Customer Rating:  
Summary: Good for basics
Comment: Good book for understanding the basics of everything about XAML. Should have more on data templates since it is an important topic on this certification examn.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Quite tutorial-like for an exam prep book
Comment: This book is actually a gentle hands on tutorial on the basics of WPF with the added bonus of review questions at the end of each chapter and in exam simulation software that comes with the book. I don't know how tough the real exam is, I can only tell you this text covers only the very basics of WPF, and I would be surprised if this was enough to pass a certification exam.. Even having absorbed everything in this book, you would still be at the level of a rookie, far from the mastery level required from a certified professional.
But still, I would recommend this book to any developer who 's totally new to WPF and loves learning by doing labs. Also a decent book for teaching an introductory WPF class. I just wish it has some advanced material on design of professional looking GUIs.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Certification
Comment: This book on 70-502 can help you toward the certification exam. It is excellent for its certification purpose, and in my opinion, moves someone toward intermediate programming ability with WPF and 70-502. By contrast, the book does not attempt or pretend to tackle complex installation or performance issues (for those important topics you can search the free MSDN documentation online, or also ask specific questions on the MSDN forums).
The purpose of this book is a hands-on start using the .NET 3.5 Windows Presentation Foundation technology. Whatever technical errors will be dynamically listed on the Microsoft website errata. You can ask questions on the free MSDN forums.
The pace of the book is moderated by specific chapter objectives, and each chapter is broken down into time sections for completion. I recommend working complete sections at a time (and don't start a new one if you don't have time to complete it). You can use the step-by-step exercises to gain some experience with the new technology.
Here is a book outline:
Chapter 1. WPF Application Fundamentals
Chapter 2. Events, Commands, and Settings
Chapter 3. Building the User Interface
Chapter 4. Adding and Managing Content
Chapter 5. Configuring Databinding
Chapter 6. Converting and Validating Data
Chapter 7. Styles and Animation
Chapter 8. Customizing the User Interface
Chapter 9. Resources, Documents and Localization
Chapter 10. Deployment
Anyone who has been using Visual Studio 2005 will have a quick transition to the similar interface in Visual Studio 2008 (required for .NET 3.5 technology). Also, experience with .NET 1.1 and 2.0 programming with Windows Forms is assumed to be the general foundation for moving into this new technology.
It does help to understand design patterns, and for example the concept behind the Facade pattern. A key part of the Windows Presentation Foundation is removing the application logic from the interface (now coded in XAML, Extensible Application Markup Language). Developers can apply this discipline to previous .NET versions and to all programming, and this version encourages and supports this healthy practice.
Going through the material, the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) has its own vocabulary, and a major reason for reading this book is less about learning how to program, and more about new terms. The exercises are structured, but only experience informed by design patterns provides a more stable foundation. I have programmed in many languages, and while nothing substitutes for experience, new technology by necessity requires new terms and terminology. For example, WPF adds "styles" and "animations" and it's important to know how Microsoft defines these terms so that you can effectively communicate with other developers. Again, a primary way to learn more (beyond this book) is to read .NET blogs, attend Microsoft conferences, and interact with other developers in the MSDN forums. It's important to know these terms to be able to communicate more effectively. Thus, this book functions as a program for your brain, mapping the .NET 3.5 basic-to-intermediate terminology to whatever previous experience you already have.
This book does not cover typical advanced production topics like versioning and working on development teams (for example). Microsoft wants its developers to not just read books but interact with a dynamic community. This book focuses on the fundamental specific lessons and objectives to get new developers hands-on experience and comprehensive (to the intermediate level) training. Microsoft developers and developer evangelists make themselves available to developers and they desire two-way communication and feedback about their products.
I will next list of the hardware and software requirements for running the exercises (from pages xxi and xxii):
Hardware Requirements
The following hardware is required to complete the practice exercises:
* A computer with 1.6-gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor
* A minimum of 384 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM)
* A minimum of 2.2 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space is required to install VS 2008. Additionally, 50 megabytes (MB) of available hard disk space is required to install the labs.
* A DVD-ROM drive
* A 1024*768 or higher resolution display with 256 colors or more
* A keyboard and Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device
Software Requirements:
The following software is required to complete the practice exercises:
* One of the following operating systems:
-- Windows Vista (any edition except Windows Vista Starter)
-- Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later (any edition except Windows XP Starter)
-- Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later (any edition)
-- Windows Server 2003 R2 or later (any edition)
-- Windows Server 2008
* Microsoft Visual Studio (VS) 2008 (A 90-day evaluation edition of Visual Studio Professional Edition is included on a DVD that comes with this training kit)
I recommend obtaining at least Visual Studio 2008 Professional if you are serious about developing applications with this technology. Even without this book, you can currently (as of November 2008) obtain a free 30 day trial version from the Microsoft website. More advanced material is abundant in many developer blogs, and circulated through conferences. Active developers should plug into a real-time community through online forums, blogs, webcasts, and conferences.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent preparation guide
Comment: The content of this preparation / training guide is quite sufficient to pass the MCTS 70-502 exam. The information is thorough enough that even persons with relatively little experience programming WPF applications will find the topics covered comprehensive, if a bit scattered. Despite this, it is definitely to one's advantage to have made one or two applications using WPF in order to get a good feel for the capabilities of the technology.
The content itself is a bit scattered and has many forward-references. This is, however, understandable given that WPF is a fairly holistic technology that can't be easily dissected. As such, two passes of the book are highly-recommended to ensure a solid understanding of the topics - examples presented in the beginning of the book will take on better meaning after a full pass of the book. The chapters tend to group content appropriately and in great depth. It is very easy to understand the workings of WPF, which is really what Microsoft Certification is all about - understanding, not memorizing.
As with most training materials, there were some mistakes, but these were limited to typos in the text - if you stick to the C# track, you will see almost no errors; the Visual Basic examples were more error-prone. The (few) chapter summary questions are simple, yet require the reader to have paid attention, providing good checks for later review.
In terms of learning gaps, there were some aspects of the test that were not covered in sufficient detail, but they can easily be corrected with some MSDN reading. For example, XPS document creation is not covered, though opening XPS documents is touched upon. By-and-large, everything is at least mentioned, though. The practice tests will accurately identify which areas you need to read-up on using MSDN.
Coming to the point of the practice tests, the engine was much improved over the 70-536 test software. Many of the questions are representative of questions on the exam and you will find several areas not covered on the book showing up as questions - these are the areas that merit additional reading. There was only one error in the test questions, but if you read the explanation, you'll find that you are probably correct.
Overall, I found this to be an excellent resource that, in the end, gave me an exceptional understanding of WPF and prepared me well for the exam.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Exciting WPF Training Kit Release
Comment: If you are considering a good start to enter the world of WPF, and at the same time prepares yourself for taking the exam (70-502) to be (MCTS .NET Framework 3.5 - WPF), then this training kit is more than a good start.
The author assumes a solid background about using one of the .NET main languages (VB, or C#) in addition to a practical expertise in building and deploying desktop applications using Windows Forms 2.0 and Visual Studio .NET 2005. Having this knowledge will help the reader to better understand the new features of WPF and the new solved problems.
Although the exam objectives are well covered, the content arrangement was not in the best shape if you plan a comprehensive reading from cover to cover which may cause some frustration.
The author has elegant and organized writing skills, which helped him to deliver ideas and explanations in a direct and plain way, without the need to spend pages and pages trying to explain simple point.
Reading this book is like an exciting adventure, some chapters will amaze you with the new features of WPF like routed events, content model, 2D graphics features, multimedia integration, and last but not least data binding and validation. Some other chapters will assure you that your previous knowledge of WinForms was not a total waste.
To sum up, although this book may not be the best start to learn about WPF, it is an adventure that takes you inside the world of WPF. If you consider this book as exam preparation guide, you are 100% at the right location.
Mohamed Saif El-Nasr
Microsoft Certified Trainer
Microsoft Certified Professional Developer
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