I just started a new job where I need to do a new development in Silverlight technology. The existing application is an ASP.NET and GIS application.
What version of Silverlight is recommended to use?
I don't have any experience using Silverlight, please suggest me a good place to start -- Tutorials / Blogs/ resources...
If you are using ArcGIS, then you should use Silverlight 4. The current version of the Esri Silverlight SDK is version 2.4. It is built on top of Silverlight 4. If you are using ArcGIS 10.1, then you can use version 3.0. The current version (beta) of 3.0 is also built on Silverlight 4, but they were talking about building it on Silverlight 5.
Silverlight 5 would be the best bet. You can get lots of tutorials over at http://silverlight.net.
This,this and this are very good and knowledegeable for starters.
This shows many samples of the silverlight controls with source codes.
This shows different practical uses of silverlight with source codes!
If you come across any other queries while development, you can post a question and get suggestions here, on StackOverflow very easily.! :)
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I just found out that, Sonar does not support Silverlight 5, but it does support Silverlight 4. I thought, if I can take a look at Sl4 plugin code and I might able to add Silverlight 5 support. I was going through plugin library but I can't find where is the SL4 plug in code. Could someone point me to where is it hosted and any direction in adding support for SL5. If the work is already in progress, how do I go about help on this project.
Thanks a lot.
The support of Silverlight is implemented in the .Net Core Plugin of the .Net & C# Plugins Ecosystem.
Adding support for SL5 should be quite easy and should be only located on the DotNetConstants class.
If you manage to do what you want, feel free to open a pull request on the projet! :-)
At my job we are developing a GIS application which will be developed using Silverlight + .NET
But, I heard that Silverlight will not be supported by Microsoft as also they are stopping Silverlight, is it true ?
Is it suggestable to use Silverlight if so with which version of silverlight we can use. ?
Thanks.,
Use Silverlight 5. Current version have 10 year support, and it better than Flash, java or damn it html.
In the future you can migrate to another .NET-based framework by easily porting code.
About silver light support, you can find these answers from Microsoft Silverlight Support Lifecycle Policy.
Keeping in mind that MS would support these browsers till 2021, I would recommend using Silverlight5 if you really have to use Silverlight.
However for new developments I would recommend you to evaluate Html5 as well.
YES! Silverlight is still the best technology to use for web based Line of Business applications. Silverlight will be supported for another 10 years and it will be available within Windows 8 desktop. Silverlight +[Arc]GIS are a great combination. It is so easy to create full functioning application and with little effort. Silverlight is not dead. It is still a great technology to use that is available on (almost) every platform.
Ultimately it comes down to:
1) What do you know: Are you an HTML/JavaScript ninja? Then use that, do you know Flex better then your own children? Or are you a skilled .Net assassin?
2) How much time do you have? Do you want to learn something new and have gobs of time? Then go for that new shiny object (HTML5) and get yourself some street cred.
This probably belongs on programmers.stackexchange.com. However:
Silverlight will continue to be supported for some time, but all signs point to it no longer being actively developed.
If you want a technology that's actively developed, I'd recommend HTML 5 for web based applications and WinRT for Windows 8+ native applications.
Ultimately, though, you should go with what works best for your situation. After all, WinForms is still used on many successful greenfield projects.
Silverlight is based on the NPAPI architecture that is no longer supported on Google Chrome (from browser version 42 upward) though you can still run it on IE and Firefox. HTML5 is supported on all browsers.
From a career standpoint, using Silverlight (which uses XAML) gets you an easier entry into developing apps for Metro/Windows Store/Universal Windows Apps (these can be developed using HTML5/JS too but you'll find a larger developer base using C#/XAML).
Finally if you're already a WPF developer, it's fastest if you develop for Silverlight. See Silverlight vs Flash vs HTML5.
I'm a developer with WPF experiences, my next project will use Silverlight. I have read some articles on the internet (almost all msdn and silverlight.net) and I think that they aren't much different. Anyway, I still have questions that I'm not sure.
What is different between WPF 4 and Silverlight 4? (I found an article on msdn but its based on .NET framework 3.5)
Are there any resources for learning Silverlight that are good for experience WPF developer?
Do I need a book on Silverlight?
I personally really like the course posted here:
http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/Silverlight4/
I don't know what you intend to develop using Silverlight. But it's a good start if you like to develop business applications using Silverlight.
WPF has hardware-accelerated full faceted 3D support
WPF has direct access to the full .NET framework
WPF can take full advantage of the hardware on the system.
Silverlight allows you to create a single app that works across browsers, operating systems.
You can use Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 development
For Books, I would recommend Silverlight Recipes and Microsoft Silverlight 4 Data and Services Cookbook.
Having never written a production quality Silverlight app, I am looking to find a quality open source reference application for Silverlight 3.0 (Silverlight 4.0 is no good as I have VS2008) to help learn Silverlight.
Ideally I'd like to see:
a line of business application, in the client-server tradition.
SQL Server back end
no use of 3rd party libraries like PRISM or CSLA as I would like to see how the core Silverlight technologies work.
I realise there are plenty of open source projects on Codeplex, but struggled to find any classic line of business apps there.
This is a really good one:
http://timecard.codeplex.com/
The following does use Prism, but you can learn a lot from it. It even shows localization:
http://happynet.codeplex.com/
In all honesty, get yourself upgraded to VS 2010. If you are serious about becoming a professional in Silverlight development, version 4 has the most bang-for-your-buck.
Not all the newer technologies are supported for Silverlight 3 and all the latest cool tutorials and project examples tend to be in VS2010/SL4.
You also should not ignore patterns like MVVM and libraries like Prism & MEF as they are rapidly becoming commonplace for Silverlight projects. There is more danger of you getting into Win-forms-style bad habits if you use a Win-forms style approach to Silverlight at first.
Here is a simple explanation of MVVM for Silverlight:
http://openlightgroup.net/Blog/tabid/58/EntryId/89/Silverlight-View-Model-Style-An-Overly-Simplified-Explanation.aspx
These videos are a good introduction to creating/understanding Prism-based projects, specifically for Silverlight:
http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/mtaulty/Prism--Silverlight-Part-1-Taking-Sketched-Code-Towards-Unity/
It includes him building an Outlook-style application using prism (with full source provided).
The codeplex project, full source and documents etc, for Prism and soon MEF is here:
http://compositewpf.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Getting%20Started&referringTitle=Home
Prism was created by Microsoft and will soon have a final release of version 4 (including MEF).
For any silverlight fanatics out there, I was wanting to ask what type of new features does Silverlight 4.0 have compared to Silverlight 1.0 ? I am a Silverlight newbie and need to get that skillset accquired.
Look at this table on the official site which compares every version of Silverlight.
Wow that is a loaded question. I would suggest that you do some reading or watch some videos. Here is a link to some Silverlight 4.0 videos that should get you going http://www.silverlight.net/learn/videos/silverlight-4-videos/. Silverlight has come a very long way since version 1.0. I started with version 1.0 and its awesome to see how far the platform has come in such a short period of time.
Good luck and happy programming.
I'd start at http://www.silverlight.net/
You'd also need to check out what was new in Silverlight 2 (Dr Dobbs article) and Silverlight 3 before checking out what's new in Silverlight 4 as each has built on the previous version