I really appreciate this book for what it is, a beginner's book. Will this book be applicable to you as a seasoned developer in any language, I don't think so, it really is a "Build your own site" type of book.

For those who are interested in getting a solid foundation in many of the basics of ASP.NET 2.0, I would recommend this book. I will be following this book with Damien Foggon's ASP.NET Beginning DB Book and then moving to Chistian Darie's ASP.NET Ecommerce book finishing up with the Problem, Design Solution ASP.NET 2.0 by wrox. I tend to need alot of example to get me where I am going, and I feel like I got much more of a bang for my buck with this book as it was easy to read and follow the examples.

Now, I did run into some setup issues that produced some errors along the way. Patience and persistence paid off everytime, along with some assistance from those on the web who had the same problems before me. In no way was the book responsible for my system setup, I actually received support from the sitepoint forums, so thanks.

Looking forward to getting into the next book. BTW, I have already built 5 published sites with just the help of this book and I have more clients calling.

In summary, from html to asp.net 2.0 in 8 days with great success! Thanks for a great book!

This is without a doubt the best book on ASP.net 2.0 I have read. If you need to start from the beginning ......... This is the book!!!!

I have read many technical books and this is so far the best. I know my way around computers and the basics of programming and wanted to learn some more of ASP.NET. This book has been an excellent tutorial. Even the basics of object oriented programming and SQL are explained. Loved it.

There is one caveat. The book was written for Windows XP and IIS 6. If you are using Windows Vista and IIS 7 like me, be prepared to search for some stuff yourself. Do not worry though, some Googling will help you along the way.

i got into dot net when it first came out, when sample codes on how do things you take for granted were scarce or non existent. I was converting an ASP app to dot net. was ahead of my time, ran into too many mundane issues, cancelled my project after 5 months. Now I want to try ASP.NET for real.

I've found this book to be very helpful in connecting the dots. The samples are good enough . Highly recommend it.

I am an asp programmer. And I would like to transform myself into asp.net. after trying one title after another by reading the PDF files that I found on the net, I thought I found the right book ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed from Stephen Walther. I bought the book and learned from it. But I got stuck somewhere after the basic controls. The author assumes that the reader is either intermediate or advanced level with the .NET programming skill. I am not at that level yet. Again I went back to find other PDF files and I found this one and I knew this was the perfect fit for me. I bought the book and I am very happy with this book. it teaches asp.net 2.0 from beginning level. It explains in details all the basic knowleges that an asp.net programmer needs to know. Then it moves on to ado.net. But all these are just basics only. not going too far into advanced level. One thing that I like is that I build the project while learning. There are minor wording error. If you don't know programming, then this is the problem. If you already know programming (VB,C#), then you can see the wording error and correct yourself.
If you are looking for a book that set you up from start with .NET, this one is the right one. If you already have the basic of asp.net and would like to get to the advanced level, then you may be disappointed.

The Book overall is good. Firstly, it is a very compressive book from the perspective of general coverage of commonly encountered tasks. The book also covers the Express versions of SQL Server and VS. The style is easy to follow. Where I'm a bit confused is with substance, for example the GridView coverage. The GridView supersedes the DataGrid the authors rave about it and then barely explain how to wire it up! In nearly 700 pages there are roughly 20 pages about the GridView 7 of which are about styling followed by another 6 full of screen shots and code listing, and 1 about how great it is! Bums me out, I really like the book and all but come on.

The Book overall is good, but there are some mis-types in the code that, if you follow along, will screw you up. Its also vague about some things, but if you have some basic knowledge of visual studio and/or asp, it is a good reinforcement.

Examples, insights, and even code samples pack a reference for programmers working in C# and VB in an updated second edition to a popular step-by-step guide. Here's all the information you need to get up and running with ASP.NET, from how to build a first web site to applying the free code samples within to more advanced projects. It's a top pick programmers - especially newcomers to ASP.NET - won't want to be without.

'Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB' is another gem in the long list of precious books published by sitepoint. With their usual spot-on layout and outstanding writing, this 650+ page book is a must own for anyone that wants to learn and EXCEL at ASP.NET 2.0 development. Before I write more, let me list the chapter summary:

01. Introducing ASP.NET
02. ASP.NET Basics
03. VB and C# Basics
04. Developing ASP.NET web pages
05. Building web apps
06. Using validation controls
07. Database design and development
08. SQL
09. ADO.NET
10. Data Lists
11. Grid View and Details View
12. Advanced data access
13. Security and User Authentication
14. Files and Email

Anyone and I mean ANYONE that is new or using ASP.NET 2.0 can and WILL get something out of this book. Unless you are a master uber ASP.NET 2.0 web developer, this book will not only teach but it will improve your skillset from before you started using this text. ASP.NET basics, database connections, listviews, master pages, html controls, etc etc etc... it's all here and it's all G-O-O-D

The price for this book is an absolute steal and I can easily give another HPR for this book as I have many times in the past with the sitepoint line. Sitepoint books are like candy for web developers so if you see that orange, blue and white color scheme, it means one thing: QUALITY

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

An absolutely terrific book for those of us new to ASP.NET (either 1.1 or 2.0). The book covers ASP.NET 2.0 and uses all the freely available VS.NET-based tools from Microsoft like Visual Web Developer 2005 Express and SQL Server 2005 Express. I come from a J2EE/Tomcat/JBoss background but this book really opens up the .NET world for those of us who are not initiated in the ASP.NET way to build web applications. They spend the 1st 4 chapters using a plain text editor to show the basics of ASP.NET page creation and hooking up virtual directories for the project files. Chapter 5 and beyond dive into the use of Visual Web Developer 2005 Express and the creation of a fully working web site deployed onto IIS. I am only 1/3 of the way there but so far the writing style and coverage provide an excellent presentation of the material.

An absolutely terrific book for those of us new to ASP.NET (either 1.1 or 2.0). The book covers ASP.NET 2.0 and uses all the freely available VS.NET-based tools from Microsoft like Visual Web Developer 2005 Express and SQL Server 2005 Express. I come from a J2EE/Tomcat/JBoss background but this book really opens up the .NET world for those of us who are not initiated in the ASP.NET way to build web applications. They spend the 1st 4 chapters using a plain text editor to show the basics of ASP.NET page creation and hooking up virtual directories for the project files. Chapter 5 and beyond dive into the use of Visual Web Developer 2005 Express and the creation of a fully working web site deployed onto IIS. I am only 1/3 of the way there but so far the writing style and coverage provide an excellent presentation of the material.

I finished reading this book yesterday and I am very pleased with it. The author starts by explaining some programming basics for both languages (VB.NET and C#). Then he explains ASP controls (html controls and validation controls). During the rest of the book, he develops a web-based intranet and explains many features of ASP such as ADO.NET, DataGrid and DataList controls, DataSets,etc. There is a chapter where the author explains how we can build a shopping cart and connect it to paypal which I found very interesting. The code is very neat and easy to understand. I totally recommend this book to those who would like to learn ASP.NET as well those who want to expand their ASP.NET knowledge.

The best thing about this book is someone like me who is new to the .DOT NET was able to learn & the paralell comparison between the VB & C# code is excellent. The only disappointment is that with the text book I was expecting a CD with Adobe Reader version as well. Which I did not recieve.

A great learn-on-the-fly guide for server-side web development using Microsoft's popular web development technologies. A quick and easy read; will have you up-and-running ASP.NET websites on your own IIS web server (with a SQL Server backend!) in almost no time.

This is an excellent book for those who know computers and have some know how of using a programming language. It teaches one how to make a web site from start to end. Easy approach and simplicity, they have troed to keep things easy. Nice humor too.

Worth buying.

Deepak Sharma
http://www.orientindia.biz

I was a total novice two years ago to ASP.NET programming and bought this book for a start... The author's simplicity and sense of humour with the subject gave me a very good foundation and I was able to develop my first ASP.NET with VB site. I'm a good .NET programmer now and have gone further into Windows-forms, .NET Remoting/ Distributed Objects and .NET Wireless which are not covered in this book... but nevertheless I still (fondly) have Zak's book on my desktop and highly recommend it for beginners. I believe it deserves the 5 star.

I've been meaning to write a review about this book..

First, look at the cover. How stupid is that? A little boy playing in a sandbox? C'mon, Sitepoint; you can do better than that -- can't you?

Second, this book is already outdated. It does not cover Web Developer or Express 2005 whatsoever. It speaks to both Access and Web Admin to perform most tasks. The Access coverage is current, but the Web Admin and PWS references are completely out of date and no longer even necessary given the power of Web Developer Express 2005 and SQL Server Express. So if you want something current, you can rule this book out.

Third, the author uses a fictitious company to provide the basis of so-called 'end to end' instruction in this book. The name of the fictitious company is "Dorknozzle." Cute. But not really. Development is a very serious topic - for me, anyways - and I don't appreciate the vernacular being so cheesy. Perhaps the author used this name to "soften" the material a bit in an effort to make it seem less intimidating. Wrong place to do it. He had plenty of opportunities to do that with the content, but he instead chose to provide endless examples in both languages, filling his pages so the book would appear to contain far more content than it actually DOES.

Fourth, this is not a serious book for developing anything. It doesn't programatically start where it should in terms of actual developing: discussing user accounts, security, roles, permissions, etc etc etc etc. In fact users aren't even discussed until much later in the book. In addition, the content is very softballish in nature (just like the Dorknozzle name). And really, how many people are developing intranets? And how many people really need instruction on how to build a "helpdesk trouble ticket" application? Oh, and I should state here: this book does not provide meaningfull instruction for an end to end WEB (as in public site!) application. It's for a fictitious intranet. It's typical for the author to (i.e.) show you how to create a newsletter, how to display the title on one page, then completely abandon the topic without telling you how to edit the articles, send them to multiple recipients, display them programtically by category or query, etc etc. In other words, he leaves out all the stuff you REALLY want to know. It's the worst form of literary "doorbell ditch" I have encountered - and it's not just this book, it happens in many others, too.

I could go on and on, but in summary I will advise anyone who is serious about TRULY learning .net application development to ignore this book completely. I've yet to find a truly well written book on end to end .net development. Perhaps one day it will come. Or perhaps I will have to write it myself someday because these publishers just can't get it right.

At first I was kind of skeptical of a book that promises to enable me to build my own web site, but this book delivers.

What separates this book from most other programming books is that each of the examples in the book point to some goal, which is to help complete an intranet web site. So you are not only learning, you are seeing the application grow and even having some fun putting it together...imagine that?

Some of the previous reviewers decried the fact that this book didn't use Visual Studio IDE. I don't think this is any deterrent to using this book. I was easily able to use the Visual Studio .NET 2003 IDE for this book.

Some suggestions I would make to improve this book would be to use examples from MSDE instead of Access. Provide more examples of using stored procedure data sources instead of inline sql.

I found myself spending dozens of hours in the last few months searching the Web to find answers to common aspnet related problems. The Web has a great resource of aspnet tutorials and you will most likely find anything you are looking for without the need of purchasing a book. You will soon need a pair of thick glasses after spending all that time searching/learning online.
Not yet blind and still eager to learn I decided to buy Zak's book: I read the first 400 pages passed the DataSet chapter in one single day. It felt like getting just the right answers to so many of the problems I have encountered that I really wish I had this book few months ago. The book leads you through very good examples to what are the basics of aspnet, how to accomplish common tasks that turned into living hell too many of my days. Maybe I was already finding my way into the world of aspnet but this book really kicked me in. A real world project example brought to life, chapter after chapter, was definately an invaluable add in. After reading the book, and you have a lot to work with, you' ll go back online to search for more specific articles to extend your knowledges.
I hope Zak will soon write another book maybe more advanced this time, so I can keep on learning just as easily. If I switch to C# I don't have to go further I already have the right book.

Great Job!

Projects in this book fail to utilize the GUI in Visual Studio or even vb.net. From a business programming standpoint, Zak's approach is not as efficient as developing in VS.NET. The entire book walks you through coding in the old ASP format - using a text editor and hand typing the code. Most of your code is exposed when you view the source code on the website. If you use vs.net, the server side coding is removed when a page is posted back to the client.

The biggest loss in using this book is the fact that, by not using Visual Studio, the Intelligent coding feature is not exposed to the user. This is a tremendous help at times.

If you enjoy typing, this book is for you by all means. It uses the old approach and doesn't take advantage of VS' advanced GUI. Sure there is more overhead but processing power is cheap nowadays. It's well worth the trade off.

I am pretty well versed in HTML and Javascript coding. I wanted to learn ASP.NET coding and this book was fantastic. What I liked about it was it taught me by walking me through building an actual website from beginning to end.

Each chapter deals with a different subject that builds on what you learned in the previous chapters. After the author lists the code, he goes over every line and explains what each one does and why. This was fantastic as you get to see the code twice and really get it ingrained in your head.

I would suggest this book to anyone new to ASP.NET as it has really given me a good grasp of the technology. Now I need to find a more advanced book to further my skills.

I have been developing software for years. I have been programming in VB since 1991 and BASIC since 1978. I know many old languages like Assembly, Fortran and COBOL, but I have been hesitant to take the time to learn the new VB.NET and have figured C# would have been too hard. That is not the case and this book has made it easy. I read some reviews here on Amazon from other developers who thought the book had too much easy things in the first few chapters, but that is what makes it so good. By the end of the book, you are definitely wanting more meat and are ready to buy the next level of learning book, but you know the core of both languages. Although the accompanying website for the book has all of the code for download, I made sure I typed in all of the code. I did VB.NET first, then C#. By the second or third example, I was able to code the C# example without looking at the book from just seeing the VB.NET example. C# is very similar to VB.NET making it VERY EASY to learn. I definitely recommend this book! If you haven't delved into .NET yet, this is absolutely the best first book you could buy. Thihnk of this as the 101 college intro class to .NET. All other books will become easy after you read this one. The book claims that it was written with both the developer and non-developer in mind. I would have to say that I definitely believe a non-developer could follow it and learn the languages.

This book proclaims at the start that it is for an audience ranging from beginners to veterans of programming.

Even if you are a veteran programmer, you will probably be at a loss after you follow the directions in the first 30 pages of this book. But if you aren't a veteran programmer, you will most likely find yourself lost on page 28.

Not lost as in confused, but lost as how to solve the numerous problems you may face in configuring IIS and the user accounts.

Page 28 gets you ready to run your first .aspx file from your localhost, and assumes you will have no problems. But you most likely will. So many things can go wrong, and this book does not even begin to address the things that can go run even as it leads you thru your first "simple" ASP.NET example.

It doesn't even tell you how to look at event logs, much less how to solve them. So it makes sense why this book is supposedly targeted to suck a big audience: the suckers who will buy it and give up after the first of many cryptic errors from IIS, or the veterans who may just pick up a few tips.

After many hours of research, no thanks to this book nor the forums it offers, did I learn that I had to change my machine.config file to refer to "system" instead of "machine".

And this can be a dangerous quick fix.

In summary, this book is not worth it unless you are completely familiar with how to install and use IIS, and finally configure it for ASP.NET. Not even a mention about the aspnet_mp nor the asp_regiis -r -i command line config. Did the author think you already knew this, even if you were a beginner?

The fact that the author avoided mentioning any of the difficulties you can face in just getting IIS/ASP.NET configured makes the book a bad choice unless you are very familiar with those configurations already.

The book promises more than it delivers... and downloading from the code archive is a pain.

It didn't help me much with my class...

This book is helping me to learn ASP.NET with VB.NET. I wish the author would have spent more time discussing the IDE of VisualStudio.NET, but as a beginner's book, it's everything I'd hoped for!

This book is a must for anyone just getting started in asp.net. It gives both vb and c# examples for everthing. Best of all this book gives you examples of code for things you will actually use. Like username/password authentication, validation on form fields, database connections, how to move your subroutines into code behind, etc. Also you can get the first four chapters free from sitepoint before you buy.