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Part 1: Database Concepts
This book is organized in four parts. The first part discusses the basics of databases: how to design them, how to manipulate them with SQL, and how to use Transact-SQL (a programming language built into SQL Server).
The second part of the book continues your exploration of SQL, specifically honing in on the T-SQL language. At this point, now that you've learned the fundamental principles of designing relational databases, it's time to move on to writing code to manipulate the data and database objects. In Part 2, you will first explore the T-SQL language that is used by SQL Server to generate DML statements and stored procedures. You'll see the advantage of using stored procedures over ad-hoc SQL statements by actually creating and testing sample business rules using stored procedures. You'll learn new SQL Server 2000 features, such as user-defined functions and enhanced trigger functionality. ADO.NET is the fundamental data access engine for relational stores such as SQL Server. You'll learn how to leverage the ADO.NET object model to retrieve results in both relational and hierarchical form. You'll see how XML fits into Microsoft's data access strategy. Additionally, you'll understand the different models for retrieving data: cached and streamed. For those of you who have worked with previous versions of ADO, you'll see the differences between classic ADO and ADO.NET, as well as gain insight whether migration to ADO.NET is right for you. You'll walk through tangible examples of retrieving and updating data by using ADO.NET, as well as working with the new relational model between ADO.NET DataTables. You'll learn about more advanced features of ADO.NET, such as filtering, searching, and working with the DataView object. In Part 2, you'll work closely with the DataSet object, building schemas on the fly, as well as leveraging the data binding techniques with .NET user interface controls. You'll examine and manipulate the components of the DataSet, such as the DataTable, DataRow, and DataColumn objects. By the end of this part, you'll have a solid understanding of what you can do with ADO.NET and should have no problem designing and building your own ADO.NET applications. Finally, you'll also begin exploring XML's role in the .NET paradigm. You'll see practical examples of retrieving data and schema by using ADO.NET and manipulating them by using the VS .NET XML Designer. You'll explore the System.Xml namespace and understand how to load data not only from relational databases, but from XML data files as well. Chapter 10, "The Role of XML," explores the strategic role of XML within disconnected architecture and examines the new XML-related SQL Server 2000 features. Part 3: Advanced Data Services
The first two parts of the book provide the material you need to design and create a database system by using the .NET platform. In Part 3, you will build upon this foundation by learning the advanced feature-sets within the .NET Framework. You will learn how to secure the quality of your systems with efficient exception handling. You'll understand how asynchronous operations work using the System.Threading namespace. For those of you who have worked with classic ADO, you'll realize that the landscape for asynchronous operations has changed quite dramatically. Even if you've never worked with threaded applications, you'll see the importance of understanding the event model in the .NET Framework, with ADO.NET as a classic example. Part 3 of the book also expands upon your knowledge of XML, which is introduced in Part 2. You'll learn about the satellite technologies, which surround XML, such as the XPath query language and XSL Transformations. You'll see quite amazing stuff, such as how you can query a SQL Server 2000 database by using simply XML and HTTP via a browser. Part 3 brings together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle by introducing and outlining the middle tier. For those of you who are new to the .NET Framework, you'll learn important .NET architectural considerations, such as assemblies and manifests. Additionally, you'll learn about advanced SQL Server 2000 functionality, such as replication, SQL Profiler, Query Optimizer and the Index Tuning Wizard. All these considerations will not only help you design, but also tune your database for maximum performance and efficiency. Part 4: Data Access From the Web
Each day, more and more companies are making use of the Internet, either building commercial sites or designing web applications that allow employees to access the corporate database through the Web. In the fourth part of this book, you'll learn how to build web applications that access a database using ADO.NET. You'll learn how to build web-based front-ends as well as Web Services in the middle tier. You'll learn how to work with server-side controls such as the DataGrid and DataList controls. No VB .NET book would be complete without an explanation of how you would deploy your application. You'll learn about the robust deployment projects available in VS .NET, as well as understand the implications of building distributed database systems.