Custom Application Development With Silverlight
Rich Multimedia Experience for Web or Mobile
Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web and mobile devices and currently Symbian (Series 60) phones.
It is compatible with multiple web browser products used on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.
Silverlight provides support for rich internet applications such as animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback. Silverlight competes with products such as Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, Adobe Shockwave, JavaFX, and Apple QuickTime.
Silverlight integrates with existing Web applications, including ASP.NET AJAX applications. Consequently, ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight are designed to be complementary technologies. In the broader sense, Silverlight can talk to any AJAX application, both client-side and server-side. ASP.NET AJAX can additionally be used to control Silverlight-based visualization of data or delivery of rich experiences. Examples might include mapping applications or video playback with rich presentation. AJAX is a fundamental technology supported in Silverlight and now, in ASP.NET. Customers can enhance existing ASP.NET or ASP.NET AJAX applications by using Silverlight's media experiences and RIAs (Rich Interactive Applications).
Silverlight is more than just a multimedia front-end. It breaks new ground by shifting a lot of programming power away from the server and leveraging the power of a client's own PC. Silverlight continues to blur the boundary separating a client from the host server. It is entirely conceivable that in a not-so-distant release of Silverlight, a PC requires no operating system at all and all desktop applications run within a browser, including browsers on mobile devices.s on mobile devices.
Features
Media Playback. Silverlight supports playback of WMV, WMA and MP3 media content across all supported browsers without requiring Windows Media Player, the Windows Media Player ActiveX control or Windows Media browser plugins. It scales video quality to everything from mobile devices to desktop browsers to 720p HDTV video modes.
Small Footprint. Installs on the client in a few seconds with a 4 MB footprint.
Multi-Programming Language Support. Silverlight code can be written in any .NET language such as C#, VB.NET, Ruby and Python.
Support for the .NET Framework. Silverlight ships with a lightweight class library which features, among others, extensible controls, XML Web Services and networking components.
Platform Security. Silverlight code runs in a sandbox which prevents invoking platform APIs.
Client Storage. For local storage of data, Silverlight provides isolated local storage (isostorage), which is stored, outside the browser cache, in a hidden folder inside the user profile's private folder. In the current releases, isostorage is limited to 1 MB per URL, though this limit will later be made configurable. Data stored by a Silverlight application, identified by the URL that it loads from, can be accessed by that application only. All instances of Silverlight share the same isostorage, so all instances of a Silverlight application can share the saved data, even if they are running on different browsers.
Multimedia Objects. Silverlight includes a subset of the WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) UI programming model, including support for shapes, documents, media and animation objects. It includes compelling graphics that users can manipulate—drag, turn, zoom—directly in the browser.
Partial Page Updates. It reads data and updates the display, but it doesn't interrupt the user by refreshing the whole page.
Extensions to JavaScript. Silverlight provides extensions to the universal browser scripting language that provide powerful control over the browser UI, including the ability to work with WPF elements.
Integration with existing ASP.NET Apps. Silverlight integrates seamlessly with your existing JavaScript and ASP.NET AJAX code to complement functionality you have already created.
LINQ. Silverlight includes language-integrated query (LINQ), which enables you to program data access using intuitive native syntax and strongly typed objects in .NET Framework languages.
Localization. Beta 2 will support end to end application localization including support for French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Korean, Japanese, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese.
Silverlight Framework Elements
Running Silverlight-based Applications ications
To run a Silverlight-based application, users require a small plug-in in their browser. The plug-in is free. If users do not already have the plug-in, they are automatically prompted to install it. The download and installation take seconds and require no interaction from the user except permission to install.
Creating Silverlight-based Applications
You can create Silverlight-based applications using skills that you already have and tools that you are already familiar with. You can create Web pages that use both HTML and WPF elements with Silverlight. Like HTML, XAML enables you to create UI for your Web-based application with declarative syntax, with the difference that XAML provides significantly more powerful elements.
Tools for Silverlight-based Applications
You can create Silverlight-based applications using the power of Visual Studio 2008. (Silverlight support for Visual Studio 2008 is available as a plug-in for the IDE.) Visual Studio provides the same tools for Silverlight, such as powerful editors, project management, debugging, and so on, that it already provides for creating applications with the .NET Framework.
Designers can easily leverage the end-to-end capabilities of Expression Studio to design, build, and deliver Silverlight-based applications. Expression Studio has all the capabilities needed to create graphics and media assets, design interactivity, and produce experiences. Expression Blend can generate XAML output, meaning that programmers who use Visual Studio and designers who use Expression Blend can share the same files.
Silverlight - Light up the Web
Watch this video showcasing the possibilities of Microsoft Silverlight. (After pressing the play button, please wait about 10 seconds for video to load.)
Silverlight - Light up the Web
Last Updated: 09 June 2008