This is one very eagerly awaited Microsoft Press Training Kit. I know. I’ve been getting email and calls for the past few months asking when it would be available. So it is with great pleasure (and relief) that we’re announcing publication of MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-562): Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5—ASP.NET Application Development (ISBN: 9780735625624).

Mike Snell is the lead author of the Training Kit. As a foundation for his work, he used the very popular MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-528): Microsoft® .NET Framework 2.0 Web-Based Client Development authored by Glenn Johnson and Tony Northrup.

Mike gave us permission to reprint a post on the new book from his blog, along with a picture of the author (and a very frightening looking fish).

From Mike’s blog:

I hope [the new 70-562 Training Kit] finds a useful spot in your current library. The book helps developers learn about the many features of ASP.NET 3.5 including web sites, controls, AJAX, WCF, globalization, and much more. The book is focused on the certification exam. However, those looking to dig into ASP.NET 3.5 will hopefully also find it very useful.

The training kit is focused on developers looking to pass the Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist Exam 70-562 (Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development). For those looking to take the exam, the book includes:

• The chapters (study guide): each chapter includes lesson review questions and case scenarios.

• Labs: each chapter has one or more labs with sample code included on a CD (in both VB and C#)

• 15% off exam discount voucher is included with the book

• Practice tests: the book’s CD includes a test engine and over 300 sample questions

• Trial edition of Visual Studio 2008 Pro is included with the book

• An eBook is included on the CD for searching the book

You can get more information on the book from Microsoft’s Learning site:

• Exam preparation guide

• Link to details about the book (including purchase options)

To add to Mike’s post, we’re including a few samples from the book:

Introduction

This training kit is designed for developers who plan to take Microsoft Certified Technical
Specialist (MCTS) exam 70-562, as well as for developers who need to know how to
develop applications using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and ASP.NET. We assume that
before you begin using this kit, you have a working knowledge of Microsoft Windows and
Microsoft Visual Basic or C#.

By using this training kit, you’ll see how to do the following:

• Create a Web application using Web server controls, event handlers, application state,
  and session state.
• Create custom Web server controls.
• Develop accessible Web applications that can be used by a global audience.
• Write rich, Web-based user experiences using AJAX.
• Integrate a Web application with a back-end database.
• Create a Web application that stores user-specific information and preferences.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and debug ASP.NET applications.
• Build service-oriented applications (SOAs) using Web services and Windows Communication
  Foundation (WCF).
• Add authentication and authorization features to your application to improve security
  and add multiple access levels.
• Create Web applications that can be used from mobile phones and PDAs.

REAL WORLD

Mike Snell

A good Web application developer needs to know a lot more than just his or
her favorite development language to be effective. In fact, C# or Visual Basic
is just the starting point. You also must know how to handle page layout with
HTML. You need to know how to create, manage, and implement interface styling
with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). JavaScript will also be required if you intend to
write your own client-side functionality for your Web pages. You might also need
to understand Extensible Markup Language (XML), Web services, and database
programming. Of course, you also need to know how all of these things work
together to form a single solution. The modern Web developer needs to know more
technologies (and be able to easily switch between them) than any other developer
in history. I think this is one of the reasons Web development is such a challenging,
fun, and rewarding experience.

REAL WORLD

Mike Snell

Not all applications require abstracted data layers and re-usable frameworks. I’ve
seen many simple business applications that suffered from overengineering.
Many of these smaller applications can take advantage of the simple data-binding
techniques built into the Visual Studio ASP.NET tools. These applications can be created
quickly, typically do not require as much testing, and allow developers to focus
on solving business problems rather than building frameworks and reusable components.
Applications that can benefit from this approach often have a common
profile: They typically have a compressed schedule, are meant as Web applications
from beginning to end, and might fill a somewhat temporary need. When optimizing
for these considerations, you might find that building data-bound applications
using the server controls in ASP.NET is faster, easier, and cheaper.