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Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook

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Product Details

Binding:	Kindle Edition
EAN:
Label:	Packt Publishing
Feature:
Publisher:	Packt Publishing
Studio:	Packt Publishing

Editorial Reviews

Written in a cookbook style, this book offers learning and techniques through recipes. It contains step-by-step instructions for developers who want to build rich data-driven business applications using Silverlight. The book is designed in such a way that you can refer to things chapter by chapter, or read them in no particular order. If you are a .NET developer who wants to build professional data-driven applications with Sliverlight, then this book is for you. Basic experience of programming Silverlight and familiarity with accessing data using ADO.NET in normal .NET applications is required.

Customer Reviews

This book is exactly what it says it is, quick answers to common problems. Although problems is a little strong, I would say the are common implementation solutions.

Data binding basics are covered in the first few chapters. Then the datagrid and dataform are covered. The book gives a great introduction to the datagrid and dataform for those who have not had time to look at them yet. Then WCF and ASMX Services, REST and WCF Data Services, and WCF RIA Services are covered.

The topics are covered in enough detail to give you a good understanding of what they are for and how to use them. The book is not a reference. For example, it covers data annotations for the data form, but it does not provide a complete list of them. It does however point you to a place that does on the Microsoft site.

The code samples are useful and well organized. They come with a before and after example solution so you can work through them if you want, or just open the finished product. Some of them needed converted when they were opened for the first time, but they ran fine.

The main thing I didn't like about the book was the page layout. The chapters were divided into sections and the new section started with a big block of white text with a black background. It just bugged my eyes out, but I won't ding the book for that.

All in all I recommend this book for anyone who wants an introduction to WCF and ASMX Services, REST and WCF Data Services, WCF RIA Services, the datagrid and dataform. This is a good book to start with.

"Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Service Cookbook" is not an advanced book on Silverlight, nor is it a reference book.It's a compilation of useful, hands-on recipes to get you started on data scenarios using Silverlight 4. If you're new to Silverlight, you'll definitely appreciate the way this book is written: a short description of a problem will guide you through the provided code example and explanation of what and why, usually followed by the "There's more..." section - and that's the part that will be appreciated even by more advanced Silverlight developers, as it would reveal some hidden tricks and not-so-known secrets of Silverlight framework's workings. As scenarios go, those seem to cover basic to intermediate type of problems, with advanced problems left out, which is kind of understandable, but at certain points in the book I still wished the authors would write more about an alternative implementation(s) of a solution, or point me to some (online) resource for further reading.

The book covers Silverlight data scenarios, starting with the essentials like Data Binding, moving its way through explaining the data controls and finally settle on explaining the ways Silverlight could talk to the data server through various services. Special chapters are dedicated to WCF RIA Services and converting existing applications to use Silverlight, the latter explaining a few of Microsoft technologies and APIs that are not directly associated to Silverlight, but which Silverlight applications could benefit a lot from by using them.

If you're new to Silverlight and want to develop Line-of-Business applications, this book is definitely for you as it will get you started immediately and give you enough information to build on the provided code examples for yourself. If you're an advanced Silverlight user, I think there are some high points in this book that will gain you additional knowledge on the subject, but be prepared to read a lot of code/XAML listings which you probably already know how they work and the problems they solve.

All in all, the "Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Service Cookbook" is a great Silverlight book to have, plus all code examples are available for download and research.

OPEN CHALLENGE TO SILVERLIGHT MVPs/EXPERT AUTHORS: If you are looking to differentiate on the subject of developing data-intensive line-of-business business applications with SL4, and feel that the market is already saturated with such books, then think again. Please consider the following review as a customer testimonial on the demand for a real, tutorial-oriented (step by step), end-to-end SL4 business application development book. IMHO, an ideal book for learning such subject matter should strike a 50:50 balance between theory and practical step-by-steps. Each of the three books I refer to below (from WROX and APRESS as well as the "Beginner's" title from PACKT) fail to do so, despite the promised learning outcomes advertised.

PROBLEMS I HAD WITH OTHER RELATED BOOKS: Unfortunately, (c. August 2010) if you are looking for a tutorial-oriented book that helps you piece together an ENTIRE working business application with SL4, then you may be in for some disappointment as I was with "Silverlight 4 Problem - Design - Solution" from WROX as well as "Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4" from APRESS. Here, both books in their own way left me frustrated as neither one had the desired effect of actually teaching me anything. I did not feel that I was being guided towards developing a business application-- rather I felt that the APRESS, WROX (as well as the very misleading and poorly-edited/tested book "Microsoft Silverlight 4 Business Application Development: Beginners Guide" from PACKT) amounted to a bit of false advertising. Although the WROX and APRESS books appear to have their content logically arranged in sequence by chapter, I gave up on each of these titles when it became apparent that the writing style did not suit my learning style; this is not to say that either book is bad for more advanced developers, it's just that I didn't find the value as advertised. In many instances it seemed that the WROX and APRESS books assumed that I would be able to easily fill in the gaps in their writing style (read: lack of steps, unclear explanations) myself.

HOW THIS COOKBOOK WORKED FOR ME: In contrast, this book ("Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook" from PACKT) certainly proved valuable to me by appealing to my learning style, and delivering what was advertised on the cover. I was able to learn a reasonable amount of SL4 specifically for handling business data, using "Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook". The format and approach is ideal for those among us who prefer to "cut to the chase" instead of wading through lengthy tirades. The examples build on one another which served to reinforce key concepts through out the book-- money well spent from my perspective.

RETURNING TO THE OPEN CHALLENGE: As of this writing, I have yet to come across a true, tutorial-oriented, end-to-end book covering the developing a data-intensive SL4 line-of-business application.... perhaps PACKT or even MURACH would have the inside track on following up this cookbook (and possibly the UI cookbook, which I haven't read), with a comprehesive tutorial addressing such a need. I strongly suspect I share said need with a great deal of readers who would gladly pay money for a such a book in order to achieve quick, clear learning outcomes.

The beginning of the book looked very promising. I really appreciate the example and explanation approach. However, starting from chapter 2 the sample code includes references to assemblies and namespaces that are not included. There is no explanation of these in the book and the book also assumes you are using the code as your starting point. With un-explained reference errors, the book (and code examples) are worthless. I am also assuming that they developed the code examples with a beta build of Silverlight 4. In the meantime, I will just put this book on the shelf and hope that the authors update the sample code. As a suggestion, the authors should try out the samples with a fresh copy of both Visual Studio 2010 and Silverlight 4 (non beta).

Thanks,
Philbert

This is a great step by step guide to data services with Silverlight 4 and there's some pretty basic Expression Blend - just right if you've never used it.

The authors get right down to the heart of the problem and don't waste time discussing every other possible variation of a particular solution.

Getting started in Silverlight can by over whelming and these guys did a great job simplifying the process.

The only down side is a lot of the examples don't work right off the disk. I think the editors did the authors a bit of dis-service by not verifying things a bit closer. Even with this flaw I would still buy this book again.

I'm giving it 5 stars - the editors should get 2 stars.

I like the topics covered by the book. I was mainly interested in Datagrid bindings and customization along with RIA Services.
The things you will find covered especially as related to those two subject are great and stuff you will hardly gather from other sources.

The only feedback I really wanted more. The datagrid manipulation associated to some silverlight navigation tricks between master and details would be highly appreciated.

I wish a serious book is dedicated only to those two subject with more practical depth than what the current or any other book happen to cover in the time being.

Overall though, the book is really good, highly recommended I I consider it the best on the subject to date..

Thanks

In my experience with explaining and demonstrating technology, I have not been in the practice of recommending books that are tied to a specific version of a specific technology. The obvious problem is that once the next version of the technology comes out, much of the book is obsolete and suitable for garage sales. When the publisher sent me a free copy of Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook to review, I was pleasantly surprised at the completeness and usefulness of the book. Because of the additive nature of the Silverlight framework, I expect this book to be relevant event after Silverlight 4 is succeeded by subsequent versions.

In addition to its ability present high-quality media experiences, Silverlight is a great platform for creating rich interactive applications (RIAs). This book does a great job of covering the complex topics of data binding, data forms, and communicating with web services. Like the title implies, the content is organized like a cookbook into recipes, but it doesn't force the metaphor - which is much appreciated. The recipes, like "Using duplex communication" and "Persisting data to and reading data from the Windows Azure cloud" all have a regular structure with the following sections:

*Getting ready
*How to do it...
*How it works...
*There's more...
*See also
The ample pictures of both the Visual Studio 2010 GUI and running Silverlight applications augment the many code samples. The section that I have appreciated the most has been the chapter on "Talking to WCF RIA Services" as I am working on developing a better understanding of it.

Now that the summer is here, it's a great time to pick up a book or two to read when you're away from your computer. If you are building or want to build applications with Silverlight, I highly recommend this book and suggest that you get a copy for your summer reading.

The book is in poor technical presentation. It collects some useful materials but that's just it. the authors seem unable to better elaborate on technical issues.

Microsoft silverlight data and services cookbook goes into the nuts and bolts of using a wcf restful web service. This book explains this topic in a detailed fashion. However, I wished that had gone into depth on authentication and authorization, poco, mvvm, mef, and mvvm and they had covered wcf ria a bit more. If are thinking about silverlight 4 data books, the following should be on your list

The best silverlight 4 data books are
1 silverlight data and services cookbook
2 silverlight in action
3 pro business applications in silverlight

The book contains basics of Silverlight 4 data binding. I provides good working examples, well explained. If you only start learning this subject, you will learn a lot.
It is from beginner to intermediate level though. It does not contain any nuances, never tries to dig dipper into subject. A lot of usefull space wasted providing repetitive code instead of saying to just make some small changes.

I had to write a web-application to demo the WCF Data Service I was writing on a very short time budget. This book was a life savor; it had all the answers I needed for consuming the service and displaying in the datagrid. For server side programming, both Effective REST Services and Essential WCF are great.

I bought pdf directly from the publisher.

I have read through every well-known Silverlight 4 book on the market. I have even read part of Microsoft Step by Step Silverlight 4 (released yesterday 2010-06-18 on Safari and via ebook) - In my humble opinion, this is the best Silverlight 4 book on the market to date. Most of what I have read from the other Silverlight books is covered in Ian Griffith's Silverlight 4 labs up on the Microsoft Silverlight 4 page. If you want a fast track to learn Silverlight 4 and are already familiar with C# .NET, I would recommend picking up a top rated Silverlight 3 book (I personally like books from the Apress series - "Pro Silverlight 3" and the Silverlight 3 Business Intelligence one (forget the exact title) - then the labs on the official Silverlight 4 website and this book.

Excellent book for anyone and at any level. This book is uncomplicated with clear explanations and guidelines. No chitchat or bull gets in the way.

As of today this is the only published book on Silverlight 4 & Data Management. The authors are very knowledgeable about the subject matter. They do a excellent job of mentoring the reader through several complex subjects. The disappointing part of the book has to be the lack of editorial reviews in each of the How to Do It section. If you purchase this book, please take this advise. Review the Completed code samples before you start any exercise. Thoroughly review the code before you start, and write your own instructions, it will make learning a less frustrating endeavor .
This is the second book I have purchase from this publisher. My first book was Microsoft Silverlight 4 Business Application Development: Beginners Guide. That book suffered from the same set of issues. I don't imagine I will purchase any future books from this publisher if the lack of editorial review in the HOW TO sections is not addressed.

This is an awesome book on developing Silverlight 4 line-of-business applications. This book gives you lots of essential "recipies" to get things working and get things working quickly. I would say this book, along with the Pro Business Applications with Silverlight 4 by Apress are quintessential books for Silverlight 4 development utilizing the current Microsoft Technologies.

With the new technologies coming out, it seems like the learning curve is getting steeper and steeper and it is taking longer and longer to "really know" what is going on and how to get things to work. This book is essential in helping you get there. This book along with siminars by DevProConnections by Gil Cleeren will get you there.

If you want to learn Silverlight4 and DataBinding buy this book. Right to the point, easy to follow the text, and no extraneous screenshots.

This book contains many step-by-step instructions for many common Silverlight Data scenario's. The examples are very clear and have exactly the right size and complexity, are very well explained and are easy to apply within you own applications. Each scenario comes with relevant background information that helps you to understand what is shown in the example.

Best book for beginner / intermediate developers who have prior knowledge about basics of Silverlight.

This is a book to put in your library and take as a reference when building Silverlight applications.
It uses an approach by example, describing the way to implement common tasks usually encountered during the development of complex applications.
The topics described are many: Data Binding, Blend and sample data, Validation, the usage of the Data Grid and Data Form controls, accessing data on Windows Azure, WCF services, REST and WCF RIA Services just to name a few.
The samples included are very useful and practical, like the Twitter and Flickr clients.

Following you can find the complete Table of content:
* Chapter 1, Learning the Nuts and Bolts of Silverlight 4
* Chapter 2, An Introduction to Data Binding
* Chapter 3, Advanced Data Binding
* Chapter 4, The Data Grid
* Chapter 5, The DataForm
* Chapter 6, Talking to Services
* Chapter 7, Talking to WCF and ASMX Services
* Chapter 8, Talking to REST and ADO.NET Data Services
* Chapter 9, Talking to WCF RIA Services
* Chapter 10, Converting Your Existing Applications to Use Silverlight,
* Appendix: creating a REST service from WCF, installing a SQL Server database and working with Fiddler and Silverlight control toolkit

Well done!

buy this, do not buy silverlight in action revised

This is a good book, to the point, all the important things. A little bit repetition, but you can find them easily and skip, so, no harm done.

Silverlight in action revised is just the opposite -- yes, I bought both (e-book format), and I have already throw away the "in action" book, and to be frank, the reason that I am writing this comes more from the negativity of that book than from the positivity of this book -- not that this book is not good, I am simply a person who believe a good book is the way should be, and a bad book is simply a crime.

This book is a C (or C#) programming; that book is vb6. I actually suspect the author of that book is an old vb6 guy, who is just a pretender now -- as you can see, I still feel sick of that book. Buy this, do not buy that.

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