Exam Details

Candidates for this exam work on a team in a medium or large development environment that uses Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET. Candidates have at least one year of experience developing middle-tier components. Candidates should have a working knowledge of Microsoft Visual C# .NET.

This certification exam measures your ability to develop and implement middle-tier components, server components, and XML Web services by using Visual Studio .NET and the Microsoft .NET Framework.

Exam Code	70-320
Minutes To Complete	120 minutes
Number of Questions	47
Passing Score	700 (70%)
Adaptive	No

Official Microsoft Stuff

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-320.asp

Links to Other Sites

Cert Yourself - http://www.certyourself.com/70-320.htm
Inform It (sample chapter from study guide) - http://www.informit.com/isapi/product_id~%7B1E4667B0-7EFE-4B43-9A20-02299C387079%7D/content/index.asp
Cram Session - http://www.cramsession.com/certifications/exams/c-net-xml-web-services.asp?exam_id=276
Code Clinic - http://www.codeclinic.com/70-320skills.htm
Inform It, free practice exam - http://www.informit.com/examcram2/exam.asp?product_id=%7B59B443B5-8C7B-4A33-843D-0B57C7CA2E22%7D
.NET Coders - http://www.dotnetcoders.com/web/learning/cert/exams/services/default.aspx

Books

"MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-320): Developing XML Web Services and Server Components with Visual C# .NET and the .NET Framework", By Amit Kalani and Priti Kalani, Available at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789728249/nicaelkecorporat

Key Points To Know: XML Data Sets

XML schema are called "Data Sets" in .NET, and end with ".xsd" extension.
They are added using Add > Add New Item > Data Set
Toolbox contains some drag-and-drop items: element, attribute, attributeGroup, complexType, simpleType, group, any, anyAttribute, facet, key and Relation
Drag an element onto the designer window to create an element
Drag an element onto another element to create a child element
UI assumes complexTypes by default
Drag an attribute onto an element to create an attribute
Of course, XML schema can be created by hand
Or, with an XML file, you can select Create Schema to auto-generate
Using Server Explorer, you can drag a table onto the designer to auto create schema
Elements can have relationships, using the Relation tool
Primary or unique keys can be set using the key tool

Key Points To Know: Strongly Typed Data Sets

In .NET, using Server Explorer you can drag a table onto a Windows Form, and it will add a connection, SQL data adapter, and data set to the project for you. It will also add an .xsd file to represent the schema.
.NET created a C# file for the data set automatically
Changes are automatically reflected as well
It contains code to use data set as an object
Using strongly typed data sets allows intellisense, and easier code reading

Key Points To Know: Queries

T-SQL is the SQL language of SQL Server
Four main T-SQL statements: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE
Queries can be run inside the IDE. In Server Explorer, select Views > New View > Close. Then type in the SELECT statement and select Query > Run from the top menu.
Queries can be run from the Windows Command Prompt. Type "osql -E".
Queries can be run from Sql Server's own Query Analyzer.
Finally, you can develop a C# Windows Form application that takes a query as input from a textbox, executes it, and displays the results.

Key Points To Know: Stored Procedures

Generally, you should always place static SQL code in a stored procedure. There are very few reasons not to.
Execute a stored procedure in .NET by creating a command object, setting its type to StoredProcedure, and setting the CommandText to the procedure name.
Then, assign that command object to a SqlDataAdapter's SelectCommand property.
Then, call the SqlDataAdapter's Fill method.
To execute a stored procedure that does not return results, use the ExecuteNonQuery method of the command object.

Usenet Links

From http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsd/msg/c4b18ff1e84f7e36 :

 Ok... I feel better.  I took and passed 70-320 today and completed MCAD!!! 


 Let me tell you, Kalani's book is not nearly as on the mark for this test as 
 it was for 70-315.  I felt like I was taking the wrong exam!  Acutally, the 
 topics were the same but there were questions about things I had never heard 
 of, and I read Kalani cover to cover twice and did every exercise and 
 step-by-step at least once.  Along with that, most areas I read in Kalani 
 lead to long meanderings through MSDN and other sites on the topics and 
 still MS made that exam look pretty foreign. 


 As it was, I was able to answer about half of the questions absolutely 
 without doubt.. I knew the answer for sure.  The rest of them, I had to 
 eliminate the obviously wrong answers and take my best guess from the rest. 


 Oddly, on some of the questions, my elimination process absolutely 
 eliminated all the answers...  I would have to say that this was the most 
 poorly written exam I have taken from Microsoft.  There were some questions 
 that none of the answers matched the scenario or that the scenario in no way 
 provided enough information to conclude any of the answers but then what can 
 you do except try to choose the least wrong answer. 


 Well, over all, I guess I was able to choose the least wrong often enough! 
 I'm just glad that one is over. 


 Dale 
 MCAD, MCSE, MCDBA

From http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcad/msg/3abcad94332a95ea :

 I just passed 70-320 with score of 905, for anyone about to take, here 
 are some pointers which may be of help... 


 *Study Areas* 
 (small indicates less than 3 questions on the topic area, medium 
 indicates areas you really need to know well to pass the exam) 
 small - relationships between datasets expressed in xml 
 small - debugging processes and serviced components 
 small - deploying serviced components 
 small - securing serviced component function calls 
 small - windows services 
 medium - mbr / mbv remoting objects 
 medium - soap headers, advanced web services, tcp/http channels 
 medium - hosting remoting objects in iis 
 medium - declarative attributes for serviced components 


 *Books* 
 I used both MSPress and Amit Kalani. Kalani was definately the best, the 
 chapter level tests were extremely helpful, url for book is here > 
 http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0789728249/ref=sr_aps_books_... 


 Hope this is of some help, without giving away too much. 


 regards 
 bb

From http://groups-beta.google.com/group/microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcad/msg/56194aa2938d4932?hl=en :

 Passed 70-320, more difficult than 70-315 and 70-316 for me. 


 Questions from more to less are Web Service, Remoting, Serviced component, 
 Security, Soap extension, Event log, ADO etc. 


 Good luck.