e-Book ASP.NET MVC 2 in Action

eBook Details:
    Paperback: 450 pages
    Publisher: Manning Publications; 2nd Edition (June 15, 2010)
    Language: English
    ISBN-10: 193518279X
    ISBN-13: 978-1935182795

eBook Description:
ASP.NET MVC 2 in Action by Manning Publications

The future of high-end web development on the Microsoft platform, ASP.NET MVC 2 provides clear separation of data, interface, and logic and radically simplifies tedious page and event lifecycle management. And
since it’s an evolution of ASP.NET, you can mix MVC and Web Forms in the same application, building on your existing work.

ASP.NET MVC 2 in Action is a fast-paced tutorial designed to introduce the MVC model to ASP.NET developers and show how to apply it effectively. After a high-speed ramp up, the book presents over 25 concise chapters exploring key topics like validation, routing, and data access. Each topic is illustrated with its own example so it’s easy to dip into the book without reading in sequence. This book covers some high-value, high-end techniques you won’t find anywhere else!

Microsoft ASP.NET MVC (model/view/controller) is a relatively new Web application framework that combines ASP.NET’s power and ease of use with the stability and testability of a MVC framework. The much-anticipated version 2 release brings new capabilities to the framework along with numerous additions that enhance developer productivity. In ASP.NET MVC 2 in Action, readers learn how to move from web form-based development to designs based on the MVC pattern. It begins with an introduction to the MVC framework and quickly dives into a working MVC 2 project.

Featuring full coverage of new version 2 features, this book helps readers use developer-oriented upgrades like “Areas” to break a large project into smaller pieces and explore the new data handling tools. This revised edition adds a completely new tutorial to bring developers with no prior exposure to the MVC pattern up to speed quickly, keeping its focus on providing high-quality, professional grade examples that go deeper than the other ASP.NET MVC books.

What’s Inside
    Dozens of self-contained examples
    Real-world use cases
    Full-system testing for ASP.NET applications

ASP.NET MVC has had the benefit of learning from other popular MVC frameworks, such as Struts, WebWork, Tapestry, Rails, MonoRail, and others. It also came about as C# started to push away its fully statically typed roots. The language enhancements introduced with .NET 3.5 have been fully leveraged in the ASP.NET MVC Framework, giving it a huge advantage over frameworks that came before as well as all the Java frameworks that are tied to the currently supported Java syntax.

For people who have a diversified software background, ASP.NET MVC is a great, familiar addition to the Visual Studio development experience. For those who began their software career with .NET 1.0 or later, it is a fundamental shift in thinking because they grew up with Web Forms being “normal” web development.

This book starts at a point that is past the documentation and online tutorials available on the ASP.NET MVC website (at http://www.asp.net/mvc/). If you’re just getting started with ASP.NET, you will want to read some of the older books covering the ASP.NET pipeline and server runtime. Because ASP.NET MVC layers on ASP.NET, it is important to understand the fundamentals. If you are a current ASP.NET developer, you will find that this book does not insult your intelligence. It is a fast-paced book aimed at giving you the why and not just the how.

Because ASP.NET MVC 2 is a new technology, you can expect several books to cover the topic. This is a framework, however, that is not sitting still. Since its first release in March 2009, several books have been released, but the community is always finding new and better ways to use the framework. The newest ideas make their way to the MvcContrib project, which is able to release frequently as new additions are contributed. Because of this dynamic, this book covers ASP.NET MVC with MvcContrib sprinkled throughout. The authors are all actively developing with the framework, and MvcContrib plays a vital part in every application.

This books aims to have a long-lasting place on your bookshelf. The API will evolve, but the principles behind using an MVC framework and the ways to structure URLs, tests, and application layers are more durable. With this, we hope that this book serves not only as a rigorous foray into ASP.NET MVC development but also as a good guide toward developing long-lived web applications on the .NET platform.

About the Authors

All authors are Microsoft MVPs and ASPInsiders. Jeffrey Palermo is cofounder of MvcContrib and CIO of Headspring Systems. Ben Scheirman, Jimmy Bogard, Eric Hexter (the other cofounder of MvcContrib), and Matthew Hinze are architects and .NET community leaders.

Jeffrey Palermo is a father of two (Gwyneth Rose and Xander) and a lucky husband. In his spare time, he enjoys playing the guitar badly and riding his Honda CRF450R dirt bike. In the business world, he is the CIO of Headspring Systems. Jeffrey has led the growth of Headspring’s consulting practice from a boutique development company to a multi-million dollar custom software firm. Recognizing software history, trends, fads, and the constant pendulum swing that is the technology industry, Jeffrey promotes a balanced approach that uses new lessons without discarding the advances of the past. Often ignoring industry fads, he advocates for a moderate, simple approach. Jeffrey has been recognized by Microsoft as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for five years. He has spoken and facilitated at industry conferences such as VSLive, DevTeach, the Microsoft MVP Summit, various ALT.NET conferences, and Microsoft Tech Ed. He also speaks to user groups around the country as part of the INETA Speakers’ Bureau. A graduate of Texas A&M University, an Eagle Scout, and an Iraq war veteran, Jeffrey holds too many certifications to list and has published many magazine articles and two books, including this one.

Jeffrey Palermo is responsible for the popular “Party with Palermo” events that often precede major Microsoft-focused conferences. Started in June of 2005, Party with Palermo has grown in popularity and size. Typical events host hundreds of people for free drinks, finger food, and door prizes. It’s the perfect way to hook up with friends and colleagues before the conference week begins. You can see past and upcoming parties at http://partywithpalermo.com, where the website has run on ASP.NET MVC since October, 2007.

Finally, Jeffrey, along with Eric Hexter, co-founded the MvcContrib open source project, which today finds its home at the Microsoft-seeded CodePlex Foundation as the first non-Microsoft project to be admitted in the non-profit software foundation.

Ben Scheirman is a passionate software craftsman, speaker, author, and blogger. He enjoys programming on a multitude of platforms, such as .NET, Ruby on Rails, and iPhone. Ben is a Microsoft MVP, Microsoft ASP Insider, and Certified ScrumMaster. When not programming, Ben enjoys playing guitar, spending time with his wife and five wonderful children, or voiding warranties on his latest gadgets. Ben is the Director of Development for ChaiONE in Houston, TX. Read his blog, b#, at http://flux88.com.

Jimmy Bogard is a Principal Consultant at Headspring Systems. He is an agile software developer with six years of professional development experience. He has delivered solutions from conception to production for many clients. The solutions delivered by Jimmy range from shrink-wrapped products to enterprise e-commerce applications for Fortune 100 customers. He is also a Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) and is an active member in the .NET community, leading open source projects, giving technical presentations, and facilitating technical book clubs. Currently, Jimmy is the lead developer on the NBehave project (a behavior-driven development framework for .NET), AutoMapper (a convention-based object-to-object mapper), and the facilitator of the Austin Domain-Driven Design Book Club. Jimmy is a member of the ASPInsiders group, the C# Insiders group, and received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for ASP.NET in 2009.

Eric Hexter has been developing software professionally for 15+ years in consulting, product development, corporate IT, and for premium brand web sites and e-commerce. Eric is a huge advocate of agile project management and software engineering practices. Eric has learned the hard way that writing untestable, tightly coupled code gets you nowhere fast. In fact, that type of code usually keeps one in the same spot unable to change and adapt software to the ever-changing needs of the business that uses said software.

Eric is very active in the Austin developer community. Eric is a Director for the Austin .NET Users group. Eric has run the Austin Code Camp, which is a one-day developer conference, since 2007. In addition to his position in the Austin .NET Users Group, Eric has held the following positions: INETA Membership Mentor for South Texas, ASPInsider, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in ASP.NET, and founder of the Community for MVC virtual usergroup. Additionally, Eric blogs with Los Techies, a community-focused technology blogging community. Eric speaks to user groups and at technology conferences around Texas and the U.S.

Eric is blessed to have a beautiful wife (Chriss), two lovely daughters (Emerson and Elliott), and another child (name TBD) on the way! Eric spends as much quality time with his family as he possibly can.

Matt Hinze is a Principal Consultant at Headspring, an Austin, Texas-based software consulting firm. As a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Matt has been successfully delivering technical courses to software developers since 2005. Meanwhile he is a full-time developer working in the trenches on major software projects. Passionate about software and programming, Matt is active in the developer community and presents technical talks to community groups and at conferences. Matt is also a Microsoft Certified Application Developer, ASPInsider, and Microsoft MVP for C#.

Author Online

The purchase of ASP.NET MVC 2 in Action includes free access to a private web forum run by Manning Publications, where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the author and from other users. To access the forum and subscribe to it, point your web browser to http://www.manning.com/ASP.NETMVC2inAction.

This page provides information about how to get on the forum once you’re registered, what kind of help is available, and the rules of conduct on the forum. Manning’s commitment to our readers is to provide a venue where a meaningful dialogue between individual readers and between readers and the authors can take place. It’s not a commitment to any specific amount of participation on the part of the authors, whose contribution to the book’s forum remains voluntary (and unpaid). We suggest you try asking them some challenging questions, lest their interest stray!

The Author Online forum and the archives of previous discussions will be accessible from the publisher’s website as long as the book is in print.