We're very proud to announce that there's now a book on the market, called 'Rapid C# Windows development' by Joseph Chancellor, about Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and LLBLGen Pro

This is the description of the author:

Through the exercises in this workbook, you will learn how to use C# with Visual Studio .NET 2005, SQL Server 2005, and an invaluable tool called an O/R Mapper (LLBLGen Pro) to rapidly develop database-driven applications. You will gain an understanding of the benefits of using these technologies and you will see the complete process from start to finish, including scanning the database schema, generating code, adding business logic, and building the user interface. We will also cover validation, transactions, performance tuning, multi-threading, and deployment. While there are books, websites, and documentation that cover all of these technologies individually, we will aim in this book to demonstrate how they can be used together as a rapid and robust solution, giving the developer a practical walk-through with a multitude of explanations, diagrams, and screenshots.

It's a very well written and clear book, so people looking for a practical walk-through should rush over to http://www.lulu.com/content/174470 and buy it

That was that for a "Sustainable Competitive Advantage" in rapid development

He also offers a lot of free content as a preview, over here: preview link

This should get new LLBLGen Pro users started

Just purchased and downloaded the pdf version. Look forward to reading it.

Aglaia wrote:

He also offers a lot of free content as a preview, over here: preview link

This should get new LLBLGen Pro users started

Wow! That sample is pretty good. Lots of stuff in there that would have been nice to have a long time ago to help work through issues.

arschr wrote:

Just purchased and downloaded the pdf version. Look forward to reading it.

can you please give us some feadback or recommendation abou the value of this book to our LLBLGen community (beginners and/or advanced)

Yes, please let us know about the level reached in the book...

I'm starting to understand the concept of LLBLGen, but still have the feeling I'm doing a lot of stuff with too much code and/or performance loss...

(Like using Entity.RelatedCollection.Count, while (that's what i support) a get scalar with a RowCount is faster if you;re not gonna use the entities in the related collection)

Looks pretty good. Wonder if he (or someone else) has also got a web development version in the works. It seems like the missing link still is a good rapid web form development presentation model. It seems like you should be able to easily script out list views and entity edit forms and then use CSS for layout / presentation.

We have started to pursue this route in our stuff, but have not yet reached the zen state of being able to push a button to get from the DB to a functional UI in one step (still working on it). Ruby on Rails can do it, so why can't we? What ever happened with that contest that was supposed to get us closer to that vision?

Omar, I don't think you need to read this book, you understand all of it that's been discussed .

The book is mainly geared towards the people who aren't that familiar with LLBLGen pro in combination with winforms and .NET 2.0. The topics discussed can still be informative for people who THINK they know everything, of course, as with every book.

As the book is very inexpensive and contains just that amount of pages to read in a couple of hours (150 or so), I don't think it's a tough choice to make for a lot of our customers. Our manual is 350+ A4 pages thick, contains a lot of information but at the same time isn't written to be read as a book, while this book is.

It's also not meant to be a complete book to describe all LLBLGen Pro features, it discusses and explains a subset of it, though a subset a lot of you will run into.

bmoeskau wrote:

We have started to pursue this route in our stuff, but have not yet reached the zen state of being able to push a button to get from the DB to a functional UI in one step (still working on it). Ruby on Rails can do it, so why can't we? What ever happened with that contest that was supposed to get us closer to that vision?

The contest was cancelled due to lack of competitors in the contest. We didn't expect that, as we had serious money to offer and we have a large customer base, but apparently people weren't that interested.

The book is mainly geared towards the people who aren't that familiar with LLBLGen pro in combination with winforms and .NET 2.0. The topics discussed can still be informative for people who THINK they know everything, of course, as with every book.

Yes, Both those are true. I've skimmed over it, but not worked through the exercises. It uses the self servicing templates, (I don't), to build a basic program with search and update capabilities. I does a great job of meeting the goals stated in the introduction, and would be a good way for programmers new to LLBLGen Pro to get exposed over the course of a day or two. (That is how I'll use it).

As the book is very inexpensive and contains just that amount of pages to read in a couple of hours (150 or so)

I bought the PDF version for $8, it is well written, is very nicely layed-out and illustrated. I wouldn't spend $40 for it (because of it's shallow debth), but it is wonderfull for what it is, at it's price.

I have read the book and I think it is for intermediate Windows forms designers who are tried of writing data access code.

For example, ASP.NET introduces many more issues not covered by the book, and the section actually explaining the philosophy and use of LLBLGen is about 20 pages long. The rest of the book is forms-specific application.

Given the book's stated purpose, it does fulfil its promise. I have vastly different use cases so I don't know how much of the book will apply to my work.

I bought it because I like to support such initiatives and I'd like to introduce LLBLGen to some developers I hire the next months.

I bought it! It's a very nice introduction and should have the option of being bundled with new orders for new clients. I wish this would have been around when I first got my hands on LLBLGenPro.

I think a book like this that describes all subsets of the LLBLGenPro framework would be destined to become the essential guide for rapid application development with LLBLGenPro.

Sign me up for the first copy!

sound good, however:

The site (lulu.com) to which the book image points seems to no longer exist. At least, I couldn't get a connection to it. Has anyone experienced the same?

Best Regards, Mario

mario.muja wrote:

sound good, however:

The site (lulu.com) to which the book image points seems to no longer exist. At least, I couldn't get a connection to it. Has anyone experienced the same?

Best Regards, Mario

I can connect to it without a problem. Perhaps some issue along the route from your ISP to lulu.com? (try tracert www.lulu.com on the command line )

Aglaia wrote:

He also offers a lot of free content as a preview, over here: preview link

This should get new LLBLGen Pro users started

Is Aglaia from the LLBLGen Venus division?

bmoeskau wrote:

Looks pretty good. Wonder if he (or someone else) has also got a web development version in the works. It seems like the missing link still is a good rapid web form development presentation model. It seems like you should be able to easily script out list views and entity edit forms and then use CSS for layout / presentation.

We have started to pursue this route in our stuff, but have not yet reached the zen state of being able to push a button to get from the DB to a functional UI in one step (still working on it). Ruby on Rails can do it, so why can't we? What ever happened with that contest that was supposed to get us closer to that vision?

We are persuing same thing. We have test instalation at client site, and so far client is happy. It is not one click away, you have to code a bit, but it is very open system to use, giving freedom to user to change things as well as giving us great speed in coding views and logic under. And powered by LLBLGen

Would you mind to provide more information/code /concept ??

I found a link to this book from http://weblogs.asp.net/fbouma/archive/2006/01/27/436660.aspx LLBLGen Pro: the book! (actually Rapid C# Windows Development: Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, and LLBLGen Pro by Joseph Chancellor)

It is available as a free download (pdf) from Lulu http://www.lulu.com/content/174470

The only problem is that is is obsolete as it deals with version 1 of LLBLGen. Still it may be useful as a starter to the LLBLGen Pro documentation which I have found just a tad impenetrable in some areas (some of the chapters remind me of when I tried to follow a discussion on quantum computing lead by someone who had a PHD in theoretical physics).

The précis is

Description: (NOTE: LLBLGen Pro has been updated to version 2.0. This book is about version 1. There are differences in the new 2.0 templates.) Through the exercises in this workbook, you will learn how to use C# with Visual Studio .NET 2005, SQL Server 2005, and an invaluable tool called an O/R Mapper (LLBLGen Pro) to rapidly develop database-driven applications. You will gain an understanding of the benefits of using these technologies and you will see the complete process from start to finish, including scanning the database schema, generating code, adding business logic, and building the user interface. We will also cover validation, transactions, performance tuning, multi-threading, and deployment. While there are books, websites, and documentation that cover all of these technologies individually, we will aim in this book to demonstrate how they can be used together as a rapid and robust solution.

I wonder if there is a Sequel?

Unfortunately there will be no newer version unless someone else wants to take up the mantel.

http://josephchancellor.wordpress.com/

At this point in time, I don’t anticipate updating the book myself to stay current with the new version. However, I am happy to help any aspiring technical writer who wants to give it a shot. I can provide my source material, templates, art, and graphics. If you’re interested in the project, please email me your information and a writing sample.

I did find this other video which was very good

http://www.screencast.com/users/quantum00/folders/Default/media/4e5769af-678a-4087-a346-971fabcac6bf

but again dealing with version 1. Still it clarified quite a few concepts for me.

Found the source code for the book at CodePlex

One can download the orginal source from http://www.codeplex.com/RapidDevBookCode/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx

Jeremy (JezzaT) has been working on the code so it will work with version 2.6.

You can download the latest version (Change Set 46419 when I tried it) at

http://www.codeplex.com/RapidDevBookCode/SourceControl/ListDownloadableCommits.aspx

To build the code one needs to download and install Dynamic Data support from Extras at http://www.llblgen.com/pages/secure/ListDownloads.aspx?ProductVersion=6

I had to update the manifest with a new cerficate but thats no big drama.

Rebuilt and executed it ok. Not sure if it give me any new answers but hey some success is good.

Yes, we knew TomDog was working on the code to port it to v2.6 + linq. He discovered quite a few bugs in our linq provider with it (as often the queries are quite complex).

Too bad Joseph is too busy for doing another book, he's an awesome writer

After only a year and a half after I started it I've finally finished the port to v2.6 and LINQ. You can get it here: http://rapiddevbookcode.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=38670

Hope someone finds it usefull. Jeremy

TomDog wrote:

After only a year and a half after I started it I've finally finished the port to v2.6 and LINQ. You can get it here: http://rapiddevbookcode.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=38670

Hope someone finds it usefull. Jeremy

Excellent work! . I hope it's useful for many