Silverlight
It is an alternative to Flash, a lightweight 2 mega bytes plugin, for which
net surfer is asked to install on its client computer and that supplements
the navigator with a graphic interface running in interaction with the server.
It is in fact a subset of WPF, reduced to be portable.
With Silverlight one can create RIA, Rich Internet Applications, and make
astonishing interfaces, that can integrate animations and videos.
It offers to navigators the graphic features of WPF and which are of the
same order as the ones of Flash, the plugin from Adobe.
- Make use of XAML,
- 2D vectorial graphics with scaling of objects.
- Works with Ajax thus JavaScript, DOM
and XMLHttpRequest.
Silverlight also functions in local mode under the .NET environment. On the Web, the controls are exposed to Internet Explorer through Active X while Firefox and other browsers use the Mozilla plugin technology.
Features of Silverlight
HTML Integration
Silverlight is programmed in Javascript. It uses DOM to access elements of the page and JavaScript events for building the graphic objects of Silverlight.
XAML
XAML is the markup language that describes the graphic interface.
One can generate XAML code from data on the server, and thus create a dynamic application. The method createFromXaml called in Javascript builds the graphic components (widgets) on the page.
Vectorial graphics
The size of images does not degrade their precision. One can reduce or increase the size but preserve a perfect image.
The runtime is fast enough to use a video as texture of a 2D object.
Videos
It supports video files in wmv format, in high definition. Several videos can run at the same time and a certain interactivity, as zooming, is possible.
Compatible
Completely compatible with WPF, the graphic platform of .NET and Vista. But WPF has 3D graphics. One can thus re-use an application designed for the Web in a local environment.
Flash-killer
The Flash format of Adobe (formerly Macromedia) became a standard on the
Web. It makes it possible to add graphic applications to the navigator,
once downloaded the plugin. It is also used for Web applications, in particular
by the Laszlo framework.
Microsoft hopes to replace it with a product adapted to modern technologies
of the Web. It is also a plugin, but lighter and that runs on main navigators
also.
However Flash runs under Linux while Microsoft provides only a runtime for
Windows and Mac. Actually, a project of Silverlight
for Linux, code-named Moonlight has been started on the Mono website.
Development
Microsoft has created a set of tools called Expression, equivalent of the
Creative Suite software from Adobe. Visual Studio makes it possible
to produce Silverlight applications too.
Silverlight's controls can be used in several ways: they are first defined
with an OBJECT or EMBED tag, or a script, or loaded from an XAML file, or
an XAML content is created dynamically. And once created they are used in
JavaScript.
Supported platforms
- Windows XP with SP2.
- Windows 2000.
- Windows Vista.
- Mobile Windows.
- Macintosh.
- Linux. (Third-party plug-in).
Resources
- Silverlight Tutorial. Using XAML on the Web with Silverlight.
- Getting started with Silverlight. Tutorial by Microsoft.
- Silverlight.net. Microsoft has a website dedicated to the technology.