At the Silverlight Firestarter event today in Redmond (And broadcast live around the world) Scott Guthrie kicked off the show with a very exciting look ahead at some of the planned features for Silverlight 5. There were two strong themes to these new features “Premium Media Experiences” and “Business Application Development”.

The enhancements to media include Hardware Decode and presentation of H.264 using GPU support improving performance for lower power devices as well as “Trick Play” capabilities to play videos at different speeds (Up to 2x) with pitch correction. Improved power awareness will keep the screensaver from appearing while video is playing, but also allows the system to sleep when video is paused. Remote control support will also be added to media.

On the “Application” front, features improving text clarity and layout performance and “Fluid” layout capabilities. OpenType support has been enhanced and tracking/leading have been added. Enhancements have also been added for MVVM support and Databinding enhancements.I swear I could here Josh Smith’s excitement all the way in here in NC when he heard that Markup Extensions were being added as well. I think one of the coolest demos of the day was John Papa setting breakpoints in XAML (Yes, in XAML) and having the debugger stop when bindings were hit, providing the ability to step through the binding process and make solving problems easier. A GPU accelerated API was also shown, providing rich 3d visualization capabilities.

If you’re interested, a complete list of future features is available here as well as be sure to check out Scott’s Blog, Pete’s Blog, and Tim’s Blog for the latest info. (For info on the latest release of the WCF Ria Services Toolkit, check out Jeff’s Blog!) The information shared today was a strong indication of the continued commitment Microsoft has to Silverlight, and the exciting opportunities that exist for developers on the web, on devices, and on the desktop with Silverlight!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Save a spot on your calendar for the Silverlight Firestarter event on December 2,2010. This LIVE event in Redmond, WA is being broadcast live “Everywhere”. We’re working in arranging a venue in the Raleigh/Durham area to get together an view the event, bringing together some of the local Silverlight community. If you’re interested (or have a venue to host us) drop me a note or watch for details here.

For more info, or to register for the LIVE Streaming event please visit the Silverlight Firestarter site

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

In a show of support for Silverlight and it’s future at Microsoft, Bob Muglia, President of the Server and Tools Division at Microsoft provided a blog post on the Team Silverlight blog. In his post Mr. Muglia better explained the context of some of his comments.

Among other key points, he very clearly states:

“Make no mistake; we’ll continue to invest in Silverlight and enable developers to build great apps and experiences with it in the future”

In the post he also outlines some key trends the Silverlight targets:

“Customers are demanding the richest possible client experiences, and developers are increasingly looking to build premium, tailored experiences optimized for specific devices.” 

“Customers want to be able to deliver client experiences that are optimized for specific form factors.”

“Media delivery across the Internet continues to accelerate dramatically.  Customers want HD, studio quality, premium media content.” 

“Lastly, there has been massive growth in the breadth and diversity of devices made by a wide variety of vendors providing both open and closed systems.”

And lastly, relating to the positioning of Silverlight and HTML(5)

“The purpose of Silverlight has never been to replace HTML, but rather to do the things that HTML (and other technologies) can’t, and to do so in a way that’s easy for developers to use.  Silverlight enables great client app and media experiences”

These echo some of the comments made by Steve Ballmer about Microsoft wanting to fully support HTML but also using Silverlight to go beyond those capabilities in a variety of client and application solutions.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

If you’re in the Raleigh/Durham area and are interesting in developing applications for Windows Phone 7 be sure to check out the upcoming “Firestarter” training event on Wednesday September 8th.

Event Registration link: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032456599&Culture=en-US

Event Overview

Wednesday, September 08, 2010 9:00 AM - Wednesday, September 08, 2010 5:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 8:30 AM

North Carolina State University - Jane S. McKimmon Conference & Training Center 1101 Gorman St
Raleigh North Carolina 27606
United States

Dream It. Build It.

The power to build smart, visually stunning games and applications is right in your hands with Windows Phone 7. Want to see what’s under the hood? This full-day series of learning events for developers will take you behind the scenes with an inside look at the philosophy, design language, and the fundamentals of Silverlight and XNA coding for Windows Phone 7. You’ll also see how the Windows Marketplace provides exciting new distribution and monetization opportunities for developers and application publishers.

Join your local MSDN Events team and get ready to amplify your creativity, productivity and market opportunities.

Morning Sessions:

Introduction to Windows Phone Development and the WP7 platform

Meet Windows Phone 7! We’re proud to introduce the innovative Windows Phone 7 platform and explain the philosophy behind its all-new user experience design. We’ll also outline the Metro design principles and cover the basics of building applications for Windows Phone 7. Finally, you’ll tour the Windows Phone Marketplace and get an overview on its exciting revenue opportunities for developers and application publishers.

Building Windows Phone 7 Applications with Silverlight

You’ve heard the fundamentals; now it’s time to dig a little deeper. This session will focus on building Windows Phone 7 applications with Microsoft Silverlight. You’ll see first-hand how to use Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend to develop and debug projects. You’ll also learn about the built-in templates and the many available controls and styles for WP7. We’ll wrap by covering how to consume services in the cloud.

Building Windows Phone 7 Applications using XNA

Microsoft XNA has been a favorite with game developers for many years. Now game developers will be able to harness the power of the XNA framework to create highly immersive and responsive games for Windows Phone 7.. We’ll charge full-speed into XNA to outline the basic Windows Phone model, explore its core device characteristics, and review the highlights of the XNA phone framework. Finally, we’ll show you some of the cool and impressive games that have been developed specifically for Windows Phone 7.

Lunch (included)

Afternoon Sessions:

Monetizing Your Apps with Marketplace

Windows Phone 7 will launch with a fully loaded Marketplace and the opportunity for developers to sell or distribute their applications. . In this session, you’ll get the details about how to navigate the certification process and publish your application including updates. Learn how to increase discoverability as well as deepen your connection with your customers through the powerful business intelligence capabilities of the marketplace.

Windows Phone 7 Services

Get ready to build more engaging user experiences with Windows Phone 7 and several powerful cloud- and phone-based components. First up is the Microsoft Location Service, which allows you to obtain location information based on GPS, cell and Wi-Fi signals. Next, we’ll cover the Microsoft Push Notification Service, which provides “live” updates for apps running on the device.

Light Up Windows Phone 7!

Device integration is how an application becomes an experience. In this session, you’ll learn how to create the compelling and interactive mobile experiences which users have come to have expect by tying into device hardware such as the keyboard, touch input and accelerometer. You’ll also learn how to incorporate audio and video into your rich media solutions.

Posted in Silverlight | Software | WP7  | Comments [0] 

On the heels of the release of Silverlight 4, Adam Kinney and John Papa have put together an online Silverlight 4 training course over on Channel 9. Units in the course cover the new features in SL4 as well focusing in on how many of the new features enable Silvelright base line of business (LOB) applications. They dive into WCF Ria Services, User Registration and Authentication, Drop Target, Webcam, Clipboard, Printing, and even MEF. Download the Silverlight 4 Training kit FOR FFREE and get up to speed quickly and all the new goodness.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

With the release of Silverlight 4 quickly approaching, there is more excitement than every around developing with Silverlight. While there’s a wealth of information all over the place on new features and how to do things, I strongly encourage anybody looking for Silverlight 4 information to start here:

What’s New in Silverlight 4?

READ FIRST

Want to know the feature-by-feature 'what's new' information? Read the What's new in Silverlight 4 whitepaper for more detailed technical information.

Silverlight 4 delivers a full suite of powerful capabilities to business application developers, bringing the best-of-breed .NET platform to browser-based experiences. Silverlight provides an ideal platform for developing and deploying modern business applications for both customer facing and staff-facing applications.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

Along with the launch of Silverlight 3, a number of new controls were introduced in the Silverlight Toolkit. One control worth taking a look at if you deal with any sort of data entry forms in your applications is the DataForm.

The quick and dirty demo is to take an object, in this case Photo.cs

    public class Photo
    {
        public int PhotoId { get; set; }
        public string Title { get; set; }
        public string Url { get; set; }
        public string Description { get; set; }
        public int Rating { get; set; }
        public DateTime DateTaken { get; set; }
        public bool Printed { get; set; }
    }

Add a DataForm control, set it’s CurrentItem property to a person obect

 <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
        <Grid.Resources>
            <local:Photo x:Key="MyPhoto"/>
        </Grid.Resources>
            <dataFormToolkit:DataForm CurrentItem="{StaticResource MyPhoto}" Width="300">
            </dataFormToolkit:DataForm>
  </Grid>

And there we go, a DataForm!

Just like that, the control auto-generated the fields for us and wired them up to the object. In the case of the bool it selected a checkbox and uses a calendar control for the date taken field. Labels are also created based on the property names.

This is all well and good, but what if that’s not exactly what I want. For example, what if I don’t want to see the PhotoID and should not be able to change the url?

What if there was a way that we could somehow tell the system how we want it to handle the display of our photo class? System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations to the rescue! Data Annotations give us the ability to add attributes in our class that the data form looks at when generating these fields. Below is the photo class updated to hide the PhotoId field, make the URL read only, and update the label text for the DateTaken property.

 public class Photo
    {
        [Display(AutoGenerateField = false)]
        public int PhotoId { get; set; }
        public string Title { get; set; }
        [Editable(false)]
        public string Url { get; set; }
        public string Description { get; set; }
        public int Rating { get; set; }
        [Display(Name="Date photo was taken")]
        public DateTime DateTaken { get; set; }
        public bool Printed { get; set; }
    }

And the result is

One of the additional things that can be done with DataAnnotations is data validation. By adding an attribute of [Required()] to the title, the Dataorm will pickup the validation requirement and automatically display an error message.

You will notice the OK button at the bottom of the form. I added AutoCommit=”False” to the DataForm XAML to allow me to notify the dataform that I was committing changes. In addition to required there are Range, StringLength, RegularExpression validators available.

In Part 2 I’ll go over how you can take even more control over the form by specifying content.

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

Every time I present on Silverlight I make a point to make sure people check out download and install the Silverlight Toolkit. After installing the developer tools, this should be your next step?

Why you ask? Controls! Controls! Controls!

In order to ship more frequent updates of controls and not be as closely tied to the runtime and SDK releases, Microsoft has selected to use CodePlex as the delivery method for all of these addition controls. (Please check out the list of controls below) The site also acts as a feedback mechanism to allow input from you and I on bugs and requested features. The source code is even available!

There are many great controls to use right out of the box, making that much more productive day 1 with Silverlight.

Now go download! http://www.codeplex.com/Silverlight/

 

[Details from the CodePlex site]

What is the Silverlight Toolkit?

The Silverlight Toolkit is a collection of Silverlight controls, components and utilities made available outside the normal Silverlight release cycle. It adds new functionality quickly for designers and developers, and provides the community an efficient way to help shape product development by contributing ideas and bug reports. It includes full source code, unit tests, samples and documentation for 26 new controls covering charting, styling, layout, and user input.

• Components in the Mature/SDK Quality Band (The binaries for these components ship in the Silverlight 3 SDK, their full source is available in the Silverlight Toolkit.)
  • AutoCompleteBox
  • Calendar
  • ChildWindow
  • DataGrid
  • DataPager
  • DatePicker
  • GridSplitter
  • HeaderedItemsControl
  • TabControl
  • TreeView

• Components in the Stable Quality Band
  • DockPanel
  • Expander
  • HeaderedContentControl
  • Label
  • NumericUpDown
  • Viewbox
  • WrapPanel

• Components in the Preview Quality Band
  • Accordion
  • Charting
  • DataForm
  • DomainUpDown
  • ImplicitStyleManager
  • LayoutTransformer
  • Rating
  • TimePicker
  • TimeUpDown
  • 11 Themes

• Components in the Experimental Quality Band
  • GlobalCalendar
  • TransitioningContentControl
  • TreeMap

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

If you’re interested in Silverlight 3 and building business applications you’re not going to want to miss this excellent free Silverlight training opportunity!

Join us at Advanced Home Care on Tuesday, 7th July, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. (Dinner & Meet & Greet: 6-6:45 p.m.)

Directions link: (4001 Piedmont Parkway, High Point, NC 27265).
Overview:

Silverlight 3 is expected to hit the web sometime soon this summer and in this presentation you will learn about some of the new features applicable to developing business applications with Silverlight 3. We will look at building solutions with the new navigation framework, accessing, validating, and updating data with .NET RIA Services, working with the new capabilities to make your Silverlight applications SEO friendly, and a few more things as well. Agenda: 6:00 – 6:30          Dinner & Meet & Greet 6:45 – Presentation · General Announcements · Building Business Applications in Silverlight 3.0 Presented by: · Jim Duffy is founder and president of TakeNote Technologies, an award-winning training, consulting, and software development company specializing in .NET software developer training and helping clients create business solutions with Microsoft technologies. Jim is a Microsoft Regional Director, a Microsoft MVP, an INETA speaker, and is an entertaining and popular speaker at regional user groups and international developer conferences. He is also a co-host of Computers 2K9, a call-in radio show on WRBZ (AM 850), 850 The Buzz, in Raleigh, NC. You can find additional information about Jim, TakeNote Technologies, links to his blog, as well as a public training class schedule, on-site training information, consulting information, and software development services at at   http://www.takenote.com Please see the www.triaddev.org site, or click the Directions link. So be sure to RSVP today! Note: You may RSVP in reply to this e-mail, or to www.triaddev.org

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Tonight the gang at the TRINUG Web Apps SIG (Special Interest Group) decided to take a break from their monthly MVC and JQuery fun to take a look at some of the new features of Silverlight 3. The screenshot above and link below is the completed code sample that I was walking through to show some Silverlight basics and look at a few of the new features.

The sample includes Perspective 3d capabilities, element to element bindings, and Pixel Shader Effects.

Download SigDemo SL3 Code

The Silverlight 3 Out Of Browser Slide application demo that we took a look at as well is available here on Mike Harsh’s Blog.

Posted in Silverlight | TRINUG  | Comments [4] 

Thanks to everybody that attended my presentation at the Carrboro RIA meetup last night.

Here are a few links to items discussed:

Getting started with Silverlight:

http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/

Microsoft Expression Blend website:

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/

Some of the demo sites we looked at:

http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/webclient/

http://www.smoothhd.com/

http://www.robzelt.com/silverlight/planets/

 

Silverlight Control Toolkit

http://silverlight.codeplex.com

Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton

 

Mix09 Content

http://www.vistimix.com

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [3] 

I had initially planned to go through and polish up a few posts I had been working on regarding some new Silverlight 3 features. Unfortunately I decided to do read a few of my favorite blogs and saw some great posts covering some of the same topics. While I go write some code… check these out:

 

My MIX09 Silverlight 3 ShowOff Video – Commodore 64 Emulator [This was absolutely one of the coolest things I saw at Mix09. Aside from the C64 coolness, it showed some amazing potential for the new SL3 features]

Shawn Burke's Blog - Silverlight Toolkit March 2009 Release

Silverlight 3 – Perspective 3d Transforms – PlaneProjection

Jeff Prosise's Blog - Silverlight 3's New Perspective Transform

WriteableBitmap

Silverlight 3 Out-of-browser Update

Silverlight 3 – BasedOn Styles

Silverlight 3 – Taking Silverlight Out of the Browser

Silverlight 3 – UI Element to Element Binding

Silverlight 3 – Creating Video from Raw Bits using a MediaStreamSource

Silverlight 3 – Drop Shadows and Glows with Pixel Shaders

Incremental Blogger » SketchFlow introduces ink to

MIX09 - The Gratuitous Graphics Demo

What is .NET RIA Services-

Displaying background activity in a Silverlight RIA application

Data Validation in Silverlight DataGrid

Grouping in Silverlight DataGrid

What’s New in Expression Blend 3 for Silverlight Preview

Nikhil Kothari's Weblog - .NET RIA Services- From Vision to

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Today at Microsoft’s MIX09 conference a number of extremely exciting announcements were made about the companies efforts in the RIA space. Most notable was the release of a Silverlight 3 beta which includes a huge list of exciting new features including Out Of Browser support, enhanced media capabilities and a line of RIA Services targeted towards building line of business applications. The new release includes support for things like Deep Linking, Navigation, SEO Optimization, Hardware GPU support, 3-D and Animation enhancements, and the list goes on.

The Out Of Browser capabilities are a key items that targets an area a lot of people having been asking for and creates some truly exciting innovation opportunities to create cross platform applications that can be run from the desktop. (Translation: You can write a CLR application that runs on a Mac) 

For more information, here’s the link to get started as well as some of the key blogs posts of the day to get you started. I’ll be posting more on some of my recent work with the new bits over the next few days.

Silverlight 3 Getting Started

Blog Posts of Note:

A Guide to Silverlight 3 New Features

Silverlight 3 Beta is Live! – Out of Browser, Perspective 3D, Effects, ElementName Binding and m

Silverlight 3 Beta Sample - Slidentity - Presentation Creation App

Introducing Offline and Out of Browser support in Silverlight

SketchFlow – Sketching and Prototyping in Expression Blend

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [2] 

If you missed the MIX09 keynote, check it out!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on how different types of layout controls can be used make the tools and the framework do the heavy lifting for us in our Silverlight Development. Karl Shifflett recently posted an example creating a custom WPF control to make it easier to layout a data input screen and I decided to build out a Silverlight version.

The control extends an ItemsControl to use a custom container that provides a text label and layout for input controls.

 

The result is a custom control that allows me to add input controls such as TextBoxes and CheckBoxes and get labels and much of the styling for free. Silverlight’s DataBinding capabilities allow me to set a DataContext for the FormControl, and then simply specify an individual binding for each field.

<TextBox Zelt:FormItem.LabelContent="First Name" Text="{Binding FirstName}" Width="250"/>
<TextBox Zelt:FormItem.LabelContent="Last Name" Text="{Binding LastName}" Width="250"/>

Utilizing this type of markup allows for a lot of potential in tool support. I’m sure that Karl plans to support this type of content in his XAML Power Toys add-in.

I’ve got a few additions before I share out the code, but I’d welcome any feedback on this approach.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [3] 

 

In early December Montreal is hosting an exciting developer conference covering a wide range of topics from some of our industry's leading presenters. The 3 day conference is packed with information in 136 sessions. Pre and Post conference sessions are also available to increase your learning potential at the event. Attendees will also receive over $1000 in free software!

The fun starts Tuesday December 2nd with a key by Ted Neward. See you there!!!

http://www.devteach.com

Posted in Rant | Silverlight | Software  | Comments [1] 

A while back I posted on creating a custom layout panel in WPF that could arrange items based on an assigned date property to create a timeline view. Working through the creation of this panel taught me a great deal about how powerful the layout system was in WPF, and now how that power and flexibility extends into Silverlight 2.

The Silverlight 2 layout system is largely based on the use of panels, which includes the Canvas, Grid, and Stack Panel. Silverlight 2 includes a base Panel that you are able to derive from and override it’s default layout behavior. In addition to the basic functionality that comes with Panel, it provides two methods that you can easily override to create your own behavior. MeasureOverride and ArrangeOverride are the heart of the layout, determining the the position of elements. It’s essentially a to phase process where MeasureOverride examines the child elements of the panel to see what size they would “like to be”. The ArrangeOverride the tells the children the size and location they “are going to be”, based on whatever calculations you specify.

This example shows how using a custom attached property to specify an event date for any child element placed on the panel that ArrangeOverride can then use to position them.

 

This view showing the history of Windows version release dates is created using this XAML markup:

 <local:TimelinePanel Width="800" Height="280" 
                             StartDate="1/1/1984" StopDate="12/12/2010" 
                             Background="LightGray">
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="11/1/1985">Windows 1.0</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="12/1/1987">Windows 2.0</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="5/1/1990">Windows 3.0</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="4/1/1992">Windows 3.1</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="5/30/1995">Windows NT 3.51</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="8/24/1995" >Windows 95</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="6/1/1996">Windows NT 4</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="6/1/1998">Windows 98</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="2/1/2000">Windows 2000</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="7/1/2000">Windows Me</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="10/1/2001">Windows XP</TextBlock>
       <TextBlock local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="1/1/2007">Windows Vista</TextBlock>
</local:TimelinePanel>

 

As you can see from the XAML markup, a Start and Stop date are specified for the date range that the panel will display. Each child element, in this case TextBlock’s have an EventDate property specified. It should be noted that the TextBlock itself has no concept of an event date coded into it. EventDate is an Attached Property, a dependency property that can be “attached” to any element.

“An attached property is a concept defined by XAML. An attached property is intended to be used as a type of global property that is settable on any object element in XAML. In Silverlight version 2, attached properties are typically defined as a specialized form of dependency property that does not have the conventional property wrapper in the object's CLR object model.”

MSDN has more details on attached properties in Silverlight 2 online.

In the ArrangeOverride code I simply scale the date based on the EventDate’s relative position to the StartDate and StopDate of the TimeLinePanel giving me a horizontal position. For the vertical position I track the position of the previous element and if it overlaps I place it below, creating a cascading effect for overlapping elements.

protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size finalSize)
        {
            double lastX = 0;
            double lastY = 0;
            foreach (UIElement element in this.Children)
            {
                DateTime eventDate = (DateTime)element.GetValue(EventDateProperty);
                double pos = ScaleDate(eventDate);
                double left = finalSize.Width * pos;
                double top = (double)element.GetValue(VerticalOffsetProperty);
                if (double.IsNaN(top) == true)
                    top = 0.00;

                double width = element.DesiredSize.Width;
                double height = element.DesiredSize.Height;
                if (lastX + width > left)
                {
                    top = lastY + 20 + (double)element.GetValue(VerticalOffsetProperty);
                }
                else
                {
                    top = 0 + (double)element.GetValue(VerticalOffsetProperty);
                }
                element.Arrange(new Rect(left, top, width, height));
                lastX = left;
                lastY = top;
            }
            return finalSize;
        }

The use of custom panels for layout in Silverlight 2 creates a world of exciting possibilities, giving developers and designers an incredibly flexible set of tools. With the ability for panels to be reused within other controls such as the ListBox (Shown in my previous Solar System ListBox Demo) advanced user experiences become much easier to create. By placing the TimeLinePanel into the ItemsPanelTemplate of ListBox and attaching the EventDate to the ListBoxItem, I now have all of the functionality of a ListBox, with the visual display of my TimeLinePanel.

<ListBox>
      <ListBox.ItemsPanel>
              <ItemsPanelTemplate>
                  <local:TimelinePanel Width="800" Height="280" 
                         StartDate="1/1/1984" StopDate="12/12/2010" Background="LightGray">
                  </local:TimelinePanel>
              </ItemsPanelTemplate>
      </ListBox.ItemsPanel>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="11/1/1985"><TextBlock Text="Windows 1.0" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="12/1/1987"><TextBlock Text="Windows 2.0" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="5/1/1990"><TextBlock Text="Windows 3.0" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="4/1/1992"><TextBlock Text="Windows 3.1" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="5/30/1995"><TextBlock Text="Windows NT 3.51" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="8/24/1995"><TextBlock Text="Windows 95" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="6/1/1996"><TextBlock Text="Windows NT 4" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="6/1/1998"><TextBlock Text="Windows 98" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="2/1/2000"><TextBlock Text="Windows 2000" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="7/1/2000"><TextBlock Text="Windows Me" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="10/1/2001"><TextBlock Text="Windows XP" /></ListBoxItem>
      <ListBoxItem local:TimelinePanel.EventDate="1/1/2007"><TextBlock Text="Windows Vista" /></ListBoxItem>
</ListBox>

 

Live demo of TimeLinePanel

Silverlight 2 TimeLinePanel Demo Source Code

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [2] 

With the release of Silverlight 2, I’ve been working on updating a number of my existing demos as well as building a number of new ones for upcoming presentations. One of my favorite features in Silverlight 2 (And WPF) is the ability to change the visuals of a control through styles and templates, without impacting the control logic. The demo that really drove this home to me was created by Beatriz Costa. Her post on The power of Styles and Templates in WPF showed a simple yet effective way to have the visuals of controls can be altered, leaving the logic of the control intact to do all of the expected ListBox stuff. (Fire events, provide a selected item, respond to keyboard up/down). This flexibility and separation of control visuals from control logic is one of the key elements of WPF, and now Silverlight.

I started with a some basic controls on a page including a databound ListBox and a UserControl containing some TextBlocks.

 

After applying the styles and templates the application visuals are transformed into something much more interesting, while maintaining the complete functionality of a ListBox, while appearing as a Solar System ListBox.

            <ListBox x:Name="listbox1" Height="600" Width="1000"                 
                SelectionChanged="listbox1_SelectionChanged" 
                Template="{StaticResource ListBoxTemp}"
                ItemContainerStyle="{StaticResource DefaultListBoxItemStyle}"      
                ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ListBoxItemContainerPlanet}">
            </ListBox>

  

In order to take things a step further, I also replaced the ItemsPanel of the ListBox with a custom carousel panel. The original CarouselPanel code I started with is by Jamie Rodriguez and found here.

                <ListBox.ItemsPanel>
                    <ItemsPanelTemplate>                    
                        <local:CarouselPanel x:Name="planets" 
                            Width="800" Height="600" Grid.Row="0"  
                            Speed="0.03" UseMousePosition="False"  
                            ScalePerspective=".2" />
                    </ItemsPanelTemplate>
                </ListBox.ItemsPanel>

The result is an interactive interface with the planets orbiting around the screen, while still maintaining the full functionality of the underlying ListBox below.

Live Demo HERE

Source Code: (Soon)

Control Customization Documentation Resources:

Styling and Templating Overview
Control Styles and Templates
Creating a Templatable Control

** And yes… I know the ongoing debate about Pluto being a “dwarf planet” and not a “real” planet any more… deal with it.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [5] 

As you’ve likely heard, Microsoft has released Silverlight 2. I was fortunate to have been involved along the way and getting to interact with many members of the various teams involved. I want to start by offering a gigantic congratulations to everybody involved. You guys did a great job moving things along with such speed an innovation! Having had a chance to see a glimpse of what went on behind the scenes I have a tremendous level of respect and admiration for that teams of great people that made this release possible It is truly an amazing  and passionate group, and every member should be proud. It seems like just yesterday that “Silverlight” was unveiled as the proper name or WPF/E. I can’t wait to see the future innovation.

Some of the key highlights of this release include:

•.NET Framework support with a rich base class library. This is a compatible subset of the full .NET Framework.

•Powerful built-in controls. These include DataGrid, ListBox, Slider, ScrollViewer, Calendar controls and more.

•Advanced skinning and templating support. This makes it easy to customize the look and feel of an application.

•Deep zoom. This enables unparalleled interactivity and navigation of ultrahigh resolution imagery.

•Comprehensive networking support. Out-of-the-box support allows calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS and standard HTTP services, enabling users to create applications that easily integrate with existing back-end systems.

•Expanded .NET Framework language support. Unlike other runtimes, Silverlight 2 supports a variety of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and IronRuby, making it easier for developers already familiar with one of these languages to repurpose their existing skill sets.

•Advanced content protection. This now includes Silverlight DRM, powered by PlayReady, offering robust content protection for connected Silverlight experiences.

•Improved server scalability and expanded advertiser support. This includes new streaming and progressive download capabilities, superior search engine optimization techniques, and next-generation in-stream advertising support.

•Cross-platform and cross-browser support. This includes support for Mac, Windows and Linux in Firefox, Safari and Windows Internet Explorer.

For me personally, Silverlight 2 represents a great opportunity to leverage my existing skill investment in .NET and extend beyond the server and desktop  into a richer browser experience. I’ve been working on updating the code for a number of new posts that I will be sharing in the days ahead, as well as updating some of my previous samples.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Microsoft has released Release Candidate 0 of Silverlight 2 today. This release is intended for developers to allow them to test there application and bring it up to speed with changes for the release. Tim Heuer has an excellent post explaining the details. If you’re developing for Silverlight 2 go read.

It’s exciting times in Silverlight Land!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Earlier this spring the Microsoft Patterns & Practices group released the Composite Application Guidance for WPF, or Prism. Initially released for WPF, the team has been continuing their work, expanding the scope to include WPF and Silverlight.

The direction they are taking includes the ability to build applications that can provide both both Silverlight and WPF experiences through sharing and re-using code and components between the two environments. I’ve honestly learned a lot digging into Prism 1, and look forward into digging deeper into the new bits in the week ahead.

David Hill has a great post that includes more details here.

Congrats to the Prism 2.0 team on getting this turned around so quickly!

Posted in Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [0] 

The innovative minds over at Identity Mine have release a beta of Desklighter, their utility as part of their Blendables product family to create Silverlight applications that run outside of the browser.

"Desklighter is a windows utility that will create a “Desklight” from Silverlight xap file. The Desklight is a standalone exe application that renders Silverlight content that is easily portable and accessible. With Desklighter, you can share your Silverlight applications without having to worry about the hosting infrastructure. Distribute your Silverlight content whenever and wherever you need it. The possibilities are endless."

 

This concept creates a lot of very interesting possibilities, especially in the area of disconnected applications. Back when I saw how the New York Time created a special host on the Mac for their Silverlight based Times Reader, I really started to think about the potential.

With all of this comes many questions about functionality, so I'm curious to see how things work.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Adam Kinney recently announced the launch of a new Channel 9 series called <DeepVoice Echo="High">The Continuum Show</DeepVoice> in which he takes a look at many of the exciting new technologies from Microsoft that are pushing the limits of traditional applications on the web and desktops through technologies such as WPF, Silverlight, and ASP.NET

 

"This is the beginning of a new show on Channel 9 focused on the world of UI technologies available from Microsoft.  This includes some of your favorites like WPF, Silverlight, ASP.NET, Expression, IE8 and more.  We'll be showing new features, patterns and practices from experts and samples of inspirational applications. "

 

Episode 0 gives an intro

Episode 1 looks at the MVC Framework with Phil Haack

Episode 2 details the NBCOlympics.com video player

 

Building NBCOlympics.com with Silverlight

This space is getting really exciting. Great job Adam! I look forward to seeing more.

Posted in Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [0] 

South Carolina Silverlight Superstar Page Brooks has put together an awesome contest with some great prizes!

"The Silverlight Control Builder Contest is all about contributing to the Silverlight Community. We hope this contest will serve as a catalyst for an expanding Silverlight control developer community."

I look forward to seeing the innovation from the community, and will hopefully get something of my own submitted.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Just a [late] reminder the the RDU .NET User Experience group will be meeting at 6:00 pm next on Tuesday May 27, 2008 at 1143 Executive Circle, Suite H, Cary, 27511.

 

Local Microsoft Regional Director Jim Duffy will be presenting highlights of from a recent day long Silverlight 2 training presentation on Building Line of Business (LOB) Applications with Silverlight 2.

If you're interested in WPF, Silverlight, and issues surrounding Rich Interactive Applications you'll want to check it out.

If you're planning to attend, please RSVP by sending me a note or leaving a comment.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [2] 

In a recent blog post, Karl takes us on a journey to Metadata Island. (From the pictures, it looks like a place I would like to visit frequently!). Though his post and accompanying Silverlight videos he brings up a number of very valid points regarding the use of existing metadata to make development faster.

A big pain point in development is duplication of efforts, and even in simple cases it can eat up a lot of time very quickly. Consider creating a simple database entry form. We're first creating a database table with field names, we then construct a data layer of some sort to read and write to those field names, we then add textbox (or other) controls to a form facilitate the data entry/edits, and then usually create labels (again using the field names), tools tips are added, data validation. To Karl's point, all of this information lived in the database already, or possibly even in a specification document prior to the database being created.

More tooling support would be great. Or at least some consistent tooling, as I know we've all written code to do a variety of these tasks in the past, but never really in coordination with VS.

[Karl's form generator]

As we go forward, I hope that we see a lot of innovation in this space. I think there are a lot of opportunities as WPF and Silverlight push into line of business applications.

 

Posted in Rant | Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [0] 

The details are finally in place for the beginnings of the Raleigh/Durham Dot Net User Experience / Silverlight group. We will be meeting on Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 6:00 PM. We will be meeting at 1143 Executive circle, suite H, Cary, NC 27511.

[*****pushpin estimated may not be exact]

Please help us spread the word! If you know of people working with or interested in Silverlight/WPF in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area please forward this along.

What is the purpose of a new group?

The purpose of the group is to bring together individuals who share an interest in exploiting the Microsoft .NET platform to create Rich Interactive Applications that provide the end user with the best possible user experience. We will be focusing on  using technologies such as Silverlight, WPF, etc., as well as the related design user experience topics that are related.

Who should attend?

As suggested above, the audience really isn't limited to any type of individual; however, for the sake of providing "labels", the group is targeting Microsoft Silverlight / WPF / Expression  developer and designer audience. While we will be started off with some basics of Silverlight, the goal of the group is going to be to focus more on intermediate and advanced topics. We will be working jointly with the Triangle .Net User Group (www.trinug.org) which is starting to offer a Silverlight 101 focus group.

Where do I sign up?

There are a number of logistical issues that we need to work out getting this group going, such as a website, etc. If you are planning attend the next meeting, please leave a comment or drop me an email so that we can plan for numbers and hopefully have some discussions beforehand on what people would like to see.

What will be covered?

At the first session I will be presenting some work I have been doing relating to styling and Control Templates in  Silverlight 2 controls and have a Q&A. At that time we will also get some ideas of what we'd like to see in future events.

Why DNUX?

I met Cory Smith who has started the DNUX (www.dnux.org) groups in the Dallas Texas area and I thought the idea was brilliant. While our initial topics will likely be Silverlight related, I did not want to bind us complete to one technology. Dot Net User Experience provides a much better description of the direction I'd like to see. Hopefully I'll find him again so I can official ask to "borrow" the name idea.

Posted in Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [1] 

I've been talking with a number of people about starting a Silverlight focused group here in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. If you're interested, se if you can come out to the presentation I'm giving for the Triangle .Net User Group Web Applications SIG on Wednesday and we can maybe chat afterwards as well about setting another meeting up later in April. I'm thinking maybe April 22nd, 24th, or 29th?

On the topic of SIlverlight meetings.... I think there are a few of us that may soon need a local meeting more like this....

 

Silverlight Rehab - You're not alone

Stay out of the dark and go into the light!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

If you're interested in some FREE Silverlight 2 training, on Wednesday evening (April 2, 2008 6:00 pm) I will be giving a presentation on Silverlight 2 Controls for the Triangle .Net User Group's(TRINUG) Web Application SIG. The meeting is being held at Compuware in Durham, NC. I'll be covering the controls currently included in Silverlight 2, as well as creating User Controls and Custom Controls, and also styling and skinning existing controls.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

It's going to be an interesting week ahead, with a number of events in the developer world. On Wednesday Feb 27th, Microsoft will begin the "Global Wave" of launch events around the world, starting with a large scale event in Los Angeles. At this event we will see Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 officially launched.

One week later is the Microsoft MIX08 conference where it is anticipated that Microsoft will be showing Silverlight 2 and IE8 for the first time, as well as well as updates to Visual Studio and futures such as the MVC Framework.  (Note that it's apparently "Silverlight 2" now and not Silverlight 2.0. ScottGu has given a few preview details on his blog) I get the feeling that there are a lot of other exciting announcements in the pipe that are being held back and will be made between or during these events. (There is also the TED conference that could preview some new things from Microsoft Research)

Not to be left out of the picture, It also sounds like Adobe will be fighting for attention next week as well as they are expected to release Flex 3 and AIR. We'll save the Flash vs Silverlight debate for another day, but the important fact is that competition in this space is really heating up.

There has been a lot of debate about the future of RIA (Rich Internet Applications or Rich Interactive Applications, or as I prefer to think of it, a way to get Rich on the Internet Again), and what the impact really will be. There are some camps that feel that HTML + JavaScript will be as far as mainstream development goes within the browsers. Personally while I do not think that in the near future every html based site will cease to exist and be replaced by a Silverlight or Flash applications, I do think that these technologies represent some major opportunities for existing sites to add some dramatic enhancements without completely replacing everything that is. My hope is not that we see more of the same, but get to experience some real innovations in user interfaces and the way that information is presented to us.

While some developers/admin users have claimed that they are not willing to install the runtimes for these environments, the reality is that most end users want more interactivity and will gladly click Next, Yes, Yes, Next at the prospect of doing something cool. If the download is quick, and relatively easy they will install it.Smart developers will use ways of gradually introducing enhanced features into their sites.

 

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

Tonight Microsoft took the covers off of the new ASP.NET 3.5 Extensions Preview and the ASP.NET MVC Toolkit

 

While I'm extremely excited by the new ASP.NET MVC (Model View Controller) I could not overlook the Silverlight Controls for ASP.NET that make it easy to integrate the rich behavior of Silverlight into a web application. It provides an updated MediaPlayer Server Control  and Silverlight Server control.

The MediaPlayer Server Control allows you to integrate media sources into your web project without any knowledge of XAML or Javascript using pre-built skins, or by referencing custom XAML skins.

<asp:MediaPlayer runat="server" 
  AutoPlay="true|false" 
  ScaleMode="None|Zoom|Stretch" 
  EnableCaptions="true|false" 
  Height="height" 
  MediaSkin="skinName" 
  MediaSource="URL" 
  Muted="true|false" 
  PlaceholderImageSource="URL" 
  PluginBackColor="color" 
  Volume="volume" 
  Width="width" 

  OnClientChapterStarted="functionName" 
  OnClientCurrentStateChanged="functionName" 
  OnClientMarkerReached ="functionName" 
  OnClientMediaEnded ="functionName" 
  OnClientMediaFailed ="functionName" 
  OnClientMediaOpened ="functionName" 
  OnClientVolumeChanged="functionName" 

  <Chapters> 
    <asp:MediaChapter Position="index" Title="title" 
      ThumbnailImageSource="URL" /> 
  </Chapters> 
</asp:media>

The Silverllight Server Control allows you to reference your own XAML. The control also references client JavaScript files associated with the XAML.

 

<asp:Silverlight runat="server" 
     ClientType="ClientType"
     EnableHtmlAccess="true|false"
     EnableFrameRateCounter="true|false"
     EnableRedrawRegios="true|false"
     InitParamsters="parameters"
     InstallationMode="None|Inline|Linked"
     MaxFrameRate="rate"
     PluginBackColor="color"
     Source="XamlSource"
     Version="version"
     Windowless="true|false"
     ScaleMode="None|Zoom|Stretch"
     OnClientPluginError="functionName"
     OnClientPluginResized="functionName"
     OnClientPluginLoaded="functionName"
     OnClientPluginFullScreenChanged ="functionName"
</asp:Silverlight>

 

More on this later... now onto the MVC...

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

In a very insightful post, Scott Guthrie detail the current .Net web roadmap. Of particular interest is the Silverlight related text. First of all, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU for officially re-branding taking Silverlight 1.1 to Silverlight 2.0. As somebody that's given numerous talks, the confusion that existed between 1.0 and 1.1 in conjunction with all of the other version  numbers floating around became a little much. Silverlight 2.0 makes things a lot easier to explain.

In Scott's post, he details many specific new features that we can look forward to, hopefully in another preview release later this year before the beta next year. His highlights include:

• WPF UI Framework: The current Silverlight Alpha release only includes basic controls support and a managed API for UI drawing.  The next public Silverlight preview will add support for the higher level features of the WPF UI framework.  These include: the extensible control framework model, layout manager support, two-way data-binding support, and control template and skinning support.  The WPF UI Framework features in Silverlight will be a compatible subset of the WPF UI Framework features in last week's .NET Framework 3.5 release.

• Rich Controls: Silverlight will deliver a rich set of controls that make building Rich Internet Applications much easier.  The next Silverlight preview release will add support for core form controls (textbox, checkbox, radiobutton, etc), built-in layout management controls (StackPanel, Grid, etc), common functionality controls (TabControl, Slider, ScrollViewer, ProgressBar, etc) and data manipulation controls (DataGrid, etc).

• Rich Networking Support: Silverlight will deliver rich networking support.  The next Silverlight preview release will add support for REST, POX, RSS, and WS* communication.  It will also add support for cross domain network access (so that Silverlight clients can access resources and data from any trusted source on the web).

• Rich Base Class Library Support: Silverlight will include a rich .NET base class library of functionality (collections, IO, generics, threading, globalization, XML, local storage, etc).  The next Silverlight preview release will also add built-in support for LINQ to XML and richer HTML DOM API integration.

The most important part in my opinion is the official introduction of controls, layout, and binding support. A lot of people having been doing some very creative work on these to show the potential, but we've all been anxiously awaiting the official story. When you look at the sample sites of control vendors like Telerik, Component One, Infragistics, etc you can see the power that exists. Having the official base to build these on will just expand this potential.

Reading that "compatible subset of the WPF UI Framework" is music to my ears! This will make it extremely easy for organizations working with WPF/XAML today to instantly be productive with Silverlight. For people considering the technology, this gives you even more return potential for the learning and training investment required.

Having a Go-Live license in Q1 is also great news! It's been difficult to see the power, but not really be able to put it to use yet,

Great job to everybody that's been working on this, I can't wait to get my hands dirty on some new bits. (please be soon!)

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

I meant to blog this last week when I noticed the announcement during the Silverlight DevCamp in DC that ComponentOne had released an Alpha Preview of their Silverlight 1.1 control framework.

I've been following along with great anticipation as they seem to have one of the most complete control solutions. We're all still anxiously awaiting the official Silverlight control story is going to be, C1 is certainly showing how great the potential is.

You can learn more and signup for the alpha release here:

http://labs.componentone.com/Sapphire/

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Microsoft has always been involved in the developer community, but it's great to see the new ideas and innovations that are taking place to spread the word on new technologies.

The latest includes a number of Microsoft DE's (Some that I've been privileged to meet recently. I met Lynn and Woody at the INETA Leadership Summit out in LA earlier this fall and I met Anand at Dev Connections last week following his MOST EXCELLENT Silverlight demo during the keynote)

Introducing Code Trip....

Put 8 developers in an RV and send them across the country to talk code. Sounds like a blast! I haven't seen the schedule, but I hope they make it out East to Raleigh NC, or I manage to end up somewhere along the route. It's definitely going to be a fun bunch to follow! (Twitter: http://twitter.com/codetrip Facebook: join the group RSS: Subscribe To The Feed)

I'm hopeful that they be sure to drop in on any INETA User Group meetings along the way. I'm sure most groups would throw together a special event while they're in town.

Posted in Rant | Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

 This morning after stuffing us with bagels and coffee, Frank La Vigne kicked off SilverlightDevCampDC. Frank started the day with a intro to SIlverlight keynote, followed by local Microsoft DE Andrew Duthie.

Pete Brown is now sharing some of his Silverlight 1.1 control experiences from his Carbon Calculator (Which was done in collaboration with Raleigh local Steve Suing).

More later... I hear the pizza is here!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

I just wanted to thank Ben and everybody else from the Raleigh Adobe User Group tonight for inviting me in to speak on Silverlight. It was a interesting to hear your questions and get your perspectives on the whole RIA space and have informed comments on both sides of the Flash,Flex/ Silverlight camps.

In honor of the event I have posted a special Silverlight version of the RDAUG logo in XAML as shown in my demo. Enjoy: 

 

If you're interested in Flex, Flash, and other Adobe products check out the groups website for a list of future meetings. They're also looking for some meeting space if anybody around can help them out.

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Last week Microsoft opened the Popfly Beta site up to the public. Popfly is a "fun and easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, and Web pages". Basically it provides you with an online Silverlight based visual development environment that includes a variety of building blocks that you can use to build your own creations. Check it out: http://www.popfly.ms

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

If you're looking to get some great hands on Silverlight training, Wildermuth Consulting in cooperation with Dunn Training is bringing Shawn Wildermuth's Three Day Silverlight Workshop to a city near you!

"This includes learning the ins and outs of XAML, hosting in the browser, the tools and using Silverlight on the server. The class utilizes Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 1.1 Alpha as well as the latest toolset from Microsoft (including Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 (Orcas) and Expression Studio)."

Tell them Rob sent you!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Not to be outdone by San Francisco, Chicago , or even Dublin, Ireland Frank is putting together a Silverlight DevCamp up in the DC area on November 3, 2007. I am so there!!! If you're in the Carolina's and want to head up let me know. I've offered to present, but mostly look forward getting a group of excited Silverlight enthusiasts together. 

Watch here and Frank's Blog for more info!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

I can't believe I didn't see this sooner. Great work Loren!!! Silverlight client that sends ink back to a recognition server and then uses the results. Brilliant!

http://www.tabletpcpost.com/search/

Posted in Silverlight | TabletPC  | Comments [1] 

At last nights Triangle .Net User Group meeting, during the opening code sharing session I showed one of the demos from www.silverlight.net site. (If you are doing anything with Silverlight, or wanting to understand more of what Silverlight can do this site is a must!)

One of the videos posted by Laurence Moroney shows the use of using query string parameters to generate dynamic Silverlight XAML. There is a VIDEO and the original sample here: http://silverlight.net/learn/learnvideo.aspx?video=113

I modified the original demo to also dynamically modify an image control to display the appropriate flag of the country of the customer queried from the NorthWind database.

To do this I simply added an image tag and placeholder information to the XAML template:

<Image x:Name="imgCountry" Source="images/ms.jpg" Width="155" Height="155" Canvas.Left="8" Canvas.Top="72">

I then modified the code in the data.aspx.cs file to include:

xNode = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("//d:Image[@x:Name='imgCountry']", mng);
 xNode.Attributes["Source"].Value = "images/" + myReader["Country"].ToString() + ".jpg";

 

These changes instruct the Silverlight template to point to the appropriate flag image. I downloaded a number of flag images from wikipedia.

I further modified the XAML template to include a basic animation of the flag that results in the following (XAML template is here)

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

Next Tuesday (July 31) I will be presenting on Silverlight to the PTNUG user group in Greensboro, NC. If you're in the area, come out and say hi!

Looking Into the Light – An Introduction to Silverlight 1.0

Silverlight™ is a new Microsoft® technology for delivering rich, cross-platform interactive experiences for the Web and beyond. Silverlight™ enables the creation of rich, visually stunning and interactive content and applications that run on multiple browsers and operating systems. In this session, learn more about the benefits from a developer perspective and get an introduction to building applications using XAML, JavaScript and Microsoft developer and designer tools.

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [1] 

In addition to the local .NET fun that takes place at the Triangle .Net User Group, I'm looking to get a group of interested people together on a regular basis to take a somewhat more focused and advanced look into WPF and Silverlight. If you are in the area and working with WPF, Silverlight, Blend, or related topics I would be very interested in hearing from you. I'm especially interested in people coming at the from more of the design side than the typical developer would. If you're interested, please leave a comment or drop me a note. If you have space and would like to host such a meeting, please let me know as well!

Posted in Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [0] 

For some Silverlight fun, check out Zero Gravity from Terralever

Endless fun!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

A big blog world welcome to Jeremy and his new blog!!! http://www.myblogon.net

If you missed his Ajax/Silverlight demo from CodeCampRDU check out the details in his latest post. Great stuff!

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

The great folks at Dunn Training and Consulting in Atlanta have just announced their first 3 day Silverlight training workshop. The agenda for the event looks pretty thorough, including content on both Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 1.1 (Now Silverlight 2.0). If you or your team wants to get a step ahead on Silverlight, check it out!

http://www.dunntraining.com/SilverlightTraining.htm

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

Inspired by Kevin Moore's WPF FlipTile3D Bag-Of-Tricks demo from Mix I decided to play around with a Silverlight version of rotating canvas transforms based on mouse positions. The math still needs a little work on the close proximity movement. The demo is available at http://www.robzelt.com/Silverlight/FlipTile and the source is available here

 

 

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

My first Silverlight 1.0 demo application created from scratch is now up and running. In a simple start, I've taken our Triangle .Net User Group logo, converted it to XAML and animated it when you MouseOver each of the letters.

 

Try it out at http://www.robzelt.com/Silverlight/TrinugLogo

 

You can download the source here

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

MIX07 has come and gone, and I can hardly wait until MIX08. It was great to see some of those old "conference friends" that I only get to see at events like this. The event also allowed me the opportunity to meet many more new contacts! Thanks to everybody that took the time to stop, chat, and share your expertise.

If you have been following the news from the event, you will know that the announcements were simply stunning. The buzz generated by Silverlight was unreal. To hear so many experts in the industry talking about how this changes the web was surreal. There is no doubt that Microsoft has a RIA (Rich Internet Application) strategy and they are executing it with skill. Look out web!

Ya, ya.. It's great that it runs on a Mac. Yes to be clear, the Silverlight .Net CLR now runs cross browser/cross platform on the Mac. What I find most impressive however is how they have brought so many of these new technologies together in one "developer ecosystem". That's the part that I really think the nay sayers don't get, is what that means to be able to develop the server, desktop (tablet, umpc), client (web, mobile device.. ) all using the same tools, the same languages. It's about productivity, scalability, and reliability.

As a developer that has been investing heavily in learning the new world of WPF, WCF, and AJAX, this has been a great validation that those efforts are worth while.

As for Mix.....

My absolute favorite session was the very last session of the conference, Kevin Moore's XD009 - Windows Presentation Foundation for Developers (Part 2 of the talk that Rob Relyea started which is darn good too!) (Video of the session is available here) We hear so much about designers these days, and developer designer work flow, you wonder if the role of the developer is getting lost. Well Kevin clearly shows why "Developers Still Matter". First, I need to say that there are few things more exciting than hearing somebody present on a topic they are truly passionate about. For Kevin, WPF is obviously more than just a job. His session shows how developers can create code to work for better for designers (or developers) working with it from XAML, but also goes on to show how much further a developer can take things. Kevin has updated his "Bag of Tricks" samples which continue to be one of the best reference samples out there for WPF.

Also on the last day, a conference just would not be complete without hearing Don Box. Steve Maine and Don Box held court to a packed house for their "Navigating the Programmable Web" talk, a deep dive into "GET". (Why does Don always need a "code monkey"? Can't he type?) The showed some coolness with the new UriTemplate class that at the time was soon to be released, but has now been released as part of the new Biztalk SDK  (That apparently isn't only about Biztalk). To remain cool and in the spirit of MIX, they did code their demo using a WPF app. (But didn't use WPF to host their WCF service. Slackers!

Other highlights were the sessions by Robby Ingebretsen and the Identity Mine crew (If you do WPF, Blendables are a must see!), Scott Stanfield from Vertigo and their Family.Show reference app, and last but not least on my favorites list was Sam George in his Ink on the Web using Silverlight talk. Way cool!

If you didn't make MIX07, or did and couldn't attend all of the sessions you wanted to, the videos are all online at http://sessions.visitmix.com

 

Posted in Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [2] 

One of the very many cool announcements from Microsoft MIX07 is the Microsoft® Silverlight™ Streaming Service available at http://Silverlight.live.com . In a nut shell, it gives you 4gb of space to stream media from! Officially...

"Microsoft® Silverlight™ Streaming by Windows Live™ is a companion service for Silverlight that makes it easier for developers and designers to deliver and scale rich media as part of their Silverlight applications. The service offers web designers and developers a free and convenient solution for hosting and streaming cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences and rich interactive applications that run on Windows™ and Mac. Combined with the ability to create content with Microsoft® Expression Studio and other 3rd party tools, Web designers and content publishers wishing to integrate Silverlight applications into their online properties can enjoy complete control of the end user experience."

This is a great way to get started with media for Silverlight without having to store the content. This service works hand in hand with Microsoft Expression Media Encoder as well. If you're doing, or thinking of doing video on the web, this is a must see.

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

From Michael Arrignton @ www.techcrunch.com

"It makes Flash/Flex look like an absolute toy."

"without exaggeration, Ajax looks like a bicycle next to a Ferrari when compared to Silverlight"

 

Posted in Silverlight  | Comments [0] 

In less than 24 hours I will be on an airplane heading towards Las Vegas to attend Mix07, the Microsoft conference that brings together the pocket protectors, turtle necks, and suits (Developers, Designers, and Business Decision Makers) of the world to discuss the future technology of the web and hear from "some of the most successful and innovative practitioners on the Web".

If you're not able to attend MIX07 which sold out early, be sure to pay attention to the www.visistmix.com website:

"Starting on Monday morning, we’re going to be updating this page continually – people at home will be able to see all of the news, fun, live keynotes, sessions and partner demos coming out of the show."

As I've said before, I'm really looking forward to MIX07. MIX06 was great, and provided me with a lot of inspiration to dig into the new technologues of WPF, WCF, and AJAX. It also opened my eyes to a world of opportunities developing for Media Center.

I truly think that WPF and Silverlight are going to positively change the status quo in computing today, allowing us as developers to truly write software that people love. And I'm not just talking about flashy special effects programs with little core value, but to allow us to really focus on make user interaction truly makes sense for a given task.

One of the many sessions I'm looking forward to is Scott Stanfield from Vertigo Software taking dive into their new WPF reference application Family.Show that was developed for Microsoft.

 

 

 

Posted in Silverlight | wpf  | Comments [0] 

With the rollout of a new website, Micrososft shares more of the vision.

"Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web."

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

 

I look forward to MIX07 as more details are announced:

from Soma's blog: "Silverlight announcement at NAB is only part of the story, the rest will be unveiled at MIX including details about how Silverlight is a core component of Microsoft’s broader .NET platform. Keep your eyes on Mix07 as part of Ray Ozzie’s and Scott Guthrie’s keynote – be sure to check it out. "

 

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