eBooks

Flex 3 Cookbook: Code-Recipes, Tips, and Tricks for RIA Developers

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:04:20 GMT

The best way to show off a powerful new technology is to demonstrate real-world results with it, and that's exactly what Adobe and O'Reilly have done with Flex 3.

Through it's Flex Cookbook website, Adobe invited users of the Flex 3 beta to post their own solutions for working with this technology, using O'Reilly's popular problem-solution-discussion format. Website monitors (and authors) Joshua Noble and Todd Anderson chose the most useful solutions for Flex 3 Cookbook.

This highly practical book contains more than 200 proven recipes for developing interactive Rich Internet Applications and Web 2.0 sites, including several contributed by Noble, Anderson, and other Flex experts. You'll find everything from Flex basics and working with menus and controls, to methods for compiling, deploying, and configuring Flex applications.
Each recipe features a discussion of how and why it works, and many of them offer sample code that you can put to use immediately. Topics include:

Menus and controls
Containers and dialogues
Working with Text
List, tiles, trees, and repeaters
DataGrid and Advanced DataGrid
Renderers
Images, videos, and sounds
CSS and skinning
Building components
States and effects
Collections, arrays, and DataProviders
DataBinding
Validation/formatters
Charting and data visualization
State management, SharedObjects and LocalConnection
Working with services and ServerSide communication
Working with XML
Communicating with the browser
Application development strategies
Runtime and dynamic shared libraries and modules
Working with Adobe AIR

Whether you're a committed Flex developer, or still evaluating the technology, you'll discover how to get quick results with Flex 3 using these these recipes. Now that Flex is an open source framework, the user community will continue to supply solutions to extend and improve the technology. This Cookbook offers you the cream of the crop.

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Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:03:08 GMT

Would you like to create your own games, but never have the time to dig into the details of multimedia programming? Now you don’t have to! XNA makes it simple to create your own games, which will run on your PC and Xbox 360 console. Even if you don’t know how to program at all, Beginning XNA 2.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional will teach you the basics of C# 2005 programming along the way. Don’t get overwhelmed with details you don’t need to know— just learn what you need to start creating your own games right now!

The fast–paced introduction to XNA and the C# language provides professional developers a quick-start guide to creating a commercial product using XNA, as well as offering home enthusiasts or hobbyists everything they need to begin putting together games in their spare time. You’ll discover and understand all the key concepts required to create smooth, professional–looking results in a range of gaming genres. Every reader will come away with a firm foundation onto which they can build more advanced ideas.

What you’ll learn

An introduction to the C# language
Basics of game programming
XNA basics
Xbox 360 controller and keyboard input
Fully worked examples of how to create 2D and 3D games

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Beginning VB 2008 Databases: From Novice to Professional

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:02:00 GMT

Beginning VB 2008 Databases teaches you everything you need to know about relational databases, SQL, and ADO.NET 2.0, giving you a sound start in developing console and Windows database applications. The book also includes chapters on the new SQL Server XML data type and the forthcoming LINQ enhancements to the next version of Visual Basic.

In addition to teaching you database basics like using SQL to communicate with databases, this book provides you with detailed, code-practical techniques to access data in Visual Basic 2008 across a range of coding situations. Code-heavy and full of practical detail, this book has been fully revised and upgraded for .NET 3.5 and offers you the best contemporary practice in this core programming area, so that you’ll find yourself using it in nearly all your .NET projects.

Provides step-by-step instructions on how to install and configure necessary tools
Presents all essential SQL query and update concepts and syntax, so you don’t need prior familiarity with relational databases or SQL
Describes how to use ADO.NET transactions, exceptions, and events
Covers ADO.NET features for handling XML, text, and binary data within a Visual Basic 2008 context
Explains all concepts through straightforward code examples

What you’ll learn

How relational databases work and how to use them
How Visual Basic uses ADO.NET to access databases
How to write stored procedures in T-SQL and call them from Visual Basic programs
How to use XML in database applications
How to use LINQ to simplify VB database programming
How to install SQL Server 2005 Express and use it to teach yourself databases by doing databases

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Foundation Expression Blend 2: Building Applications in WPF and Silverlight

Thu, 08 May 2008 22:00:00 GMT

In this book, you'll:

Learn the Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008 development environments
Create designs using Blend 2's unique tools
Use XAML and C# to add interactivity to your designs
Publish your Rich Media Applications to the Web using Silverlight

The only real tool available for creating Rich Media Applications, web-based animations, and games has been Flash‚ until now! WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and Silverlight have opened the door of Rich Media Application development to Microsoft .NET developers. With Microsoft's new Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008, you can now create compelling Rich Media Applications complete with animations and even 3D! This book shows you how to take full advantage of Blend's new interface, together with and Silverlight's vastly improved designer-developer workflow, guiding you through every step of development from downloading and installing of the development environment through creating finished, functional projects. You'll learn how to create simple drawing applications with the InkCanvas, make tabbed and scrollable interfaces, as well as build fully featured media players, photo galleries, and interactive 3D designs. Each chapter discusses major WPF and Silverlight features, provides a hands-on tutorial, and explains how that feature is implemented in the real world. In the end, you will have a collection of impressive WPF and Silverlight applications that can be added to your portfolio. Whether you're an experienced .NET or web developer, or you're just starting out, this book will provide you with all you need to create Rich Media Applications with Expression Blend 2.

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Essential Silverlight 2 Up-to-Date

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:59:25 GMT

Design rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the Web using Silverlight 2, the latest version of Microsoft's hot new runtime application — without waiting for the official release. With this unique new book, you not only get a concise, easy-to-understand introduction to Silverlight 2, but thorough coverage of the CTPs, betas, and RTM releases as they become available. Once you buy the book, you'll be able to download free PDFs of all the revisions to Silverlight that you can print and insert right into the book's unique binder format. Pre-printed updates will also be available for purchase.

Now you can design rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the Web using Silverlight 2, the latest version of Microsoft's hot new runtime application — without waiting for the official release. That's right. With Essential Silverlight 2 Up-to-Date, you not only get a concise, easy-to-understand introduction to Silverlight 2, but thorough coverage of the CTPs, betas, and RTM releases as they become available.
Once you buy this Up-to-Date edition, you'll be able to download free PDFs of all the revisions to Silverlight — pages that you can print and insert right into the book's unique binder format. Pre-printed updates will also be available for purchase. It combines the the speed of technology with convenience of a book.

With Essential Silverlight 2 Up-to-Date, you learn to take advantage of Microsoft's cross-browser Silverlight plug-in with tools for animation, vector graphics, and video playback, as well as new .NET support for web services, networking and LINQ (language integrated query). This guide gives you complete step-by-step instructions for using everything Silverlight has to offer, along with:

Clever ways to create interactive UIs that are more robust and easier to debug and test than what you can achieve on other platforms
Scores of tested JavaScript and C# code examples that you can reuse in your own applications
Expert guidance from an author who understands RIA technologies, including ASP.NET, Flash, PHP, and JavaScript

Ready to deliver a more complete Web experience? Now there's no reason to wait. Essential Silverlight 2 Up to Date offers a whole new world of possibilities.

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Essential Windows Communication Foundation (WCF): For .NET Framework 3.5

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:56:32 GMT

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is the easiest way to produce and consume Web services on the Microsoft platform. With .NET 3.5, WCF has been extensively revamped–and Visual Studio 2008 gives developers powerful new tools for utilizing it. Essential Windows Communication Foundation shows developers exactly how to make the most of WCF with .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008.

Drawing on extensive experience working with early adopters, three Microsoft insiders systematically address the topics developers ask about WCF. The authors approach each subject with practical advice and present best practices, tips, and tricks for solving problems. Throughout, you’ll find detailed explanations, solutions for the “pain points” of WCF development, and an extensive collection of reusable code examples. Coverage includes

Using WCF contracts to define complex structures and interfaces
Understanding WCF’s channel stacks and channel model architecture
Configuring the WCF communication stack to use only the protocols you need
Using standard and custom service behaviors to manage concurrency, instances, transactions, and more
Serializing data from .NET types to XML Infosets and representing Infosets “on the wire”
Hosting WCF services via IIS, managed .NET applications, and Windows Activation Services
WCF security, in depth: authentication; transport and message-level security; and Internet and intranet scenarios
Improving reliability: exception handling, diagnostics, and more
Workflow services: new integration points between WCF 3.5 and Windows Workflow Foundation
Building client-to-client, peer network-based applications
Utilizing WCF for non-SOAP Web services: AJAX and JSON examples and .NET 3.5 hosting classes

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Learning Flash Media Server 3

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:57:26 GMT

If you're interested in recording and streaming media using Flash Media Server 3 (FMS3) and Adobe's Real-Time Messaging Protocol, this 267-page PDF-only book is the perfect primer. web developers familiar with Flash Media Server 2 or Flash Communication Server 1.5 will quickly discover that FMS3 is a different animal. Each chapter in this step-by-step guide focuses on a specific aspect of the server and how to develop FMS3 applications with ActionScript 3.0

If you're interested in recording and streaming media using Flash Media Server 3 (FMS3) and Adobe's Real-Time Messaging Protocol, this unique 267-page PDF-only book is the perfect primer. It is not a reference, but a systematic guide to developing FMS3 applications using ActionScript 3.0, with chapters that focus on specific aspects of the server and how they work.

FMS3 is very different from regular web servers. Because its open-socket server technology stays connected until users quit the application, you can stream audio, video, text, and other media in real time. FMS3 is also quite different from previous versions, a fact that web developers familiar with Flash Media Server 2 or Flash Communication Server 1.5 will quickly discover.

Don't worry. With Learning Flash Media Server 3 and a little experience with Flash CS3 and ActionScript 3.0, anyone can get up to speed in no time. You'll learn how to install FMS3, organize your development environment with Apache web server, and use the management console before diving into the whys and hows of:

Recording and playing back streaming audio and video in VP6 and H.264 formats
Using the new Flash Media Encoder to stream and record video
Camera and microphone settings
Non-persistent client-side remote shared objects
Two-way audio-video communications
Broadcasting and server-side bandwidth control
Working with server-side files: the file class
Server-side shared objects
Server-side streams
Setting up a software load handler using FMS3's new server-side NetStream
Bringing in data and working with configuration files

At the heart of every chapter is a core set of code that shows the minimum requirements needed for different procedures. Beyond that, Learning Flash Media Server 3 provides you with plenty of options for using FMS3's different versions — the full-feature server, the streaming-only server, and the limited-user development server. It's a whole new world of media, and this book puts you right at the doorstep. Ready to enter?

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Signal Processing for Wireless Communications

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:07:47 GMT

Master the Signal Processing Concepts and Techniques Needed to Design and Operate Any Wireless Communications Network.

Signal Processing for Wireless Communications offers communications engineers an application-focused guide to the essential concepts and techniques of wireless signal processing. This comprehensive reference examines the role that key algorithms and standard migration paths play in the design and day-to-day operations of today's state-of-the-art wireless networks.

Written by Dr. Joseph Boccuzzi, a leading signal processing expert with years of product development, research, and teaching experience, this on-target engineering tool takes readers step by step through major wireless topics…modulation theory…wireless multipath channel…modulation detection methods…performance improvement techniques…receiver digital signal processing…3G wideband CDMA…computer simulation estimation techniques…and 3G and beyond. Designed to bring engineers up to speed on the latest breakthroughs in signal processing technology, Signal Processing for Wireless Communications features:

Expert coverage of 3G wideband CDMA
Discussion of the role OFDM will play in future technologies
Complete information on the role of vital signal processing algorithms within the context of wireless applications
Discussions of advanced signal processing challenges in the mobile environment
Over 500 detailed illustrations

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Business Intelligence with Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:08:20 GMT

Maximize the powerful BI tools available in PerformancePoint 2007 with help from this practical guide. You will learn how to collect and store data, monitor progress, analyze performance, distribute dynamic reports, and create maintainable projects and forecasts. Business Intelligence with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 provides full details on creating scorecards and dashboards, performing advanced analysis on data, and setting up business plans. You will also learn how to integrate PerformancePoint with ProClarity, Excel 2007, and SQL Server Reporting Services.

Configure, deploy, and secure all the PerformancePoint components
Create KPIs, scorecards, reports, and dashboards with the Dashboard Designer
Create business models with the Planning Business Modeler and create budgets and forecasts with Excel 2007
Enable advanced data analysis with PerformancePoint Server and ProClarity tools
Take advantage of the enhanced analytic capabilities of Excel 2007
Use SQL Server Reporting Services for analytics
Align performance with organizational objectives

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Model-Based Software Testing and Analysis with C#

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:06:35 GMT

This book teaches new methods for specifying, analyzing, and testing software; essentials for creating high-quality software. These methods increase the automation in each of these steps, making them more timely, more thorough, and more effective. The authors work through several realistic case studies in-depth and detail, using a toolkit built on the C# language and the .NET framework. Readers can also apply the methods in analyzing and testing systems in many other languages and frameworks. Intended for professional software developers including testers, and for university students, this book is suitable for courses on software engineering, testing, specification, or applications of formal methods.

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