Introduction

Welcome to XML and ASP.NET . This book gives you a complete introduction to XML and its implementation in .NET, focusing on implementations with ASP.NET. XML is a vast subject with many pages devoted to it, covering everything from theory to implementation. The authors strived to give you more complete coverage of XML in the .NET Framework than you can find in any other book. This book provides you with not only a solid understanding of the implementation of XML in the .NET Framework, but also gives you a thorough explanation of the formal XML recommendations and its associated technologies.

XML is either left out of most books on .NET or is covered only in passing. This is unfortunate because XML is the underpinning of much of the .NET strategy. XML and ASP.NET strives to convey the concepts of XML processing without stating what you likely already know. It goes deeper into some concepts that you are familiar with, and explains Microsoft's implementation of those concepts in the .NET Framework.

Most books covering XML are formatted in a similar way to the MSDN documentation: give a class, list the properties and methods associated with it, and provide a brief description. Instead of serving as a reference guide, the authors chose real-world examples to teach concepts and how to apply different solutions using XML. Rather than tell you what each object is and does, the authors teach you why a particular approach is taken and how you can leverage it.

The authors included many working samples throughout this book to show you not only the whys , but the hows as well. This is the best way to learn what is really going on with technologies such as XML Schema and XSLT. The examples were developed using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, and we focused on giving examples rather than explanations . We also included a chapter on MSXML, because it is still an important part of Microsoft's XML strategy.

This book is broken into two parts : XML on the client and XML on the server. This separation helps make the structure of this book more readable than simply discussing various XML- related technologies.

The writing of this book has been a labor of love. We hope that you find the same excitement and passion for XML as we have tried to convey in the following pages.