Conventions

The following typographic conventions are used in this book:

• Code lines, commands, statements, variables, and any text you see onscreen appears in a monospace typeface. Bold monospace typeface is often used to highlight elements that deserve particular attention in the context of the topic being described. In the case of commands, bold monospace is used to indicate text that you type.

• In code listings, an ellipsis (...) is used to indicate places where code that isn't shown in the text would belong in a complete source file. This is used in code fragments where parts of the code that are not relevant to the topic being described are omitted for brevity and clarity.

• Italics highlight technical terms when they're being defined.

• If a line of code is too long to fit as a single line on the printed page, it is broken into multiple lines. The character appears at the beginning of any printed line of code that is really a continuation of the line immediately preceding it.

• When not used in the names of XML elements, angle brackets (<>) are used to denote tokens that are substituted with some other value. For example, the name of the Windows service used to run a Notification Services instance is given as NS$<InstanceName>. The <InstanceName> part is replaced with the actual name of the instance. If the instance name was Instance2, the service name would be NS$Instance2.

Caution

Cautions alert you to common pitfalls you should avoid. The cautionary information in this book ranges from general descriptions of restrictions, constraints, or limitations you should be aware of, to more serious warnings about effects that could result in data loss or corruption.

Tip

Tips are used to highlight shortcuts, convenient techniques, or tools that can make a task easier. Tips also sometimes provide recommendations on best practices you should follow.

Note

Notes provide additional background information about a topic being described, beyond what is given in the chapter text. Often, notes are used to provide references to places you can find more information about a particular topic.

Sidebars

Sidebars provide coverage of related topics in a particular area that don't fit within the main organization of a chapter. These topics are usually considered somewhat tangential to the main discussion but provide interesting, useful information nonetheless.