About the authors Bill Evjen is an active proponent of NET technologies and community-based learning initiatives for NET He has been actively involved with NET since the first bits were released in 2000. In the same ear,billfoundedtheSt.LouisNetUserGroup(www.stlnet.org),oneoftheworldsfirstNetuser groups. Bill is also the founder and the executive director of the Intermational. NET Association (INETA wwineta. org), which represents more than 375,000 members worldwide Based in St Louis, Missouri, Bill is an acclaimed author and speaker on ASP.NET and XML Web Services He has written or coauthored more than 10 books, including Professional C# 2005 and Professional ASPNET 2.0(Wrox), XML Web Services for ASP.NET, ASPNET Professional Secrets(Wiley), and more. Bill is a technical director for Reuters, the international news and financial services company, and he travels the world speaking to major financial institutions about the future of the IT industry. He gradu- ated from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, with a Russian language degree When he isn t tinkering on the computer, he can usually be found at his summer house in Toivakka Finland.YoucanreachBillatevjen@yahoo.com. Billy Hollis is coauthor of the first book ever published on Visual Basic NET, VB. NET Programming on the Public Beta(wrox Press)as well as numerous other books and articles on NET. Billy is a Microsoft regional director and an MVP, and he was selected of the original .NET"Software Legends. "He writes a monthly column for MSDN Online and is heavily involved in training, consultation, and soft- ware development on the Microsoft. NET platform, focusing on smart-client development and commer- cial packages. He frequently speaks at industry conferences such as Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, TechEd, and COMDES. Billy is a member of the INETA speakers'bureau and speaks at user group meetings all over the United States. RockfordLhotkaistheprincipaltechnologyevangelistforMagenicTechnologies(www.magenic.com), a company focused on delivering business value through applied technology and one of the nations premiere Microsoft Gold Certified Partners. Rockford is the author of several books, including Expert Visual Basic. NET and C#f Business Objects. He is a Microsoft Software Legend, regional director, MVP, and INETA speaker. He is a columnist for MSDN Online and contributing author for Visual Studio Magazine and he regularly presents at major conferences around the world-including Microsoft PDC, Tech Ec VsLive!andVsConnectionsFormoreinformationgotowww.lhotka.net For my Mom and Dad, whose love and guidance have been invaluable in my life. Thank you! Tim McCarthy is a principal engineer at InterKnowlogy, where he architects and builds highly scalable n-tier web and smart-client applications utilizing the latest Microsoft platforms and technologies. Tims (ASPNET/Smart Clients/Web Services), Active Directory, UDDI, SQL Server, Windows Sharer nework expertise covers a wide range of Microsoft technologies, including, but not limited to: NET Frameworl Services/Share Point Portal Server 2003, and Service Oriented Architecture( SOA)applications. Tim has yorked as a project technical lead/member as well as in a technical consulting role for several Fortune 500 companies. He has held the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer(MCSD) and Microsoft Certified Trainer(MCT) certifications for several years and was one of the first wave of developers to earn the Microsoft Certified Application Developer(MCAD)for. NET and MCSD for NET certifications. He also holds the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator certification for SQL Server 2000About the Authors Bill Evjen is an active proponent of .NET technologies and community-based learning initiatives for .NET. He has been actively involved with .NET since the first bits were released in 2000. In the same year, Bill founded the St. Louis .NET User Group (www.stlnet.org), one of the world’s first .NET user groups. Bill is also the founder and the executive director of the International .NET Association (INETA – www.ineta.org), which represents more than 375,000 members worldwide. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Bill is an acclaimed author and speaker on ASP.NET and XML Web Services. He has written or coauthored more than 10 books, including Professional C# 2005 and Professional ASP.NET 2.0 (Wrox), XML Web Services for ASP.NET, ASP.NET Professional Secrets (Wiley), and more. Bill is a technical director for Reuters, the international news and financial services company, and he travels the world speaking to major financial institutions about the future of the IT industry. He gradu￾ated from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, with a Russian language degree. When he isn’t tinkering on the computer, he can usually be found at his summer house in Toivakka, Finland. You can reach Bill at evjen@yahoo.com. To Kalle – Welcome to the family! Billy Hollis is coauthor of the first book ever published on Visual Basic .NET, VB.NET Programming on the Public Beta (Wrox Press) as well as numerous other books and articles on .NET. Billy is a Microsoft regional director and an MVP, and he was selected as one of the original .NET “Software Legends.” He writes a monthly column for MSDN Online and is heavily involved in training, consultation, and soft￾ware development on the Microsoft .NET platform, focusing on smart-client development and commer￾cial packages. He frequently speaks at industry conferences such as Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference, TechEd, and COMDES. Billy is a member of the INETA speakers’ bureau and speaks at user group meetings all over the United States. Rockford Lhotka is the principal technology evangelist for Magenic Technologies (www.magenic.com), a company focused on delivering business value through applied technology and one of the nation’s premiere Microsoft Gold Certified Partners. Rockford is the author of several books, including Expert Visual Basic .NET and C# Business Objects. He is a Microsoft Software Legend, regional director, MVP, and INETA speaker. He is a columnist for MSDN Online and contributing author for Visual Studio Magazine, and he regularly presents at major conferences around the world — including Microsoft PDC, Tech Ed, VS Live! and VS Connections. For more information go to www.lhotka.net. For my Mom and Dad, whose love and guidance have been invaluable in my life. Thank you! Tim McCarthy is a principal engineer at InterKnowlogy, where he architects and builds highly scalable n-tier web and smart-client applications utilizing the latest Microsoft platforms and technologies. Tim’s expertise covers a wide range of Microsoft technologies, including, but not limited to: .NET Framework (ASP.NET/Smart Clients/Web Services), Active Directory, UDDI, SQL Server, Windows SharePoint Services/SharePoint Portal Server 2003, and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) applications. Tim has worked as a project technical lead/member as well as in a technical consulting role for several Fortune 500 companies. He has held the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) certifications for several years and was one of the first wave of developers to earn the Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) for .NET and MCSD for .NET certifications. He also holds the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator certification for SQL Server 2000. 01_575368 ffirs.qxd 10/7/05 10:46 PM Page v