10 things you should know about Silverlight

Building a Web strategy is a very important task for any successful business. However, implementing that strategy with rich Internet applications is not always easy. To alleviate these difficulties, as recently as you know the giant Microsoft has launched Silverlight , a plug-in that works on multiple platforms, multi-browsers for application developers. This plug-in can allow the development of rich applications including media, interactivity and animation. Silverlight plug-in can work on Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers in Windows and Firefox as well as Safari on Mac OS.

Some argue that Microsoft wants to release this product to defeat Adobe's rival Flash. At this point, the answer has not yet fallen and may need more time for users to accept a more interesting product choice. We are also not really biased about a product, but frankly, Microsoft Silverlight also has some advantages that we list below:

1. Silverlight avoids operating system and browser problems

For most software development teams, developing a website that works on different popular browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera is a difficult thing. The problem here is not simply the need for additional code but also a large number of testing jobs. When a software developer creates more and more browser versions and operating systems, the number of test jobs will become even bigger.

Usually there are two ways that a development project is still aimed at: supporting a small set of Web browsers or increasing the number of employees to ensure quality.

In contrast to that, Silverlight plug-in allows for the same development model regardless of the user's operating system and browser. Currently, two operating systems and three browsers are supported. Microsoft promises to add support for the Opera browser on Windows and Mac operating systems. In addition, the Mono project took a big step forward in its Moonlight project, which is more about bringing Silverlight into Linux.

2. Silverlight, the story is true

Right from the first version, Release Candidate, Silverlight has been considered and considered by many organizations. Indeed it has many important and interesting features, receiving a lot of support and approval in this release.

Silverlight 1.1 release for the first time supports .Net, including basic .Net languages, C # and Visual Basic. In addition to Microsoft, Silverlight 1.1 will have .Net support for dynamic languages ​​such as Ruby, Python, dynamic Visual Basic and Jscript already. In our opinion, important languages ​​for Silverlight to support are C # and Visual Basic because they allow .Net developers to create Silverlight applications. In version 1.1, any .Net language must be supported, because what is actually provided to the browser is the .Net assembly components.

3. Silverlight uses technology familiar to developers

Silverlight is built with existing Microsoft technologies: a mix of Windows Presentation Framework-like XAML (XML application markup language), JavaScript and .Net technologies. If your developers are already familiar with Microsoft .Net and Web technologies, they can fully use their existing knowledge to build Silverlight applications.

The Silverlight version you choose to introduce to a new project will depend on the skills that the development team has. If the software development team is heavy on ASP.NET developers (mostly C # and VB.Net) then you need to use Silverlight 1.1, but if they are mastery of client languages ​​like JavaScript, Silverlight 1.0 is a great platform to introduce.

4. Silverlight's user interface is also Markup - like HTML

XAML is a Silverlight language for user interface design. You may be familiar with other popular markup languages ​​like HTML. HTML is raw text that includes information that tells the Web browser how to render 'look' and 'feel' of the web page. XAML also performs similar tasks. However, instead of interpreting the instructions for how to render the file, Silverlight's runtime performs rendering.

XAML markup existence is important because it can be created automatically. Although your developers use any tool to develop a Web server, it is possible to create a dynamic HTML for web pages. This technique is too attractive because you can create reusable HTML fragments to use on your own site. An example of this is designing a homepage of websie. Typically, the header and footer (and the right and left sections of the page) can be reused throughout the site.

Because XAML is also markup, you can use client technologies to dynamically create XAML like what developers have done with HTML. Although markup language is somewhat different, the technologies are quite similar.

5. Silverlight and AJAX technology can complement each other

The web is still in development. In the early days when the web first appeared, in the 1990s, everyone wanted that developers should move many things into the server to make the application more flexible. While this issue is being done technically well, it has hindered users' perceptions. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is now all that remains. Simply AJAX writes code directly in the browser to allow for better user interaction. The classic example in this case is Google maps (or Microsoft Live maps).

Silverlight follows this model by allowing more impressive user interfaces in the browser. The exchange of data between the server and the client using AJAX technologies (no matter which AJAX library) allows Silverlight applications to be powerful. Using Silverlight's rich user interface model with AJAX's powerful data transfer model, you will get unexpected interaction without forcing users to wait until the page refreshes. .

7. Silverlight allows developers and designers to work together

The Web has forced development teams to think more about design and aesthetics. Favorable user experience and intuitive interfaces become special standards. This often happens because it requires a beautiful and skilled user experience in application development. Today, that is done by using artists designed to design a website.

However, the components that artists use and provide are often quite different (depending on the tools that developers use). Typically, artists designed to provide image files (such as Photoshop or .jpg files) or (in some more advanced cases) HTML act as a framework for software developers to integrate them into in a project. No matter which technology you use, those designs must still be integrated into the web application code. As the design continues, this integration takes place on a daily basis. In this regard, Silverlight has come up with a better development. Microsoft 's toolkit for Silverlight is a mix of traditional development tools, such as Visual Studio and new tools for designers like Expression Studio.

With Silverlight, the main design tool is Expression Blend, which allows creating XAML in a way that is appropriate and user-friendly. Using Blend is like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. The biggest difference here is that it uses the same tools that developers use. Blend works together with project files, XAML files and JavaScript as well as Visual Studio. When a design is created and refined, there's no need for an integrated step to use it in Silverlight. Designers can see their design interaction with the same logic that developers put into a big project. Such a way helps designers and developers to work together better.

7. Silverlight distribution capability

Silverlight is distributed to a web browser in small pieces of programs. This means that in one or more packages (JavaScript files, assemblies, etc.), the design is provided by one or several packages (such as XAML files) and other resources are provided independently ( photos, fonts and videos). Early Silverlight developers, who are familiar with the distribution capabilities of a Flash file, do not like this issue.

In reality, however, it is completely different. Separated packages encourage creativity in server-side dynamic content more easily than what has been done in Flash today. It allows us to create compelling and dynamic XAML on the server, simply distributing it in the way we do with markup (eg HTML). Silverlight has a favorable condition for using Zip files to pack multiple files used by XAML code (images, videos, fonts, script files .) and download them effectively to the client.

8. What's new in Silverlight

Silverlight is really Microsoft's effort in this technology. This is indeed a technology that is not really mature yet with other products currently offered by other companies such as Adobe's Flash and Flex. Flash is currently in version 9.0 and this product has a long history of development, always leading in both popularity and abundance. However, that does not mean that Silverlight will not be able to catch up with Flash in this race. Microsoft has a knack for learning from the failures and successes of its predecessors (see Java and .NET). However, all problems are not certain from now on.

If you plan to create major alternative applications for workstation applications to control data, then there may be a lack of basic controls and data connectivity in Silverlight. Silverlight is not an alternative to forms of Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Java Applets or Sharepoint. It is simply designed to perform the tasks of enterprise flow applications. However, if you want to create rich applications that work on multiple platforms and operating systems, Silverlight is the right thing.

9. Silverlight XAML with WPF XAML

XAML can be said as a great advantage because Microsoft's WPF also uses XAML. Unfortunately, these advantages are not as appealing as what they have been thought of because WPF approval is still low and the differences between WPF XAML and Silverlight XAML.

First, witnesses show that WPF adoption rates are still relatively low in comparison with other client technologies such as Visual Basic 6 and .Net Windows Forms. Therefore, the fact that XAML has not really been strong in the past few years.

Second, Silverlight XAML is a simplified grammar compared to WPF XAML, so Silverlight XAML doesn't have much power. This is good and not good. Silverlight XAML is really easy to understand but if developers still compare to Silverlight from WPF, it seems to be insufficient.

In our opinion, smaller grammar is better for Silverlight, because runtime is it and has the ability to manage users. Silverlight XAML does not have anything unnecessary for manual tasks. Obviously it will be beneficial to build many functions in Silverlight XAML, but the current method is quite careful about the amount added to keep the application programming interface small and light.

10. Silverlight a great way to learn XAML

As seen from above, Silverlight's XAML has a relatively small grammar. This means it is a good way to learn how XAML works. Software developers who want to learn XAML and want to keep up with the speed of technology will understand the value of Silverlight with its bright and concise code creation. Most developers will soon think about the features they will like in Silverlight. When I started to look at WPF's XAML, they would see most of those features available in Silverlight,

In contrast, experts who start with WPF and choose Silverlight will need to give up some of the storage facilities in their preparation.

Now is the time to determine if using Silverlight in your Web strategy is correct. Silverlight is an interesting technology that benefits your company as well as customers and users. We hope this article can help you gain a deeper understanding of market documents and understand the true value and limitations of technology.