Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Web Applications The Complete Reference Book Review

I must admit I was misled by the title of this book, but it was my own fault. I was in the middle of developing an ASP.NET application that was using a lot of the SharePoint web services and the SharePoint Server Object Model. Although it used all SharePoint data, my application was completely separate from the main SharePoint site and completely built with ASP.NET outside of SharePoint and the SharePoint Designer. In my mind I wanted this book to be all about that and I allowed the title to make me believe it would be. Although the book was not what I expected it is still a great book to read and keep handy on your shelf. This book does cover using the SharePoint Server Object Model, but it also covers much more. It includes building SharePoint solutions with all the tools available, not just ASP.NET like I was hoping it would. The book is broken down into 5 parts. I have listed each part along with the corresponding chapters below. Part I: Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Development Chapter 1. The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Platform Chapter 2. Developing with SharePoint 2010 Part II: Presentation Layer Chapter 3. Presentation Layer Overview Chapter 4. Client Object Model Chapter 5. InfoPath Forms Services Chapter 6. Enterprise Content Management Chapter 7. User Interface Customization Part III: Application Services Chapter 8. Application Services Overview Chapter 9. Service Application Framework Chapter 10. Word Automation Services Chapter 11. Workflow Chapter 12. Excel Services Part IV: Data Access Layer Chapter 13. Data Access Overview Chapter 14. LINQ to SharePoint and SPMetal Chapter 15. Business Connectivity Services Chapter 16. Enterprise Search Chapter 17. User Profiles and Social Data Chapter 18. Business Intelligence Part V: Configuration Chapter 19. Packaging and Deployment Model Chapter 20. PowerShell My favorite part of this book was the coverage of LINQ to SharePoint and SPMetal. That is rarely covered in most of the SharePoint books out there. The rest of the topics in the book are very well covered also. Every chapter is packed with samples. That leads me to the part of the book I was not found of and that was the code download. There are samples for chapters 2, 3, 4, and 9. Like I said above there are tons of samples, but they aren't included in the download. The book covers a ton of topics and but only covers them in depth enough to give you a clear understanding of the topic without going overboard with details. That keeps you moving and the book a bit lighter than most of the SharePoint books with this much coverage. All in all I highly recommend adding this to your SharePoint 2010 library.

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Web Applications The Complete Reference