Recently, I was learning about for a project. Here is what I’m keeping for future reference: Silverlight Silverlight 5 A Microsoft platform for developing and deploying Rich internet applications. Right now, it’s a technology. Runs as a browser plugin. Supports .NET languages like and , and using DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime). depreceated C# VB.NET IronPython IronRuby Installation: There’re 3 options: Install using WPI silverlight Install Expression blend for designing purposes Install XNA Game studio for working with 3D We also need to install the Silverlight SDK. Creating a Silverlight project Create a new project in under -> VS C# Silverlight Make sure to check Host the Silverlight application in a new website Running the project If the developer runtime for is not installed, the following popup will be shown Silverlight When running the project, in case the is not installed in the browser, the following browser notification will be shown: Silverlight Clicking the install link will take us to the Microsoft website for downloading and installing the plugin Visual studio settings From the VS main menu’s Tools -> Options For All languages: enable and under General node word warp line number Set and to 2 under Tabs node. Also keep tabs Tab indent size Assemblies There are two types of Microsoft Silverlight assemblies: The core Silverlight assemblies mscorlib.dll System.Core.dll system.dll System.Net.dll System.Windows.dll SDK assemblies, which are used for additional functionalities. Structure of a Silverlight project App.xaml file contains Global settings and global events MainPage.xaml is the main Silverlight UI setting specifies where to put the output files. In the image shown, it’s folder. Path in web .xap ClientBin The initial / startup control can be set from . App.xaml.cs The Silverlight application is compiled into a which is then used by the Silverlight runtime. .dll The file contains the build instructions. During build, VS executes the build instructions contained in the file. One of the instructions calls the language compiler such as for , for .csproj .csproj csc.exe C# vbc.exe VB.NET Although the process is build, a lot of devs call it compiling. With Solution configuration set to , the Visual studio will create a folder inside the folder of the project. In general cases, there will be files Debug Debug Bin 5 The application file - contains the application information AppManifest The application file - the actual code which will be loaded by the Silverlight runtime when executing the project .dll The application file - the portable debug file for the project .pdb The application file - the zipped bundle of and the application s. This is useful in cases when the application uses SDK assemblies. The zip bundle will help the client download the SDK s .xap AppManifest .dll .dll The application test file - the application test file generated by the -> -> set to .html Properties Debug Start Action Dynamically generate a test page Deployment When doing the deployment, the mime types need to be mapped in IIS by following the below steps: Select the application in concern from Sites node Double click and the entries as shown below: Mime Types -> - For Silverlight 1 and later -> (-2 means the second implementation of the mime type) - For Silverlight 2 to 5 -> ‘application/xaml+xml’ .xap application/x-silverlight .xap application/x-silverlight-2 .xaml When the application starts up, the page (generated inside the folder) asks the browser to load the Silverlight plugin which is specified in the following tag: Test HTML Bin <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%"> The browser plugin then later asks for the file. Which is basically a folder containing application and other with information inside the application manifest file. .xap .zip .dlls To not allow browser to load the default error page when the Silverlight plugin isn’t available, set the tag’s parameter to object autoUpgrade false <param name="autoUpgrade" value="false" /> with url set to the download link of the required Silverlight plugin. The javascript needs to be used. The to watch for is : onSilverlightError ErrorCode 8001 function onSilverlightError(sender, args) { if (args.ErrorCode == 8001) {//code to run when correct Silverlight plugin version isn't available}} The Silverlight code behind files are in classes (one holding the event handling, another for the UI handling). Using a element is equal to instantiating a class. The elements are validated against xml namespaces. partial XAML .NET XML Binding To assign run time calculation of value and assing to a property we need to use Markup extensions. These classes do binding and resource lookup. When we assign a property in XAML, we’re passing a string passed through a TypeConverter (and the conversion happens at the compile time) Passing values at compile time <TextBox Text='abc' Background='Orange' /> Passing values at run time <TextBox Text='{local:LatinWords}' Background='{StaticResource warning}' /> Types of data binding in XAML are: Binding: binding by Data source Template: get value from control template and assign it to property StaticResource: Lookup resource defined in ResourceDictionary Null: Assing null value to preperty Element to element binding: <TextBox Text='Hello' x:Name='textHello' Background='Goldenrod' /><TextBox Text='Goodbye' Background='{Binding ElementName=textHello, Path=Background}' /> Self binding: <TextBox Text='Red' Background='{Binding Text, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self }}' /> StaticResource binding: <LinearGradientBrush x:Key='seaBrush'><LinearGradientBrush.GradientStops><GradientStop Offset="0" Color="Yellow" /><GradientStop Offset="0.5" Color="Orange" /><GradientStop Offset="0.8" Color="LightCoral" /></LinearGradientBrush.GradientStops></LinearGradientBrush> <TextBox Text='StaticResource' Background='{StaticResource seaBrush}' /> Null binding: <TextBox Text='Null MarkupExtension' Background='{x:Null}' /> Custom markup extension binding: <UserControl xmlns:abc='clr-namespace:abcLib;assembly=abcLib' > ... rest of the code ... <TextBox Text='{abc:LatinWords WordCount=5}' Background='{x:Null}' /></UserControl> and the implementation of custom markup extension is: namespace abcLib{public class LatinWords : IMarkupExtension<string>{ public bool RandomStartPoint { get; set; }public int WordCount { get; set; } private Int32 _numberOfWords;private static Random ran = new Random();private string[] _words; public void SetupWords(){// for demo limit the number of words to 100if (WordCount <= 1){_numberOfWords = 1;}if (_numberOfWords > 100){_numberOfWords = 100;}else{_numberOfWords = WordCount;} _words = _sourceString.Split(' '); }public string ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider){SetupWords();int skipCount = 0;if (this.RandomStartPoint){skipCount = ran.Next(3, 20);}return string.Join(" ", _words.Skip(skipCount).Take(_numberOfWords).ToArray());} private string _sourceString = "Lorem ipsum. "; }} Dependency property system — DPS Silverlight uses a unique property system which was invented by WPF team. This provides services for UI like Animation, Templates, Styles and reduces critical resource usage (e.g. memory). It has two parts: Dependency properties Attached properties When creating own user controls, dependency property (e.g. on Button element: FontSize) and .NET property are correct ways to expose a property on them. both First, create a dependency property to work with the Silverlight services like data binding Second, create a .NET property to set and read property values in code Value resolution priorities Active animation Local value Templated properties Style setters Property value inheritance Default Case: If the for a property is set to and the control in concern is getting animated changing property value from local value 20 40 to 80 When we query the value of the property, the value set by the current animation step will be returned, as per the above priority list Setting dependency properties using code: In file XAML <Button x:Name='sampleButton' Content='Set the Properties in Code' Click='sampleButton_Click' /> In code behind private void sampleButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){sampleButton.FontSize = 40;  // using a .NET wrapper to set value double size = sampleButton.FontSize; // use the .NET wrapper to read value // use the DP system directly sampleButton.SetValue(FontSizeProperty, 30);size = (double)sampleButton.GetValue(FontSizeProperty); } Silverlight elements and controls (default or custom) have lots of dependency properties. This system provides services such as animation, data binding, control templates and styles to the Silverlight elements.To get these services a developer needs to write ‘ugly’ registration code. An example of declaring and registering a dependency property is: public partial class StarShape : UserControl { public StarShape(){InitializeComponent();} //declaringpublic static readonly DependencyProperty PointsProperty; //registeringstatic StarShape(){ // 2. Register with the DP systemPointsProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("Points", typeof(double), typeof(StarShape), null); }} Notice that the property is declared readonly, which means it can only be instantiated in it’s static constructor. Attached dependency property They are a special dependency property to provide decoupled extensible model. We can think of it as a ‘global property’ meaning it is available to all controls in Silverlight runtime. It is owned and registered by a Type. The method for the same is . It uses the dotted syntax . These properties are mostly used in layout panels Canvas, Grid, DockPanel. DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached TypeName.AttachedProperty Key points: Attached property value is stored in DPS Value is assigned with element assigning the value The owning class will query the value from the DPs Photos Originally published at xameeramir.github.io .

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