Trinity College, Dublin 27 August 2009

Introduction to Silverlight 3

Stuart Manning

Introduction to Silverlight 3

What Is Silverlight?

Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform and cross-device browser plug-in that helps

companies design, develop and deliver applications and experiences on the Web.

Who is using it

• 10,000+ active partners

NBC, EBay, Hard Rock Cafe, Playboy, Continental, NYMag, Easy Jet, McCann WorldGroup, Renault, ITV, Sky Sports

• 400,000+ register developers & designers

• 6 million .NET developers

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight

Silverlight• Create once, use everywhere.• Platform agnostic• Mac, Windows and Linux• Supports ALL major browsers. Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Internet

Explorer• Build once.• Support for PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby, Python or any Web Platform• HTML, JavaScript, AJAX• Native language support for C#, VB, Iron Ruby, Iron Python, Managed

JavaScript, XAML• Window Presentation Foundation [WPF] subset.• Seamless development experience. Designer Developer Workflow

New features in Silverlight 3

• Support for Higher Quality Video & Audio– Native H.264/Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) Audio [MP4/F4V]

• True HD by leveraging the system GPU Hardware acceleration• IIS Smooth Streaming

– Dynamically detect and switches bandwidth streams– Cost Effective bandwidth consumption

• DRM :: PlayReady Content Protection [nag free to end user]• Perspective 3D Graphics [scale, rotate in each of the three axis]• Improved text rendering & font support• Deep Linking/SEO/Accessibility [multipage Silverlight

application and content mirroring in HTML, high contrast design]

New features in Silverlight 3• Improved performance [Application library caching, on demand loading]• Enhanced Deep Zoom• Binary XML• Out of Browser

– Life outside the browser– Desktop interaction– Safe & secure– One Click installation– Auto update– Internet connectivity detection

4.6 Mb Download [8 second install]

Rich Web Experiences• Combines animation, rich layouts, vector graphics, 3D and features like

Deep Zoom [Hard Rock Cafe]• Quality Viewing Experience

– True HD 1080p– H.264 (MP4/F4V) [iPhone/YouTube]

• Smooth Streaming [IIS Media Services]• Faster

– Multithreading– Multicore CPU support– GPU acceleration enable on both PC and MAC

• 100+ Prebuilt Controls– Business ready data grids, chart and ‘every day’ controls– Third Parties– CodePlex.com

EasyJetEasyJet has used Silverlight to build a smooth interface to help users to explore destinations in detail. It integrates with Microsoft Virtual Earth, so developers can layer the location-relevant data on top of the Virtual Earth map images

Real Developer ToolsExpression Blend 3• Rapid Prototyping• Speed & Efficiency• Reduced Redundancy• Enhancing creativity• Delivers Compelling Applications

SketchFlow [we will visit in depth in the 2nd part of this talk by using an active demonstration]

Expression Web 3• [X]HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP support• Standard based development• W3C support and reporting• Super Preview

Real Developer ToolsExpression Design 3• PSD, PDF, XAML support• Adobe Photoshop File Format Importer

Expression Encoder 3• Create compelling Video experiences• H.264• Multichannel Audio• WMV/VC1 codec support• Screen Capture• Smooth streaming with IIS7

Visual Studio 2010

SharePoint Server, SQL Server, Windows ServerMicrosoft Dynamics, BizTalk Server.

Real Developer Tools

Expression® Studio 3

Expression Blend™ 3 + SketchFlow

Expression Web 3

Expression Design 3

Expression Encoder 3 + IIS Smooth Streaming

Rapid Prototyping & DevelopmentSketchFlow and Expression Blend• Quick and experimental User Interface & User Experience• Fast, plentiful, disposable & inexpensive• Communicate design intent• Connect and evaluation feedback [Stakeholder meetings]• Provide immediate business value

– Deliver compelling proposals to clients– Quick & Cost Effective

• Contenting the left and right hemispheres of the brain• Unifying the Designer and Developer• Quick Prototype becomes viable Application• Import pre-existing assets [Photoshop & Illustrator / Hand Drawn & Stock

Assets]• Scot Stanfield, SEO Vertigo. KEXP Seattle

Controls

• 100+ Prebuilt controls• Easily skinned• Extensible• Reusable• Constantly being developed and improved by the

WPF/Silverlight team• Open to third parties• http://www.codeplex.com/Silverlight• Virtual Earth

Prebuilt controls

All in the framework

All in the framework.NET Framework provides• Common Language Runtime [CLR] C#, VB, C++• Dynamic Languages Runtime [DLR] IronPython, IronRuby, Managed Jscript• Threading [Multithreading, Separation of UI and Background Threads]• Garbage Collection• WCF, ADO.NET, LINQ [MS SQL, Oracle], REST, SOAP• Cryptography• Generics/Reflection/Collections B

Silverlight is a WPF subset. If you outgrow Silverlight then you are ready for WPFWPF/Silverlight Sliding ScaleDeveloped in parallel

All this in a 4.6 Mb download [8 sec install]

LIVE DEMOSketchFlow

Questions

Useful Resources

• http://www.silverlight.com• http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight• http://team.silverlight.net/• http://twitter.com/silverlight

• http://www.codeplex.com/Silverlight• http://stackoverflow.com

Thank YouStuart Manning

stuart@causewaydesign.co.ukTwitter: @stuartmanning

Blog: http://stuartmanning.comhttp://rtweeter.com