McTs Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-505): Microsoft(r) .Net Framework 3.5 - Windows(r) Forms Application Development: Microsoft(r) .Net Framework 3.

by Steven J. Stein and Matthew A. Stoecker

Book Overview

Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCTS Exam 70-505 and on the job. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735626375
• ISBN13: 9780735626379
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 816 Pages
• Weight: 3.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive To Say The Least

If you are looking for brevity in 'MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-505): Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5-Windows Forms Application Development: Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 Windows Forms Application Development' you won't find it. Clocking in at a whopping 750+ pages, this guide to Windows Forms Development covers all the basics, and then goes far beyond it. I would usually give 5 stars for an effort like this, but for Exam prep, give me everything I need, nothing I don't. Also, give it to me in the smallest form possible, so I can get to taking the test instead of cramming for it. Having said that, this book does what it needs to. Chapters in the book are: 01. Windows Forms basics 02. Creating the User Interface 03. Advanced Controls 04. Tool Strips, Menus, Events 05. Connecting to Data 06. Working With Data in a Connected Environment 07. Working With Data in a Disconnected Environment 08. Data-Bound Controls 09. XML 10. Printing 11. Advanced Topics 12. Enhancing Usability 13. Asynchronous Programming Techniques 14. Creating Windows Form Controls 15. Deployment If you need a book to help pass the 70-505 test, this will certainly help you do that. Its a bit long in the tooth, but that shouldn't stop you from buying this at all. **** RECOMMENDED

A good exam guide for the MS Training Kit family, lacking in some areas, but written in a good style

I'll keep this short: The book doesn't cover everything, nor does it cover the included topics in depth. However it's strongest attribute is that it's written in a style that keeps the information concise. The target-audience of the book is a developer who has at least a year's experience in WinForms--so much of the book should be review for you. This book does a good job of being fairly up-front with indicating whether you should be reading a lesson in-depth or skimming over it. My only warning to readers is that you should at least read the description of *every* Excercise at the end of the lession. The Lesson text doesn't always tell you the list of what the excercises cover, and in some cases (esp. with the very short lessons) the excercises contain additional info that's useful. As always test takers should also pull up the exam guidelines of Microsoft Learning and make sure you are aware of the topics at the time of your testing.

A well-written, nearly-comprehensive training kit

This book is an excellent high-level review / introduction (depending on your experience) of Windows Forms Application development under the .NET Framework 3.5. The topics covered are vast and reasonably detailed, and I felt that it accurately reflected the exam and its requirements. Combined with the training exam to prompt some additional research, the entire kit is very well-rounded. The book itself has very few typos and no grammatical errors that come to mind. All but one or two examples are completely correct, without any misleading information. Each chapter covers a related set of topics in fair detail - the first half of the book is more of a blitz review of all the controls and events, whereas the remainder covers most details and intricacies quite well. The only topics I felt could have used more coverage were LINQ, WPF (and deployments), and permissions (at least a review of them). While these are each major topics in other books (LINQ in ADO.NET and WPF & security & deployments in WPF), at least a minor review would have been helpful in sorting out some of the details and making things clearer. Aside from those minor points - which were taken care of with a quick review of some permissions online - the book text is sufficient to pass the exam. The coverage of DataSets may seem cursory, but such detailed functionality is a topic more suited to ADO.NET, not this exam. Again, the coverage suits the exam. The permissions issues tend to revolve around installation and UAC (in Vista) issues that aren't covered or explained thoroughly. Printer permissions are covered quite well, but most others and the tools involved are not and could use more coverage; if the security models from the 70-536 exam are still in your mind, you'll be fine. The preparation exams compliment the book very well, pointing out areas that need focus and are not examined thoroughly in the book. For example, the book covers various ToolStrip controls and the exams ask implementation-based questions. The same is true of handling events. Many questions in the preparation exams are very close in substance or intention to the real exam questions. I recommend iterating through the exams several times - more and more interesting or obscure questions will surface as you take them, most of which will prompt a little reading. The one glaring issue I draw with the exam is that it asks how to handle thread exceptions and claims that the AppDomain.UnhandledException event can handle them - this is false, as a little reading on MSDN will show. In all, I feel this book continues well with most others in giving readers another piece of Microsoft's grand .NET Framework 3.5 programming model. Understanding how rich Windows Forms Applications can be and how to use them is very important, even in the days of WPF. This ties together some of the pillars of .NET 3.5 and provides what I feel to be very good coverage of the topics - more than enough to improve your applications.

Slow Delivery but Excellent Condition

It took almost a month for me to get this item. That being said, it was in excellent condition and I would do business with seller again.

Good enough to pass the exam

Along with the other two MS Training Kits I have used (Exam 70-536, 70-502) this book (and the included practice exams) was sufficient to help me pass on the first try. As far as the MS Certification system is concerned, passing any single exam is not going to make you an expert, not going to grant you any inordinate respect among your peers. Nevertheless, there seems to be a cumulative effect, such that the total understanding I have gained as a result of the three exams I have passed thus far is greater than the sum of the three exams considered individually. As someone moving from the Linux world into the MS world, I feel these training kits have been indispensible in helping me with the transition.