Windows Scripting Developer's Guide (Professional Developer's Library) Book

The authors work in a Microsoft house and their excellent guide to server and client-side scripting relies on MS software. It assumes your target client is IE5 (and 5.5) while, on the server side, you're assumed to be using IIS, NT4 or Win2000 and v5 of the JavaScript engine. The authors deal with the ASP programming environment and, though Access is used for backend database services for simplicity, they emphasize a preference for SQL Server (or even Oracle). Much of the technology discussed is only appropriate for developing leading- edge Web-based applications on intranets--including those users can log onto from remote locations. This is implicit, as IE5 isn't ubiquitous on the public Net. Both server and client-side scripting is covered, using DHTML and CSS, though the authors reserve their real excitement for new behaviours in IE5 which includes persistent data, client capability determination and, in 5.5, HTML components. These can easily replace ActiveX components--a good thing. Naturally, much of the functionality relies on XML, XSL (extensible style languages) and schemas to work, which are covered in exhaustive detail. In practice, because the book is practically oriented, the XML coverage is more accessible than in some XML guides we've seen.All the technologies are pulled together by the time you reach the end of the book in a client application, enabling timesheets to be filled in remotely. Overall, by sticking to a specific set of (Microsoft) tools and technologies and emphasizing real-world applications, the authors make a complex subject accessible. This is a must-have title for Microsoft developers charged with implementing cutting-edge in-house Web-based applications. --Steve PatientRead More