specifics of the different varieties of RSS that are available, and discusses news aggregators, the parsing of feeds with PHP, and more. The author continues by looking at XML and Web Services. Finally, he considers XML and databases.

With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of presenting the fascinating topic of XML. So, with any luck, XML will serve you well for some time to come!
... Read more

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

Customer Reviews (7)

Too many bugs in the codes.
I bought this book several months ago and was disappointed. One of the problem is that I am consistently debugging the codes. I am at Chapter 5 now and have spent numerous times googling to try to understand what is the correct syntex for some codes, such as using xml method for column-level contraints, which was demonstated in the book, but does not work. The other thing I don't like is the lack of explanation about the code examples. Many times, a code was throw out without clear explantion, such as how cross apply, outer apply works.

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).

Clear, complete and well done book
The web was designed for people to read what was stored at a computer somewhere else. After the web was set up, it wasn't long before people wanted to extract information from one system to incorporate into their own web page.

For a quick example, go to www.books-on-line.com. At the upper left is a little box for you to enter an ISBN number. Put in a number and click on Get Prices. Then what happens is that the Books-On-Line web site goes to Amazon and gets up to the minute information and displays it back to you in a simple format.

As part of their ASP.NET design effort, Microsoft has added a new datatype called XML to their SQL Server database. This book is on using this new feature. It describes the data type. Talks about constraints, schemas, all the things you would expect. It then talks about the integrated features to facilitate the generation of XML code that can be sent out over the web.

XML is a major new concept in distributed computing. The book covers this aspect of the Microsoft approach and does so very well. It is complete and thorough and very well written. ... Read more