This book takes you on a guided tour of the new tools available to create Silverlight applications, from Expression Design and Expression Blend through to Visual Studio 2008. It explains how each of the tools performs it’s part of the job of putting together well-constructed Silverlight applications and demonstrates this with a series of straight-forward examples that illustrate how developers and designers can perform their roles in harmony. By the end of the book, you will be well prepared to start creating Silverlight applications, both on your own or with the support of a design team.
There has been a huge surge in interest in ‘Web 2.0’ technologies over the last couple of years. Microsoft’s contribution to this area has been the ASP.NET AJAX and Silverlight technologies, coupled to a supporting framework of ancillary tools. This book aims to be a no nonsense introduction to these technologies for the rapidly growing number of people who are realizing that they need Microsoft-based ‘Web 2.0’ skills on their CV. It gives people a grounding in the core concepts of the technologies and shows how they can be used together to produce the results that people need. The author has unparalleled experience of introducing people to these technologies.
“The book you are holding contains the keys to writing great Silverlight 3 applications. Use them well!” –From the Foreword by Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president, Microsoft Developer Division Microsoft Silverlight is a leading cross-platform, Rich Internet Application (RIA) technology that allows you to create more compelling and interactive Web experiences than are possible with simple HTML browser pages. Silverlight 3 includes significant improvements over previous versions, including “out-of-browser” operation, H.264 video, 3D graphics, and real-time effects. Essential Silverlight 3 is the definitive reference and insider’s guide. It not only covers all the key features of the Silverlight 3 runtime and how to use them but, in Under the Hood sections, explains why each feature was developed and how each one works. These “insider” explanations often lead to concise, practical performance tips that can help you speed up your own Silverlight applications. Author Ashraf Michail is uniquely qualified to explain Silverlight 3. He is a Microsoft Silverlight architect who has guided Silverlight from its beginnings through the current version. In this book, he shows how to Integrate the principles and components of a Silverlight application, including XAP, XAML, and .NET code Use Silverlight vector graphics, bitmap images, and animation Display predictable and readable text across platforms and animate text elements Obtain mouse and keyboard input, including mouse wheel events Implement smooth animations to improve your user interface and make your application more pleasing to the user Use the Canvas, StackPanel, Grid, and Border elements to lay out your application and define custom layout elements Play high-quality, live, and on-demand video and audio Customize the built-in and toolkit controls and develop new custom Silverlight controls Connect to and synchronize with data using Silverlight Data Binding Use built-in real-time effects and define custom HLSL pixel shaders Enable GPU-accelerated rendering If you are a developer who is getting started with Silverlight or an expert Silverlight developer who is interested in understanding the inner workings of the Silverlight runtime, this book is for you.
He is Silverhand, who was foretold, destined to save the world from Chaos. To do so he needs the Arcana: The Spear of Light, The Stone of Destiny, The Cup of Blood and The Sword of Flame. Once the treasures of the gods of creation, they have been for eons lost to both gods and men. Properly used, they can defeat the rising tide of evil that is sweeping the world. But if Silverhand fails in his quest, the world will be plunged into an eternal nightmare of suffering and death.
Silverlight design tools have important differences compared to those used to create Ajax and JavaScript functionality. Robert Lair takes you on a tour of all the tools, including Microsoft Expression Design, which plays an important part in creating Silverlight assets; Microsoft Expression Blend, which is used to build user interaction for Silverlight elements; and Microsoft Visual Studio, which manages the interaction between designers and developers, providing the coding environment for "nuts and bolts" wiring. Once you've mastered the basics, you'll move on to gaining a more in-depth knowledge of some of the groundbreaking new features of the Silverlight technology. The growing popularity of Web 2.0 applications is increasing user expectations for high-quality web site design, presentation, and functionality. It was into this climate that Microsoft released Silverlight 3, the third iteration of its cross-browser web presentation technology and the second to ride on top of the .NET platform. Beginning Sliverlight 3 brings you to the cutting-edge of Web 2.0 application design and includes plenty of practical guidance to get you started straightaway.
Full Color Code samples appear as they do in Visual Studio and Expression Blend! Printed entirely in color, with helpful figures and syntax coloring to make code samples appear as they do in Visual Studio and Expression Blend! Silverlight is Microsoft’s new web-based User Interface (UI) technology, based on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which is introducing many revolutionary concepts in the world of UI development. Silverlight uses XAML, with tools like Expression Design and Expression Blend, to create astonishing UI effects (such as gradients, compositions, and animations.) In addition to the richness of the UI elements, Silverlight 2 allows the use of C# or VB in addition to JavaScript to automate web pages. With Silverlight, you have the power of .NET on multiple platforms (IE and Firefox on Windows, Firefox and Safari on Macintosh, and Firefox on Linux). The author brings you up to speed very quickly with numerous hands-on examples. Use XAML to create state-of-the-art user interfaces Create XAML transforms and animations Design compelling user experiences with Microsoft Expression Blend Integrate media into your rich Internet applications Program Silverlight with both JavaScript and .NET languages Deploy Silverlight content to web pages Encode videos with Expression Media Encoder Make the most of Silverlight elements, resources, and styles Use templates to quickly change your application’s look and feel Efficiently debug Silverlight code Use design tools to create graphics that import seamlessly into Silverlight Laurent Bugnion has been a software engineer since 1996. He has worked with many programming languages and environments, including C, C++, Java, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and, since 2002, the Microsoft .NET platform. He has been honored twice as a Microsoft MVP: first for ASP.NET and now for Client Application Development. He blogs about Silverlight and related technologies at http://blog.galasoft.ch. ON THE WEB: Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672330148 Category: Microsoft Programming/Web Programming Covers: Microsoft® Silverlight 2 User Level: Beginning—Intermediate
A hands-on guide to Microsoft's latest rich application development technology: Silverlight 4 Silverlight 4 is the newest version of the rich Internet application toolkit that provides support for .NET capabilities over the Internet. With this latest release of Silverlight, Microsoft has revolutionized the way that Web applications can be created. This book uses the popular Problem – Design – Solution strategy to demonstrate how to harness the power and abilities of Silverlight 4 to add value to the overall user experience of a Web site. Using a Web site created by the author as a reference point, you'll go through the steps of creating a live, fully functional application for the Web using Silverlight 4 and the Silverlight Control Toolkit. Along the way, the book addresses important design considerations, such as the use of Web Services and the SQL Server database. Uses the popular Problem – Design – Solution format show you how to harness the power of the latest version of Silverlight, Microsoft's rich Internet application toolkit Puts the author's own Web site to task as you learn to create rich user interfaces that integrate video, HTML, and social networking components Explains system linking and data flow, end user interface, system architecture based on Silverlight 4 and .NET 4, and more Includes coverage on integrating social networking and Facebook With this book, you'll quickly get started using the new features of Silverlight 4 to enhance the user experience of a Web site. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
Introducing Silverlight 4 brings you up to speed with version 4 of Silverlight quickly and efficiently. The book builds off your understanding of the basics of .NET coding and WPF, allowing your journey to Silverlight 4 proficiency to be as quick and painless as possible. The text highlights where coding techniques are similar to other, more established areas of the .NET framework. Likewise, when your existing coding habits lead you to a syntax or conceptual ’gotcha,’ the text points that out, too. This book provides you with fast-track coverage of all the most important elements of the Silverlight 4 technology ranging from XAML to standard controls, from dealing with media to networking, from testing to deployment. It also reveals features introduced with Silverlight 4 and offers guidance on how to best utilize them. The book concludes with a pair of fully worked sample applications for you to follow through, because nothing reinforces your understanding of how concepts fit together as much as looking at finished code. It is assumed that readers are already be comfortable with the workings of the .NET framework. Knowledge of Expression Blend is useful, but not mandatory: you’ll learn the Blend techniques that you need to know as you go through the book. By the end, you will have followed a sound, concise path to mastery of Silverlight 4.
Discover the core concepts essential for developing apps for Windows Phone Silverlight and XNA provide you with a powerful development platform and key tools for programming Windows Phone 7 series applications. This book offers a foundation for using the tools required for Windows Phone 7 development, including Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition, the Windows Phone 7 Series SDK, and Silverlight. Experienced authors provide you with detailed coverage on developing accordingly for an application’s lifetime, accessing cloud services, and developing notification services. Explains how to use the most up-to-date tools and development platforms to create applications for the Windows Phone 7 Walks you through developing notification services and location services Demonstrates ways to generate revenue by deploying your apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace Details the steps for enabling trial periods for applications and providing updates and new versions of apps If you're eager to get started developing applications for the Windows Phone 7, then this is the beginner guide for you.
Design rich Internet applications (RIAs) for the Web using Silverlight 2, Microsoft's hot runtime application. Available only as an ebook, this concise, easy-to-understand introduction provides complete step-by-step instructions for using everything Silverlight 2 has to offer, including tools for animation, vector graphics, video playback, .NET support for web services and networking, as well as LINQ, Microsoft's native data querying tool. Essential Silverlight 2 helps you take advantage of Microsoft's cross-browser plug-in with: Clever ways to create interactive UIs that are more robust and easier to debug and test than what you can achieve on other platforms Scores of tested JavaScript and C# code examples that you can reuse in your own applications Expert guidance from an author who understands RIA technologies, including ASP.NET, Flash, PHP, and JavaScript Ready to deliver a more complete Web experience? Essential Silverlight 2 offers a world of possibilities.
