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Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and

Silverlight
September 06, 2007 09:07:03 EDT

Microsoft has released Silverlight 1.0. There are lot example applications up. See for
example this beta application showing a search UI made in Silverlight. Silverlight is often
portrayed as Microsoft’s Flash-killer. Flash is important as a tool for showing rich multi-
media content, but in the future, frameworks like this might be the new platform
applications are based on.

Silverlight’s architecture is interesting. It includes parts of Windows Presentation

Foundation (WPF), but runs on more operating systems.

First some words on WPF… WPF is Microsoft’s new GUI framework that replaces all
of the old “Windows Forms” and Win32 API. It builds on a vector based and GPU-
enabled drawing framework (DirectX), and adds the ability to create richer UIs than
Windows Forms does. The look and feel is also new. In my view, WPF is Microsoft most
important project the last years. Everybody is discussion Windows Vista, but WPF is
probably more important for application developers than Vista is. WPF also runs on
Windows XP, so it is not tied to Vista.

Read this and this and this to get a better understanding of WPF. Also watch this video.
Even if you never plan to use WPF, knowing the technology and the concepts is useful.

WPF applications can be deployed to the desktop or run in Internet Explorer (on
Windows only, as far as I know). When WPF application run in Internet Explorer they
run in a sandbox, so users simply point Internet Explorer at an URL and your application
appears without any installation or confirmation need. All development tools are the
same (Visual Studio) when making desktop and browser-based WPF applications, and
you can use the same widgets for both.

WPF running in Internet Explorer have some restrictions compared to a program running
on the desktop. For example, opening new windows is not possible and communication
(WCF) is not allowed. Apparently SOAP calls can be used instead.

Making a WPF application run in the browser is easy. You create a project in Visual
Studio marking it as a “WPF Browser Application”. After compilation, you publish the
executable to a web server. I think one idea in Visual Studio is to allow a desktop-based
WPF application and the same browser-based application to be produced from the same
codebase. I have not tried this yet, but this looks like a promising concept.

Back to Silverlight… Like WPF-applications can run in a browser, so do Silverlight

applications. But Silverlight applications can be deployed to more platforms (OS X and
Linux) and more browsers. This does however come with a cost… Like browsers-based
WPF applications lose access to some functions compared to desktop applications,
Silverlight applications can build on even less infrastructure. The GUI is one (of many)
missing elements in Silverlight:

“ (…) it's important to note that a lot of the staple approaches you may be familiar with
from building Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications will not work in
Silverlight, which uses only a subset of WPF's capabilities. Silverlight does not support
most of the WPF component primitives, such as Buttons and TextBoxes, and it supports
only one layout type: the absolute positioning layout. As a result, porting an existing
WPF application to Silverlight will force a total rewrite of all the UI-related code.” (From
DevX)

Of course, people are building widget libraries for Silverlight, but wouldn’t it better if
WPF was fully included? There could be various reasons for not including it… One could
be size, but does that really matters these days? Another reason could be that Microsoft
simply does not want all other operating systems to be able to run (the new wave of)
Windows programs for free.

For application developers this sums up to using one of these platforms (not counting
web interfaces) when writing new software in Visual Studio:

• WPF applications running on the desktop (Vista/XP) -- all OS features enabled.

• WPF applications running sandboxed in Internet Explorer on Vista & XP --
missing WCF and some permissions, e.g. opening new windows.

For the two solutions above, you use same tools and frameworks. Then, for the third one
you enter another world:

• Silverlight running sandboxed on “major browsers” on Windows, Linux and OS

X -- heavily reduced WPF (missing some 3D functions, widgets gone, etc.)
Depend on other 3rd party tools for this functionality.

If you develop a Rich Internet Application, it seems like choosing between WPF and
Silverlight will be an important decision that will heavily shape your project.

esigning an external-facing website, then Silverlight is the better choice because potential
customers can access the website from a variety of different operating systems and
browsers.
The .NET collection definedFEATURES MATRIX
The Features Matrix below provides an overview of the new capabilities in Silverlight 3. Silverlight 3
is able to run Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 1.0 applications without change.

Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Cross-Browser Support for Firefox, IE, Safari

Cross-Platform Support for Windows and Mac

(and Linux through the Moonlight Project)

2D Vector Animation/Graphics

AJAX Support

HTML DOM Integration

HTTP Networking

Canvas Layout Support

JavaScript Support

Silverlight ASP.NET Controls (asp:media,

asp:xaml)

XAML Parser (based on WPF)

Media – 720P High Definition (HD) Video

Media – Audio/Video Support (VC-1, WMV,

WMA, MP3)

Media – Image Support (JPG, PNG)

Media Markers

Windows Media Server Support

Support for Visual Basic.NET and C#; Common

Language Runtime (CLR) based languages

Support for IronPython, IronRuby, Managed

JScript, and other Dynamic Language Runtime
(DLR) based languages

Rich Core Framework (e.g. Generics,

collections)
Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Multi-Threading

Layout controls including StackPanel and Grid

Full suite of Controls (TextBox, RadioButton,

Slider, Calendar, DatePicker, DataGrid,
ListBox, TabControl, and others)

Managed Control Framework

Templating Model

Visual State Manager

Isolated Storage

Deep Zoom Technology

Media – DRM Powered by PlayReady

Media - Windows Media Audio 10 Professional

support

Media - MediaStreamSource for managed code

media file parser and protocol extensibility

High quality resizing

Media - Basic SSPL Support

Cross Domain Network Access

Easy access to server-side data via Web

Services

Direct access to TCP sockets

Interoperability with SOAP and REST services,

including support for XML, JSON, RSS and
Atom data formats

LINQ (including LINQ to XML, LINQ to JSON,

and LINQ to Entities)

Duplex communications (“push” from Server to

Silverlight client)

Data Binding
Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

ADO.NET Data Services

Managed HTML Bridge

Managed Exception Handling

.NET Framework Security Enforcement

Type Safety Verification

XMLReader/Writer

Enhanced Keyboard Input Support

File Upload Support (via WebClient API)

WPF Compatibility

Accessibility

Localization

Remote Debugging (PC and Mac)

Out of Browser

Network Status (Offline)

Pixel Shader Effects

Bitmap API

Theming at runtime

Enhanced Control Skinning

Accessibility - System Colors

Bitmap caching

Perspective 3D

GPU Hardware Acceleration (for video and

bitmaps)

Text Animation

H.264 Support
Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Raw A/V Support

File Save Dialog

DockPanel, WrapPanel, Viewbox

Local Fonts

Element to Element Binding

Local Connection

Binary XML

Component Caching (share resources across

apps)

Scene caches (to Bitmap)

From a .NET perspective, a collection could be defined as an object that implements one
or more of the System.Collections.ICollection, System.Collections.IDictionary, and
System.Collections.IList interfaces. This definition leads to my classification of the "built-
in" collections found in the System.Collections namespace into three broad categories:

• Ordered collections: Collections that implement only the ICollection interface

are usually distinguished by the fact that insertion order controls the order in
which objects may be retrieved from the collection. The System.Collections.Stack
and System.Collections.Queue classes are both examples of ICollection
collections.
• Indexed collections: IList-implementing collections are distinguished by the fact
that their contents can be retrieved via a zero-based numeric index, like an array.
The System.Collections.ArrayList object is one example of an indexed collection.
• Keyed collections: Collections implementing the IDictionary interface contain
items that can be retrieved by an associated key value of some kind. The contents
of IDictionary collections are also usually sorted in some fashion based on the key
valu and can be retrieved in sorted order by enumeration. The
System.Collections.HashTable class implements the IDictionary interface.

As you can see, the functionality of a given collection is very much controlled by the
specific interface or interfaces it implements. If you don't have much exposure to object-
oriented programming, that may seem awfully confusing, if not entirely pointless. You
should know, however, that building an object's functionality in this manner not only
gives families of similar objects similar sets of method signatures, but it also allows them
to be treated as essentially the same class when necessary—a technique known as
polymorphism among OOP initiates.

Guided tour of System.Collections

The System.Collections namespace contains six built-in, generic collections that you can
use in your applications. A few other, more specialized collections are found in
System.Collections.Specialized, and you may find them useful in certain circumstances.
With a few exceptions, each of these specialized collections is similar in functionality to
one of the built-in collections. Let's take a look at each of the generic collections and a
few of the less esoteric specialized collections.

Stacks and queues

The System.Collections.Stack and System.Collections.Queue classes, which both
implement the ICollection interface only, hold items of type System.Object in the order
they were added to the collection. Objects can be retrieved from the collection only in
this order: Stacks are last-in, first-out, and queues are first-in, first-out. Typically, you'll
want to consider using one of these collections when:

• The order in which items are received and processed is important.

• You can discard an item after processing it.
• You don't need to access arbitrary items in the collection.

ArrayList
The System.Collections.ArrayList class, which implements only IList, could best be
described as a hybrid of a normal array and a collection. ArrayLists hold items in the
order they were added. Items are assigned an index identifier and can be retrieved in any
order via their associated index number. The ArrayList grows as new items are added to
it, which makes it more flexible than a normal array. However, an ArrayList has more
overhead than a traditional array and is not strongly typed, accepting anything that can be
cast to System.Object (in other words, everything).

SortedList
System.Collections.SortedList, which implements both the IDictionary and ICollection
interfaces, is your basic sorted collection, with the most similarity to VB6's Collection
object. SortedLists store objects and sort them based on an associated key. They also are
the only built-in .NET collection to support retrieval of objects by both index number and
key.

HashTable
The powerful System.Collections.HashTable collection implements both IDictionary and
ICollection and can be used to store multiple items of type Object, along with an
associated unique string key. Items in a HashTable are sorted in an order determined by a
hash code derived from their key. While each object's key value in the collection must be
unique, its hash code need not be.
What's a hash code?
A hash code is essentially the result of removing all redundant parts from a piece of data,
and it serves as an aid to categorizing or sorting the data.

When an item is added to the collection, HashTable calls the key's GetHashCode method,
which all classes inherit from System.Object, to determine its hash code and place in the
sort order. You can force the use of a custom hash function either by overriding the
GetHashCode method of a class or by passing an object implementing the
System.Collections.IHashcodeProvider interface to the HashTable constructor, in which
case that object will be used to generate hash codes for all keys added to the collection.

From a performance standpoint, HashTables can retrieve an arbitrary element from the
collection very quickly because key searches are limited only to keys with the same hash
code, which reduces the number of keys that must be checked to find a match. However,
because a hash code must be generated for each object and key pair that's inserted into the
collection, item insertions are somewhat expensive. Therefore, HashTables are ideal for
situations where a large amount of relatively static data will be repeatedly searched for
arbitrary keys.

ListDictionary and HybridDictionary

The ListDictionary and HybridDictionary classes are found in
System.Collections.Specialized. Both organize items based on a unique key value, and
both implement IDictionary and ICollection. The ListDictionary stores items internally as
a linked list and is recommended for collections that won't grow much larger than 10
items. The HybridDictionary uses an internal linked list (actually a ListDictionary) for
small collections and will convert that to a HashTable when the collection grows large
enough (more than about 10 items, in case you haven't been paying attention) to make the
linked list implementation inefficient.

StringCollection and StringDictionary

System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection and
System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary are both optimized for storing
collections of strings. StringCollection implements both IList and ICollection and is
essentially an ArrayList that is strongly typed to accept only strings. StringDictionary is a
HashTable that has been strongly typed to accept only strings. StringCollection is ideal
for smaller amounts of data that is frequently updated or added to, while StringDictionary
is best suited for large amounts of data that will not be frequently added to, such as a
HashTable.

NameValueCollection
System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection is interesting in that it can contain
multiple items associated with the same key value, which distinguishes it from all the
other built-in collections. Aside from this, it functions similarly to a HashTable, sorting
items based on a hash code derived from each item's key and thus has essentially the
same advantages and disadvantage
Difference between Silverlight Version 1.0 and Silverlight Version 1.1
A lot of my friends who want to get started with Silverlight development keep asking me what's the
difference between Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 1.1? Which version should they use? Which version
supports what?

The primary difference between the two versions is: you can only use JavaScript to create Silverlight
applications in version 1.0, however you can use your favorite language, be it C#, VB, IronRuby or
IronPython to create Silverlight applications in version 1.1.

For detailed information on the features of Silverlight versions 1.0 and 1.1, click here.

FEATURES MATRIX
The Features Matrix below provides an overview of the new capabilities in Silverlight 3. Silverlight 3
is able to run Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 1.0 applications without change.

Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Cross-Browser Support for Firefox, IE, Safari

Cross-Platform Support for Windows and Mac

(and Linux through the Moonlight Project)

2D Vector Animation/Graphics

AJAX Support

HTML DOM Integration

HTTP Networking

Canvas Layout Support

JavaScript Support

Silverlight ASP.NET Controls (asp:media,

asp:xaml)

XAML Parser (based on WPF)

Media – 720P High Definition (HD) Video

Media – Audio/Video Support (VC-1, WMV,

WMA, MP3)
Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Media – Image Support (JPG, PNG)

Media Markers

Windows Media Server Support

Support for Visual Basic.NET and C#; Common

Language Runtime (CLR) based languages

Support for IronPython, IronRuby, Managed

JScript, and other Dynamic Language Runtime
(DLR) based languages

Rich Core Framework (e.g. Generics,

collections)

Multi-Threading

Layout controls including StackPanel and Grid

Full suite of Controls (TextBox, RadioButton,

Slider, Calendar, DatePicker, DataGrid,
ListBox, TabControl, and others)

Managed Control Framework

Templating Model

Visual State Manager

Isolated Storage

Deep Zoom Technology

Media – DRM Powered by PlayReady

Media - Windows Media Audio 10 Professional

support

Media - MediaStreamSource for managed code

media file parser and protocol extensibility

High quality resizing

Media - Basic SSPL Support

Cross Domain Network Access

Easy access to server-side data via Web

Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Services

Direct access to TCP sockets

Interoperability with SOAP and REST services,

including support for XML, JSON, RSS and
Atom data formats

LINQ (including LINQ to XML, LINQ to JSON,

and LINQ to Entities)

Duplex communications (“push” from Server to

Silverlight client)

Data Binding

ADO.NET Data Services

Managed HTML Bridge

Managed Exception Handling

.NET Framework Security Enforcement

Type Safety Verification

XMLReader/Writer

Enhanced Keyboard Input Support

File Upload Support (via WebClient API)

WPF Compatibility

Accessibility

Localization

Remote Debugging (PC and Mac)

Out of Browser

Network Status (Offline)

Pixel Shader Effects

Bitmap API
Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2 Silverlight 3

Theming at runtime

Enhanced Control Skinning

Accessibility - System Colors

Bitmap caching

Perspective 3D

GPU Hardware Acceleration (for video and

bitmaps)

Text Animation

H.264 Support

Raw A/V Support

File Save Dialog

DockPanel, WrapPanel, Viewbox

Local Fonts

Element to Element Binding

Local Connection

Binary XML

Component Caching (share resources across

apps)

Scene caches (to Bitmap)

The Silverlight Platform

The Silverlight platform as a whole consists of two major parts, plus an

installer and update component, as described in the following table.

Component Description

Core Components and services oriented toward the UI and user interaction, including
presentation user input, lightweight UI controls for use in Web applications, media playback,
framework digital rights management, data binding, and presentation features, including
vector graphics, text, animation, and images. Also includes the Extensible
Application Markup Language (XAML) for specifying layout.

.NET A subset of the .NET Framework that contains components and libraries, including
Framework for data integration, extensible Windows controls, networking, base class libraries,
Silverlight garbage collection, and the common language runtime (CLR).
Some parts of the .NET Framework for Silverlight are deployed with your
application. These "Silverlight Libraries" are assemblies not included in the
Silverlight runtime and are instead shipped in the Silverlight SDK. When Silverlight
Libraries are used in your application, they are packaged up with your application
and downloaded to the browser. These include new UI controls, XLINQ, Syndication
(RSS/Atom), XML serialization, and the dynamic language runtime (DLR).

Installer and An installation and update control that simplifies the process of installing the
updater application for first-time users, and subsequently provides low-impact, automatic
updates.

The following illustration shows these components of the Silverlight

architecture, along with related components and services.

Silverlight architecture
There is a particular value in the combined set of tools, technologies,
and services included in the Silverlight platform: They make it easier
for developers to create rich, interactive, and networked applications.
Although it is certainly possible to build such applications using today's
Web tools and technologies, developers are hindered by many
technical difficulties, including incompatible platforms, disparate file
formats and protocols, and various Web browsers that render pages
and handle scripts differently. A rich Web application that runs
perfectly on one system and browser may work very differently on
another system or browser, or may fail altogether. Using today's large
array of tools, protocols, and technologies, it is a massive and often
cost-prohibitive effort to build an application that can simultaneously
provide the following advantages:

• Ability to create the same user experience across browsers and

platforms, so that the application looks and performs the same
everywhere.
• Integration of data and services from multiple networked
locations into one application using familiar .NET Framework
classes and functionality.
• A media-rich, compelling, and accessible user interface (UI).
• Silverlight makes it easier for developers to build such
applications, because it overcomes many of the incompatibilities
of current technologies, and provides within one platform the
tools to create rich, cross-platform, integrated applications.

Core Presentation Components

The core presentation features of the Silverlight platform, shown in the

previous section and illustration, are described in the following table.

Feature Description

Input Handles inputs from hardware devices such as the keyboard and mouse, drawing, or
other input devices.

UI Renders vector and bitmap graphics, animations, and text.

rendering

Media Features playback and management of various types of audio and video files, such
as .WMP and .MP3 files.

Deep Zoom Enables you to zoom in on and pan around high resolution images.
Controls Supports extensible controls that are customizable through styling and templating.

Layout Enables dynamic positioning of UI elements.

Data Enables linking of data objects and UI elements.

binding

DRM Enables digital rights management of media assets.

XAML Provides a parser for XAML markup.

Developers can interact with this presentation framework by using

XAML to specify presentation details. XAML is the primary point of
interaction between the .NET Framework and the presentation layer.
Developers can programmatically manipulate the presentation layer
using managed code.

The .NET Framework for Silverlight

The following table describes a partial list of the .NET Framework for
Silverlight features shown in the previous illustration.

Feature Description

Data Supports Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) and LINQ to XML features,

which ease the process of integrating and working with data from disparate
sources. Also supports the use of XML and serialization classes for handling
data.

Base class library A set of .NET Framework libraries that provide essential programming
functions, such as string handling, regular expressions, input and output,
reflection, collections, and globalization.

Window Provides features to simplify access to remote services and data. This
Communication includes a browser object, HTTP request and response object, support for
Foundation (WCF) cross-domain HTTP requests, support for RSS/Atom syndication feeds, and
support for JSON, POX, and SOAP services.

CLR (common Provides memory management, garbage collection, type safety checking,
language runtime) and exception handling.

WPF (Windows Provides a rich set of controls, including Button, Calendar, CheckBox,
Presentation DataGrid, DatePicker, HyperlinkButton, ListBox, RadioButton, and
Foundation) controls ScrollViewer.

DLR (dynamic Supports the dynamic compilation and execution of scripting languages such
language runtime) as JavaScript and IronPython to program Silverlight-based applications.
Includes a pluggable model for adding support for other languages for use
with Silverlight.

The .NET Framework for Silverlight is a subset of the full .NET

Framework. It provides the essentials of robust, object-oriented
application development for application types (such as Internet
applications) for which this support has not traditionally been
available.

Developers can interact with the .NET Framework for Silverlight layer
by writing managed code using C# and Visual Basic. .NET Framework
developers can also access the presentation layer by authoring in
Visual Studio 2008 or Microsoft Expression Blend.

Additional Silverlight Programming Features

Silverlight provides several additional features that help developers

create rich and interactive applications, including those described in
the following table.

Feature Description

Isolated storage Provides safe access from the Silverlight client to the local computer's file
system. Enables local storage and caching of data isolated to a particular user.

Asynchronous A background worker thread carries out programming tasks while the application
programming is freed up for user interaction.

File management Provides a safe File Open dialog box, to ease the process of creating safe file
uploads.

HTML–managed Enables .NET Framework programmers to directly manipulate UI elements in the

code interaction HTML DOM of a Web page. Web developers can also use JavaScript to call
directly into managed code and access scriptable objects, properties, events,
and methods.

Serialization Provides support for serialization of CLR types to JSON and XML.

Packaging Provides the Application class and build tools to create .xap packages. The .xap
package contains the application and entry point for the Silverlight plug-in
control to run.

XML libraries XmlReader and XmlWriter classes simplify working with XML data from Web
services. The XLinq feature enables developers to query XML data directly within
.NET Framework programming languages.

Related Technologies and Tools

The following Microsoft applications include special features for

Silverlight development:
 • Microsoft Expression Blend. This tool can be used to create and
modify the presentation layer of an application by manipulating
the XAML canvas and controls, working with graphics, and
programming the presentation layer with a dynamic language
such as JavaScript.
• Visual Studio 2008. Visual Studio provides productivity tools for
developing applications using managed code. All the existing
features of Visual Studio are available for Silverlight. In addition,
this version of Visual Studio includes Silverlight-specific features,
including IntelliSense, debugging, and Silverlight project
templates that create and link all required files.

Because Silverlight-based applications are executed in a run-time

environment on the client machine, no particular application is
required to be installed on the server. However, developers may find
that their ability to create rich applications that integrate services and
data from multiple sources on the server is enhanced by integrating
the following types of services and server-side applications into their
Silverlight-based applications:

• ASP.NET AJAX. This includes a set of controls, services, and

libraries for creating rich and interactive Web-based applications.
• Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services.
• Internet servers, including Microsoft Internet Information
Services (IIS), and the Apache Web server.
• Internet-based applications and services, including Microsoft
ASP.NET, PHP, Windows Streaming Media services, Windows Live
services, and other open Web services.