LINQ is the project name for a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that provide a generic approach to querying data from different data sources. LINQ made its debut in Visual Studio 2008, and became a must–have skill for .NET developers. For more information about LINQ, you can check out www.linqdev.com. Starting with code and ending with code and tailored for the VB language, Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 is a veritable treasury of LINQ examples that will save you hours, even days, of research time. Keeping you focused on the relevant LINQ principles, expert author Joseph Rattz, Jr., and VB specialist Dennis Hayes provide examples for complex models that you won't find anywhere else. In most books, you'll find plenty of simple examples to demonstrate how to use a method, but authors rarely show how to use the more complex prototypes. Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 is different. Demonstrating the overwhelming majority of LINQ operators and protoypes, Joseph Rattz, Jr., and Dennis Hayes condense their extensive experience and expertise into a desk companion that is essential for any serious .NET professional. Rather than obscure the relevant LINQ principles in code examples by focusing on a demonstration application you have no interest in writing, this book cuts right to the chase of each LINQ operator, method, or class. However, where complexity is necessary to truly demonstrate an issue, the examples are right there in the thick of it. For example, code samples demonstrating how to handle concurrency conflicts actually create concurrency conflicts so you can step through the code and see them unfold. Most books tell you about the simple stuff, while few books warn you of the pitfalls. Where Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in VB 2008 returns your investment is in the hours, and sometimes days, spent by the authors determining why something may not work as expected. Sometimes this results in an innocent–looking paragraph that may take you a minute to read and understand, but took days to research and explain. Face it, most technical books while informative, are dull. LINQ need not be dull. Written with a sense of humor, this book will attempt to entertain you on your journey through the wonderland of LINQ and VB 2008.
LINQ is the part of the .NET Framework that provides a generic approach to querying data from different data sources. It has quickly become the next must-have skill for .NET developers. Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in C# 2010 is all about code. Literally, this book starts with code and ends with code. Most books show the simplest examples of how to use a method, but they so rarely show how to use the more complex prototypes. This book is different. Demonstrating the overwhelming majority of LINQ operators and prototypes, it is a veritable treasury of LINQ examples. Rather than obscure the relevant LINQ principles in code examples by focusing on a demonstration application you have no interest in writing, this book cuts right to the chase of each LINQ operator, method, or class. However, where complexity is necessary to truly demonstrate an issue, the examples are right there in the thick of it. For example, code samples demonstrating how to handle concurrency conflicts actually create concurrency conflicts so you can step through the code and see them unfold. Face it, most technical books, while informative, are dull. LINQ need not be dull. Written with a sense of humor, this book will attempt to entertain you on your journey through the wonderland of LINQ and C# 2010.
“Charlie and Dinesh bring important skills to this project that enable them to show how LINQ works and the practical ways you can use it in your daily development process.” From the Foreword by Anders Hejlsberg LINQ is one of Microsoft’s most exciting, powerful new development technologies. Essential LINQ is the first LINQ book written by leading members of Microsoft’s LINQ and C# teams. Writing for architects, developers, and development managers, these Microsoft insiders share their intimate understanding of LINQ, revealing new patterns and best practices for getting the most out of it. Calvert and Kulkarni begin by clearly explaining how LINQ resolves the long-time “impedance mismatch” between object-oriented code and relational databases. Next, they show how LINQ integrates querying into C# as a “first-class citizen.” Using realistic code examples, they show how LINQ provides a strongly typed, IntelliSense-aware technology for working with data from any source, including SQL databases, XML files, and generic data structures. Calvert and Kulkarni carefully explain LINQ’s transformative, composable, and declarative capabilities. By fully illuminating these three concepts, the authors allow developers to discover LINQ’s full power. In addition to covering core concepts and hands-on LINQ development in C# with LINQ to Objects, LINQ to XML, LINQ to SQL, and LINQ to Entities, they also present advanced topics and new LINQ implementations developed by the LINQ community. This book • Explains the entire lifecycle of a LINQ project: design, development, debugging, and much more • Teaches LINQ from both a practical and theoretical perspective • Leverages C# language features that simplify LINQ development • Offers developers powerful LINQ query expressions to perform virtually any data-related task • Teaches how to query SQL databases for objects and how to modify those objects • Demonstrates effective use stored procedures and database functions with LINQ • Shows how to add business logic that reflects the specific requirements of your organization • Teaches developers to create, query, and transform XML data with LINQ • Shows how to transform object, relational, and XML data between each other • Offers best patterns and practices for writing robust, easy-to-maintain LINQ code
Language Integrated Query (LINQ), as well as the C# 3.0 and VB 9.0 language extensions to support it, is the most import single new feature of Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.x. LINQ is Microsoft's first attempt to define a universal query language for a diverse set of in-memory collections of generic objects, entities persisted in relational database tables, and element and attributes of XML documents or fragments, as well as a wide variety of other data types, such as RSS and Atom syndication feeds. Microsoft invested millions of dollars in Anders Hejlsberg and his C# design and development groups to add new features to C# 3.0—such as lambda expressions, anonymous types, and extension methods—specifically to support LINQ Standard Query Operators (SQOs) and query expressions as a part of the language itself. Corresponding additions to VB 9.0 followed the C# team's lead, but VB's implementation of LINQ to XML offers a remarkable new addition to the language: XML literals. VB's LINQ to XML implementation includes XML literals, which treat well-formed XML documents or fragments as part of the VB language, rather than requiring translation of element and attribute names and values from strings to XML DOM nodes and values. This book concentrates on hands-on development of practical Windows and Web applications that demonstrate C# and VB programming techniques to bring you up to speed on LINQ technologies. The first half of the book covers LINQ Standard Query Operators (SQOs) and the concrete implementations of LINQ for querying collections that implement generic IEnumerable, IQueryable, or both interfaces. The second half is devoted to the ADO.NET Entity Framework, Entity Data Model, Entity SQL (eSQL) and LINQ to Entities. Most code examples emulate real-world data sources, such as the Northwind sample database running on SQL Server 2005 or 2008 Express Edition, and collections derived from its tables. Code examples are C# and VB Windows form or Web site/application projects not, except in the first chapter, simple command-line projects. You can't gain a feel for the behavior or performance of LINQ queries with "Hello World" projects that process arrays of a few integers or a few first and last names. This book is intended for experienced .NET developers using C# or VB who want to gain the maximum advantage from the query-processing capabilities of LINQ implementations in Visual Studio 2008—LINQ to Objects, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to DataSets, and LINQ to XML—as well as the object/relational mapping (O/RM) features of VS 2008 SP1's Entity Framework/Entity Data Model and LINQ to Entities and the increasing number of open-source LINQ implementations by third-party developers. Basic familiarity with generics and other language features introduced by .NET 2.0, the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE), and relational database management systems (RDBMSs), especially Microsoft SQL Server 200x, is assumed. Experience with SQL Server's Transact-SQL (T-SQL) query language and stored procedures will be helpful but is not required. Proficiency with VS 2005, .NET 2.0, C# 2.0, or VB 8.0 will aid your initial understanding of the book's C# 3.0 or VB 9.0 code samples but isn't a prerequisite. Microsoft's .NET code samples are primarily written in C#. All code samples in this book's chapters and sample projects have C# and VB versions unless they're written in T-SQL or JavaScript. Professional ADO.NET 3.5: LINQ and the Entity Framework concentrates on programming the System.Linq and System.Linq.Expressions namespaces for LINQ to Objects, System.Data.Linq for LINQ to SQL, System.Data.Linq for LINQ to DataSet, System.Xml.Linq for LINQ to XML, and System.Data.Entity and System.Web.Entity for EF's Entity SQL. "Taking a New Approach to Data Access in ADO.NET 3.5," uses simple C# and VB code examples to demonstrate LINQ to Objects queries against in-memory objects and databinding with LINQ-populated generic List collections, object/relational mapping (O/RM) with LINQ to SQL, joining DataTables with LINQ to DataSets, creating EntitySets with LINQ to Entities, querying and manipulating XML InfoSets with LINQ to XML, and performing queries against strongly typed XML documents with LINQ to XSD. "Understanding LINQ Architecture and Implementation," begins with the namespaces and C# and VB language extensions to support LINQ, LINQ Standard Query Operators (SQOs), expression trees and compiled queries, and a preview of domain-specific implementations. C# and VB sample projects demonstrate object, array, and collection initializers, extension methods, anonymous types, predicates, lambda expressions, and simple query expressions. "Executing LINQ Query Expressions with LINQ to Objects," classifies the 50 SQOs into operator groups: Restriction, Projection, Partitioning, Join, Concatenation, Ordering, Grouping, Set, Conversion, and Equality, and then lists their keywords in C# and VB. VS 2008 SP1 includes C# and VB versions of the LINQ Project Sample Query Explorer, but the two Explorers don't use real-world collections as data sources. This describes a LINQ in-memory object generator (LIMOG) utility program that writes C# 3.0 or VB 9.0 class declarations for representative business objects that are more complex than those used by the LINQ Project Sample Query Explorers. Sample C# and VB queries with these business objects as data sources are more expressive than those using a arrays of a few integers or last names. "Working with Advanced Query Operators and Expressions," introduces LINQ queries against object graphs with entities that have related (associated) entities. This begins with examples of aggregate operators, explains use of the Let temporary local variable operator, shows you how to use Group By with aggregate queries, conduct the equivalent of left outer joins, and take advantage of the Contains() SQO to emulate SQL's IN() function. You learn how to compile queries for improved performance, and create mock object classes for testing without the overhead of queries against relational persistence stores. "Using LINQ to SQL and the LinqDataSource," introduces LINQ to SQL as Microsoft's first O/RM tool to reach released products status and shows you how to autogenerate class files for entity types with the graphical O/R Designer or command-line SqlMetal.exe. This also explains how to edit *.dbml mapping files in the Designer or XML Editor, instantiate DataContext objects, and use LINQ to SQL as a Data Access Layer (DAL) with T-SQL queries or stored procedures. Closes with a tutorial for using the ASP.NET LinqDataSource control with Web sites or applications. "Querying DataTables with LINQ to DataSets," begins with a comparison of DataSet and DataContext objects and features, followed by a description of the DataSetExtensions. Next comes querying untyped and typed DataSets, creating lookup lists, and generating LinqDataViews for databinding with the AsDataView() method. This ends with a tutorial that shows you how to copy LINQ query results to DataTables. "Manipulating Documents with LINQ to XML," describes one of LINQ most powerful capabilities: managing XML Infosets. This demonstrates that LINQ to XML has query and navigation capabilities that equal or surpasses XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0. It also shows LINQ to XML document transformation can replace XQuery and XSLT 1.0+ in the majority of common use cases. You learn how to use VB 9.0's XML literals to constructs XML documents, use GroupJoin() to produce hierarchical documents, and work with XML namespaces in C# and VB. "Exploring Third-Party and Emerging LINQ Implementations," describes Microsoft's Parallel LINQ (also called PLINQ) for taking advantage of multiple CPU cores in LINQ to Objects queries, LINQ to REST for translating LINQ queries into Representational State Transfer URLs that define requests to a Web service with the HTML GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE methods, and Bart De Smet's LINQ to Active Directory and LINQ to SharePoint third-party implementations. "Raising the Level of Data Abstraction with the Entity Data Model," starts with a guided tour of the development of EDM and EF as an O/RM tool and heir apparent to ADO.NET DataSets, provides a brief description of the entity-relationship (E-R) data model and diagrams, and then delivers a detailed analysis of EF architecture. Next comes an introduction to the Entity SQL (eSQL) language, eSQL queries, client views, and Object Services, including the ObjectContext, MetadataWorkspace, and ObjectStateManager. Later chapters describe eSQL and these objects in greater detail. Two C# and VB sample projects expand on the eSQL query and Object Services sample code. "Defining Conceptual, Mapping, and Storage Schema Layers," provides detailed insight into the structure of the *.edmx file that generates the *.ssdl (storage schema data language), *.msl (mapping schema language), and *.csdl files at runtime. You learn how to edit the *.edmx file manually to accommodate modifications that the graphic EDM Designer can’t handle. You learn how to implement the Table-per-Hierarchy (TPH) inheritance model and traverse the MetadataWorkspace to obtain property values. Four C# and VB sample projects demonstrate mapping, substituting stored procedures for queries, and TPH inheritance. "Introducing Entity SQL," examines EF's new eSQL dialect that adds keywords to address the differences between querying entities and relational tables. You learn to use Zlatko Michaelov's eBlast utility to write and analyze eSQL queries, then dig into differences between eSQL and T-SQL SELECT queries. (eSQL v1 doesn't support INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and other SQL Data Manipulation Language constructs). You execute eSQL queries against the EntityClient, measure the performance hit of eSQL compared to T-SQL, execute parameterize eSQL queries, and use SQL Server Compact 3.5 as a data store. C# and VB Sample projects demonstrate the programming techniques. "Taking Advantage of Object Services and LINQ to Entities," concentrates manipulating the Object Services API's ObjectContext. It continues with demonstrating use of partial classes for the ModelNameEntities and EntityName objects, executing eSQL ObjectQuerys, and deferred or eager loading of associated entities, including ordering and filtering the associated entities. Also covers instructions for composing QueryBuilder methods for ObjectQuerys, LINQ to Entities queries, and parameterizing ObjectQuerys. "Updating Entities and Complex Types," shows you how to perform create, update, and delete (CUD) operations on EntitySets and manage optimistic concurrency conflicts. It starts with a detailed description of the ObjectContext.ObjectStateManager and its child objects, which perform object identification and change tracking operations with EntityKeys. This also covers validation of create and update operations, optimizing the DataContext lifetime, performing updates with stored procedures, and working with complex types. "Binding Data Controls to the ObjectContext", describes creating design-time data sources from ObjectContext.EntitySet instances, drag-and-drop addition of BindingNavigator, BindingSource, bound TextBox, and DataGridView controls to Windows forms. You also learn how to update EntityReference and EntitySet values with ComboBox columns in DataGridView controls. (You can’t update EntitySet values directly; you must delete and add a new member having the required value). This concludes with a demonstration of the use of the ASP.NET EntityDataSource control bound to GridView and DropDownList controls. "Using the Entity Framework As a Data Source," concentrates on using EF as a data source for the ADO.NET Data Services Framework (the former codename "Project Astoria" remains in common use), which is the preferred method for deploying EF v1 as a Web service provider. (EF v2 is expected to be able to support n-tier data access with Windows Communication Foundation [WCF] directly). A Windows form example uses Astoria's .NET 3.5 Client Library to display and update entity instances with the Atom Publication (AtomPub or APP) wire format. The Web form project uses the AJAX Client Library and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) as the wire format.
This book aims to give experienced .NET developers a thorough grounding in Object Relational Mapping methodologies and show how LINQ can be used to achieve them. It provides detailed A-Z coverage of the key concepts and ideas in a clear, easy to follow, manner. The book is split into two parts. The first provides a detailed explanation of the key concepts and technologies, while the second brings them to life in a detailed fictional case study using an architecture that can be easily adapted to a wide range of reader’s circumstances.
Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) is a revolutionary part of the .NET 4 Framework that allows you to orchestrate human and system interactions as a series of workflows that can be easily mapped, analyzed, adjusted, and implemented. As business problems become more complex, the need for workflow-based solutions has never been more evident. WF provides a simple and consistent way to model and implement complex problems. As a developer, you focus on developing the business logic for individual workflow tasks. The runtime handles the execution of those tasks after they have been composed into a workflow. Pro WF: Windows Workflow in .NET 4 provides you with the skills you need to incorporate WF in your applications, using a lively tutorial style with each example illustrated in C#. This book gets you up to speed with WF 4 quickly and comprehensively. Learn about WF 4’s new designer, it’s updated programming paradigm, and the completely new set of activities that can enable and extend your workflows. This book also includes detailed coverage of how to customize your workflows and access them in a variety of ways and situations so you can maximize the advantages of this technology.
The professional’s guide to C# 7, with expert guidance on the newest features Professional C# 7 and .NET Core 2.0 provides experienced programmers with the information they need to work effectively with the world’s leading programming language. The latest C# update added many new features that help you get more done in less time, and this book is your ideal guide for getting up to speed quickly. C# 7 focuses on data consumption, code simplification, and performance, with new support for local functions, tuple types, record types, pattern matching, non-nullable reference types, immutable types, and better support for variables. Improvements to Visual Studio will bring significant changes to the way C# developers interact with the space, bringing .NET to non-Microsoft platforms and incorporating tools from other platforms like Docker, Gulp, and NPM. Guided by a leading .NET expert and steeped in real-world practicality, this guide is designed to get you up to date and back to work. With Microsoft speeding up its release cadence while offering more significant improvement with each update, it has never been more important to get a handle on new tools and features quickly. This book is designed to do just that, and more—everything you need to know about C# is right here, in the single-volume resource on every developer’s shelf. Tour the many new and enhanced features packed into C# 7 and .NET Core 2.0 Learn how the latest Visual Studio update makes developers’ jobs easier Streamline your workflow with a new focus on code simplification and performance enhancement Delve into improvements made for localization, networking, diagnostics, deployments, and more Whether you’re entirely new to C# or just transitioning to C# 7, having a solid grasp of the latest features allows you to exploit the language’s full functionality to create robust, high -quality apps. Professional C# 7 and .NET Core 2.0 is the one-stop guide to everything you need to know.
ASP.NET 4 is the principal standard for creating dynamic web pages on the Windows platform. Pro ASP.NET 4 in VB 2010 raises the bar for high-quality, practical advice on learning and deploying Microsoft's dynamic web solution. This edition is updated with everything you need to come to grips with version 4 of ASP.NET, including coverage of ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET AJAX 4, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, and Silverlight 3. Seasoned .NET professionals Matthew MacDonald and Mario Szpuszta explain how you can get the most from these groundbreaking new technologies. They cover ASP.NET 4 as a whole, illustrating both the brand-new features and the functionality carried over from previous versions of ASP. This book will give you the knowledge you need to code real ASP.NET 4 applications in the best possible style.
The first edition of this book was released at the 2001 Tech-Ed conference in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, the .NET platform was still a beta product, and in many ways, so was this book. This is not to say that the early editions of this text did not have merit—after all, the book was a 2002 Jolt Award finalist and it won the 2003 Referenceware Excellence Award. However, over the years that author Andrew Troelsen spent working with the common language runtime (CLR), he gained a much deeper understanding of the .NET platform and the subtleties of the C# programming language, and he feels that this fifth edition of the book is as close to a “final release” as he’s come yet. This new edition has been comprehensively revised and rewritten to make it accurately reflect the C# 4 language specification for the .NET 4 platform. You’ll find new chapters covering the important concepts of dynamic lookups, named and optional arguments, Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), improved COM interop, and variance for generics. If you’re checking out this book for the first time, do understand that it's targeted at experienced software professionals and/or graduate students of computer science (so don't expect three chapters on iteration or decision constructs!). The mission of this text is to provide you with a rock-solid foundation in the C# programming language and the core aspects of the .NET platform (assemblies, remoting, Windows Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML web services, etc.). Once you digest the information presented in these 25 chapters, you’ll be in a perfect position to apply this knowledge to your specific programming assignments, and you’ll be well equipped to explore the .NET universe on your own terms.
Pro ADO.NET Data Services: Working with RESTful Data is aimed at developers interested in taking advantage of the REST–style data services that ADO.NET Data Services (formerly code–named Astoria) provides. The book shows how to incorporate ADO.NET Data Services into a wide range of common environments, including BizTalk, Ajax and Silverlight client applications. The material is intended for professional developers who are comfortable with the .NET 3.5 Framework but are coming to ADO.NET Data Services for the first time and want to understand how to integrate it into their own applications and enterprise solutions. The book is packed full with extensive real–world solutions and exercises, ensuring you walk away with a deep understanding of how to use ADO.NET Data Services to your best advantage.
