This three-day intensive course teaches the essential elements of ADO.NET for Web applications such that at the end of the course the programmer is able to utilize its tremendous database manipulation powers to build effective database applications. The course includes a major case study demonstrating the use of ADO.NET in a realistic setting. It is current to .NET 4.5.1, Visual Studio® 2013 and SQL Server® 2012 Express. The course opens with an overview of ADO.NET and its relation to previous Microsoft data access technologies. It includes a discussion of ADO.NET architecture, main interfaces and classes, and programming with both the connected and disconnected models. The database for the case study is introduced.The next two chapters cover in detail Connection and Command objects, which are essential in both connected and disconnected database access scenarios. The following chapter covers DataReaders, which provide a fast, forward-only reading capability. Programming with DataReaders bears a close resemblance to programming with the vintage recordset object.Then the course focuses on the backbone of ADO.NET: DataSet and its related classes, such as DataAdapter, DataTable, DataRow, DataColumn, DataRelation, TableMappings and ColumnMappings. DataSet is able to handle multiple tables while remaining disconnected. It is eminently suited for building highly scalable applications for the Web. The close relationship between ADO.NET and XML is covered in detail. Transactions and concurrency are covered.

Objectives

Write XSLT stylesheets that produce HTML, XML, and text.

Identify XML elements using XPath.

Use XPath functions and predicates.

Call specifically named templates.

Sort data and use modes

Use XPath string functions to manipulate string values.

Create and format numbers in the result document.

Use variables and parameters within a stylesheet.

Import templates from other XSLT stylesheets.

Define precedence of XSLT templates.

Detailed Outline

1. Course Introduction
   • Course Objectives
   • Course Overview
   • Using the Workbook
   • Suggested References
2. Introduction to XSLT
   • Stylesheet, Source, and Result
   • XSLT Processors
   • Processor Implementations
   • XPath Basics
   • xsl:stylesheet
   • xsl:template
   • xsl:value-of
   • xsl:apply-templates
   • xsl:output
3. XPath Nodetypes
   • XPath Expressions
   • XPath Context
   • XPath Location Steps
   • Element and Root Nodes
   • Text and Attribute Nodes
   • Comment and Processing Instruction Nodes
   • Namespace Nodes
   • Wildcards
   • Whitespace
   • Default Template Rules
4. XPath Axes and Predicates
   • Location Paths and Location Steps
   • Peer Axis Types
   • More Peer Axis Types
   • Descendant Axis Types
   • Ancestor Axis Types
   • Node Tests
   • Predicates
   • Functions
5. XSLT Flow Control
   • xsl:if
   • xsl:choose
   • xsl:for-each
   • xsl:sort
   • Named Templates
   • Mode
6. Generating Output with XSLT
   • Output Methods
   • HTML Output
   • Plain Text Output
   • XML Output
   • xsl:element and xsl:attribute
   • Attribute Value Templates
   • xsl:attribute-set
   • Text, Processing-Instructions, and Comments
   • Working with Namespaces
7. Using XPath and XSLT Functions
   • XPath Datatypes and Functions
   • Node Test Functions
   • Node Set Functions
   • Boolean Functions
   • String Functions
   • Number Functions
   • The document() Function
   • xsl:key and the key() Function
8. Advanced XSLT
   • Copying Elements
   • Numbering
   • Variables
   • Parameters
   • Using Other Stylesheets
   • apply-imports
   • Template Rule Conflicts
   • Extensions
9. Appendix – XSLT and XPath 2.0 New Features
   • XSLT 2.0 Grouping Elements and Functions
   • User-Defined XSLT Functions
   • Multiple Output and XHTML Documents
   • Temporary Trees
   • Sequences
   • Types
   • Stylesheets that are Schema-Aware
   • Character Mapping
   • Regular Expressions