Delphi for .NET Developer Guide Review

Written By:

Xavier Pacheco

Copyright:

2004

Publisher:

Sams

Pages:

861

ISBN:

0672324431

Chapters (34)

Part I. Introduction to the .NET Framework

1. Introduction to .NET
2. Overview of the .NET Framework

Part II. Delphi for .NET Programming Language

3. Introduction to Delphi for .NET and the New IDE
4. Programs, Units, and Namespaces
5. The Delphi Language

Part III. The .NET Framework Class Library Development

6. Assemblies-Libraries and Packages
7. GDI+ Programming-Drawing in .NET
8. Mono-A Cross Platform .NET Project
9. Memory Management and Garbage collection
10. Collections
11. Working with the String and StringBuilder Classes
12. File and Streaming Operations
13. Developing Custom WinForms Controls
14. Threading in Delphi for .NET
15. Reflection API
16. Interoperability-COM Interop and the Platform Invocation Service

Part IV. Database Development with ADO.NET

17. Overview of ADO.NET
18. Using the Connection Object
19. Using the Command and DataReader Objects
20. DataAdapters and DataSets
21. Working with WinForms-DataViews and DataBinding
22. Saving data to the Data Source
23. Working with Transactions and Strongly-Typed Datasets
24. The Borland Data Provider

Part V. Internet Development with ASP.NET

25. ASP.NET Fundamentals
26. Building ASP.NET Web Pages
27. Building Database Driven ASP.NET Applications
28. Building Web Services
29. .NET Remoting and Delphi
30. .NET Remoting in Action
31. Securing ASP.NET Applications
32. ASP.NET Deployment and Configuration
33. Caching and Managing State in ASP.NET Applications
34. Developing Custom ASP.NET Server Controls.

On the CD

• All source code from the examples developed in the Book
• The entire text of Delphi 6 Developers Guide by Xavier Pacheco and Steve Teixeira
• Third-Party Evaluation Software
• .NET Framework 1.1 SDK, Web Matrix, and MSDE
• A Free single-user licensed copy of Active! Focus 1.5 to manage software requirements, defects, change request, and more.

Review

Xavier Pacheco takes up a tall order with this book, not that his earlier books were easy, but this time he has to explain Delphi, VCL, and the .NET Framework. The target audience is both experienced Delphi developers, .NET developers who user other .NET languages (like C# -- gasp) and beginning developers.

How does he do with those three groups in mind? The first two are handled very well and this should be an excellent book for them. But the beginning developers will have to reference other sources. But for the most part, this book will work best for Delphi developers trying to move into .NET.

One note though: Borland is going out of its way to attract existing .NET developers to the new product (and Delphi.NET is a new product). It has redesigned its IDE so that it is similar to Visual Studio.NET - but not enough to confuse the two, expanded the language, and added lots of extra features and components that ship on the CD. The latest version of Delphi includes the .NET and Win32 compiler and C# Builder into one package.

For the Delphi developer I would say that this is an excellent book. It covers all of the major facets of .NET development, including ADO.NET, WinForms, WebForms (ASP.NET), WebServices, Threading, Garbage Collection, Strings, Interoperability, Remoting, and the obligatory chapter on graphics. Also, as a first for any general .NET development book I have read: a full chapter on Mono (an open source cross-platform .NET implementation). But above all, it has my favorite chapter title: "Ring the GAC", which is a reference to Dr. Seuss's book: "Red Fish, Blue Fish."

For the current .NET developer, most of this book will be review (assuming you are already familiar with the .NET Framework and capabilities), but the main meat of the book will be in Part II: Delphi for .NET Programming Language. Here Xavier does a good, through run through the Delphi language and features. Considering how many books he has written on that very topic, he should be pretty good at it by this time. The remainder of book is filled with implementation details dealing with Delphi and .NET.

Overall

So, depending on where your experience is and what you are trying to get out of this book, Delphi for .NET Developer's Guide could either be an invaluable reference, a really good one read (read through it once - ok, now time to get to work). But either way, the book will get you a long way into begin a Delphi for .NET developer.

Review by Chris Brandsma

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