This book is well written. I hit the ground running with this one and can honestly say that it has given me the best overall picture of using WSS as a development platform of any of the books and materials I've looked at. I highly recommend this one for any developer looking to start working in WSS.

I find this book good in coverage as it does not only cover webparts as means of developing in Sharepoint, unlike a number of other books I saw. And I find the companion code good, except the first link provided in the book is broken, and the other one, I have to register just to download the codes (which I didn't really mind because it was the author's website and it has some downloadable freebies also).

However, I thought the style of the authors in the way they explained the topics can be difficult to follow. At times I thought I was listening to someone tell a complex story without breathing. And I thought the authors could have guided the readers through their codes better instead of simply talking away about its topics.

I had to do extra reading from blogs, internet, MSDN to further understand some of the topics, which can be frustrating if you are reading the book away from your computer.

Don't get me wrong, I find this book useful. But with all the praises it received from most reviewers I thought it would help someone else if they'd know the things I didn't like about it.

Overall, I find this book good in coverage, but poor in style/approach of teaching. But at least it points me to the right direction.

This is a pretty good book for someone learning Sharepoint Services 3.0. Unlike a lot of other similarly named books, this one is focused on developing basic sharepoint programming techniques, as opposed to configuration. I bought this book, since it is recommended by Microsoft for the 70-541 certification exam. However, this book does not specifically point out which areas of the book are needed for the cert and which isn't. For example: if you are prepping for the cert, skip the Ajax section - it is worthless. Other areas are good, though.

One improvement that could be made - a DVD (or an FTP link) for a Virtual Machine that has a properly configured Sharepoint setup. Alternatively, a step-by-step appendix which shows how to configure and install all the needed tools, similar to the beginning of Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Mastering).

Overall, it's a good book for learning how to program against Sharepoint... IF you know how to set up your dev environment. Do NOT use it as your sole information source, if you are prepping for the 70-541 exam.

Hope this helps!

This book has been a lifesaver for me while doing WSS Development. It seems like every obstacle I've run into this book has gotten me out of it. I would like to find a companion CD - It seems like some of the examples are missing crucial pieces of information that would be solved by having the entire sample project. Also it can be difficult to know exactly where to put the snippets of code that are used in the book.

The lack of the CD is my only reason for giving it 4 stars instead of 5. Do not let that keep you from getting the book if you're doing WSS Dev.

This book covers all the basics and inner working you need to know about WSS. The code examples are also good. Great book if you are preparing for 70-541

I was very selective on picking out a book on SharePoint. I needed a crash course and this book provided it. I hired consultants to help me with my project and they noticed it on my desk and mentioned how helpful it was for them as well.

A decent overview; the book makes many comparisons to older versions of SharePoint Services which I was not interested in as I did not use the previous versions. That dimension of the book was a waste of time for me and just added confusion as it added a lot of additional terms and descriptions of approaches that are no longer relevant. If you are coming from what they refer to as Version 2 then these sections might be helpful.

The authors push their personal preference in design. I don't mind an author putting forth a preference but this author puts forth some things as the "right" solution that will make a seasoned programmer raise an eyebrow.

I found the book insightful but the examples and associated lab materials were a major letdown. From the book's back cover: "Get Microsoft Visual C# and XML code samples on the Web". Note: No url is given.

When I found the book's Microsoft site (it is from MSPress) I get this link; [...]. It is only a single line correction with no hints of where to get the book's code samples from!

The lack of samples was quite frustrating as some chapters make explicit reference to sample projects.

The books itself is well written and very solid on theory.

I found the book insightful but the examples and associated lab materials were a major letdown. From the book's back cover: "Get Microsoft Visual C# and XML code samples on the Web". Note: No url is given.

When I found the book's Microsoft site (it is from MSPress) I get this link; http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943541/en-us. It is only a single line correction with no hints of where to get the book's code samples from!

A very poorly coordinated book. It will not appeal to people who actually want to do the examples from the book. The lack of attention to code samples is simply outrageous!

I was tasked with writing a connector to SharePoint for a third-party database. I didn't even know SharePoint existed before I was assigned this project. Of all the books I looked at, Pattison's book stood out as the most useful introduction to SharePoint development. This book provided helpful examples for my project and answered about 80% of my questions. A second edition could easily cover the rest along with some of the gotchas.

One burning question the book answered was whether one needed MOSS to do development. The answer was that WSS (included with Windows Server 2003) is sufficient.

Since I wasn't a Microsoft .NET developer some of the companion books I recommend for SharePoint development are Scribner's book for workflows, Liberty (et al)'s, and Hilyard (et al)'s books on C#. I'm still looking for a good book for ASP development. It was a bit of a struggle using both Walther's and MacDonald (et al)'s books.

I thought the examples in the book were hard to follow however; the content is very useful and relavant to real world applications.

Ted has a talent for teaching with both print and visual mediums. This is an excellent book with an attention to detail unsurpassed in the body SharePoint literature. After a fairly deep breakdown of ASP.NET/IIS/SharePoint architecture, these guys get right into the guts of serious development with Visual Studio. If you're an experienced ASP.NET developer but new to SharePoint, I'd recommend that you first become well-grounded in the business value of SharePoint - perhaps spend some time with "SharePoint Services 3.0 Step-by-Step". Otherwise you might have a difficult time framing the real world applicability of this deeply technical material.

This is a great book for beginners who are looking to ramp up on Sharepoint technologies and specifically WSS 3.0. Please note that this book is for developers and will not guide you through WSS administration options. So if you are looking for administration guide, look somewhere else. This book tells you about the WSS architecture, how it integrates with asp.net, features, how to deploy a feature, how to modify site templates and so on.

I bought this book to prepare for the 70-542 certification for WSS 3.0 developer and this book saw me through.

This book is priced (outrageously!) at $49.99. I purchased it at a "special" price of $32.99. After reading it, I wouldn't have paid $10.00 for it. Reading this book is like reading Beowulf in 10th-century Old English out of a book without footnotes or explanatory text. One word in ten is clear in meaning, 3-to-4 words can be interpreted from the context, and the remaining 5-6 remain hermetic. This happens not because of lack of data - there is plenty of it - but for a remarkable absence of information. The only one who can benefit from reading this book is an employee of the Hello World Widget Manufacturing Company. He will be able to "ape" the examples out of the book, but anyone else wishing to develop programmatically his or her own features, menus, lists and content types are advised to turn elsewhere for help. Successfully using CAML to develop SharePoint objects requires mastering the meaning and usage of the host of attributes, and of the choices available for each of the attributes. This book provides no explanation for any of these choices, unless they explicitly appear in an example. Say you wish to create a menu that can be triggered from the Site Settings page (instead of the Site Actions or ECB). Well, you can't because the book does not provide a list of choices for the Location attribute. How about creating a Survey list? Sorry, no table exists with the choices for the ListType enumeration. How about creating a menu that is only actionable by a certain group of users? Forget it. In fact the book contains no lists of enumerations (except for one enumerating Content Type IDs). Reading the book, I had the feeling that it had been stitched together from previously written material. I did some digging and I found that, sure enough, a great deal of the book was based on technical articles that had appeared in the MSDN magazine. You would think that the authors would improve the material by adding narrative to achieve completeness and cohesion to the writing; but no, they lazily slapped together the disparate articles. Although many authors of technical books believe they can write masterpieces without first mastering the rudiments of English composition and grammar, the authors of this book are simply shameless in their assault to proper grammar and clear composition. Their motto is "never write in 10 crisp words what can be said in 3 murkily-written paragraphs." Chapters 2 - SharePoint Architecture - and 3 - Pages and Design - are the more understandable, Chapter 6 - Lists and Content Types - is tolerable, but the rest are in various degrees unreadable.

I got this book and loved it from the very first chapter. The flow of topics is great. The material is to the point. On my project I referred to this book more than google and I found the answers pretty quickly. You should download the examples from ted's site.


If you are a beginner or mid level developer in WSS. I highly recommend this book as it will really polish your skills

The major thing that disappoints me is that there is no CD/DVD with the book. There are lots of code snippets (rather than complete listings) and it is hard to understand if you can't see everything. An E-book version would also be nice (like every other MS Press book).

Other than that, it is excellent.

The major thing that disappoints me is that there is no CD/DVD with the book. There are lots of code snippets (rather than complete listings) and it is hard to understand if you can't see everything. An E-book version would also be nice (like every other MS Press book).

Other than that, it is excellent.

In what I think of as my "pre-Pattison" era I was beating my head against SharePoint. The projects I'd inherited seemed unmanageable and deployment was a nightmare. For the project I was going to be starting from scratch, I was frantically coming up with excuses to not use SharePoint, although there was external pressure to use it.

Ted's book explains the key difference between SharePoint customization and SharePoint development, and focuses on best practices for the later. After reading it, I had a game plan for future development using SharePoint and also for bringing my two legacy apps under control.

I had a chance to take Ted's class on the subject matter of this book and found him to be extremely knowledgeable, insightful and practical with regard to developing for Sharepoint. Taking the class and having his book really took me to the next level understanding how WSS 3.0 work and can be extended. This book is a must read from cover to cover if you are new or want to get more acquainted with Sharepoint Services development.

I agree with the other reviewers this is a book that is worth reading if you are working with Sharepoint development...

Finally, there is a book that provides all the basic information that a developer needs to get started with WSS 3.0. Almost all that information that a developer would expect to find in the SDK documentation is finally available. If this trend continues, it seems that in the future, there will be no SDK documentation, only books to purchase, if you needed documentation.

Very well written, like all books in the 'Inside...' series!

I love everything about this book when it comes to WSS. It is well written, follows a great path and has a whole lot of information.

The only down side its it is hard to tell by looking at the book that this is a developers book. This is not for admins but for developers. 100% development and offers nothing to admins.Admins go here Beginning SharePoint 2007 Administration: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

So unless you know all the MS Press color schemes, stay away unless you are a developer,

Few books focus just on the core foundation of SharePoint, WSS v3. In this book, Ted and Dan did a fantastic job of covering all the bases necessary. Even though I've been in the SharePoint world for years, and the betas for this current version for over 1.5 years, I was amazed how much stuff I picked up that I wasn't aware of. This is THE DEFINITITE GUIDE TO WSS v3 FOR DEVELOPERS! It should be on ~everyone~ desk if you're doing SharePoint development.

The SharePoint book that I have been waiting for the most has finally arrived. Back when I first heard that Ted Pattision and Daniel Larson were teaming up to write a SharePoint book, I got pretty excited. I knew these guys would have a knock-out book for SharePoint developers, and I'm happy to say I was right.

With this book, you will learn how to:

* Build application pages and site pages
* Develop and deploy reusable Web parts to enable customization and personalization
* Exploit Windows SharePoint APIs to deploy Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX components
* Use XML and Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) to create provisioning components
* Design and implement custom document libraries
* Use Windows Workflow Foundation to create applications that automate business process
* Create Site Definitions to aggregate components and package them for deployment
* Implement Code Access Security, Trust Levels, authentication, and authorization

Do yourself a huge favor, and spend five minutes ordering yourself a copy. It will save you hours down the road.