Are there any pitfalls to be aware of in deploying Silverlight files (XAP files) in a Java EE web application archive (war file) on Weblogic?
It works fine but seems a little unusual to do. For some achitecture related reasons, we are exploring this option for a project.
Until now, I have not myselft tried such an option, but I plan to use Silverlight with PHP in the future. It is not very different from Flash. You should however keep in mind that it is a Windows-oriented technology. Implementation on the Mac is supposedly the same as on windows however I find it much slower and much more fragile (it crashes A LOT while the windows counterpart never does). Implementation on Linux is FAR behind the Windows version.
Silverlight runs in the browser, so theoretically is as client-side as a JQuery script is. You can deploy it to any web server (apache eg: http://www.geoghana.com/blog/?p=53). You will be missing WCF and the integration between Silverlight and ASP.net, but this can be easily replaced with other technologies.
The thing that I am unsure about is the dev and debugging environment. This is probably the part you should investigate and test before committing. I am not sure whether you can debug your Silverlight app if it is integrated into a different web server (I doubt). You should especially find out how does Visual Studio development fit into your workflow and your tools... For example it may be that you need to develop it in IIS and only then deploy it to your webserver.
Related
We need to create an application that can be used via the browser but that can also be used while offline.
The browser Version will be used by our customer to do calculations. Each customer needs to log into the application with a username and Password.
The offline version will be used by our own employees. They need to be able to use this Version while not connected to a Network.
The data that is needed for the application will be stored in XML files.
We are mainly programming with C# and the .NET-Framework. We thought about using WPF for the client version.
I have read that you can use Silverlight or XBAP to create a browser Version of the WPF application. AFAIK Silverlight is a dying Technology. How about XBAP? Would you still invest into this Technology?
The other solution would be to create two front end applications: The WPF application as an offline application and a web application (e.g. ASP.NET MVC) as a web application. Thought, this would mean that we would have to create two frontends (more work).
Is there another alternative?
Would it be better to create an HTML/JavaScript application (e.g. with AngularJ or something similar)?
As a former Silverlight Developer I can only recommend not to use Silverlight for new application development. Microsoft has suspended the further development of Silverlight and you will not get any new features (only security fixes). I really liked the technology and the similarity to WPF but for me it is deprecated.
Even some Browsers (like Chrome) do not support Silverlight anymore and you need a workaround to get it running (See also Chrome doesn't support silverlight anymore? How to solve this?)
Develop a Backendsystem that provides a REST-API (using ASP.NET WebApi as an example) for your clients and develop a Browser client application using modern HTML/CSS/JavaScript Frameworks. If needed/required a desktop application using WPF that consumes the REST-API.
Silverlight may be dying, but that does not mean you should avoid using it. Silverlight is still a viable technology that you can use, however browser trends seem to be phasing out Silverlight support. As far as I know, Microsoft Edge browser is no longer supporting Silverlight, so you will need to use Internet Explorer. This isn't the end of the world, but it's something to think about.
As for WPF, this too is being replaced by Windows Universal Apps, albeit slowly. However this isn't too much of an issue as the skills you have learnt in WPF are easily transferrable. WPF itself is not receiving as many new features as it used to, you could say it's finished.
It isn't always easy to keep up with the latest trends, and there will always be something cool and hip just around the corner, however one thing is for sure, the .NET Platform, including the new refactored Universal App APIs are here to stay, and won't die any time soon.
The current trend sees Web Technologies, such as ASP.NET playing a much bigger role than traditional desktop/tablet/phone applications. I would say that developing for a web browser is certainly a popular choice.
That being said, Windows Universal Apps is also a good choice, in fact, any technology that makes use of the .NET Framework is ideal.
As for my recommendation, I would suggest looking into an ASP.NET web application or Web API to which a desktop application, such as WPF (still a viable technology for enterprise applications) or Universal Windows App can hook into. An ideal scenario would be that both applications share the same back-end code, which is certainly possible as they both use the .NET Framework.
For your requirements, it may even be possible to avoid having to create a desktop application altogether, a web application can be hosted on a machine on the local network and clients can still use the web app. This is assuming that these clients don't have internet access of course.
TL;DR: .NET is legit, use ASP.NET.
I'm planning web application and considering silverlight as development platform. Will it help to solve browser compatibility issues? The app intended to be used on desktops only (no mobile).
Yes, it will solve browser compatibility issues, and could work on both Mac OS and Windows with the very same code.
The only drawback is that, the first time your user connect to your application, he will need to download the Silverlight plugin.
Awesome you would say? Well, unfortunately some people that probably never try to do something like image processing or advanced line of business application in a browser decide that plugins are not so cool and that you would be able to do the same thing with the magic power of HTML5.
We are still waiting to have the same possibility in HTML5 that we have in Silverlight or Flash, but plugins are already dead. At least as long as no big compay want to push them again.
So, my advice would be: don't start a project in Silverlight. You will have problems, even if you do not target mobile. For example it becomes harder and harder to find compatible good tools (like ReSharper, NCrunch, or even just a decent unit testing library). And in further release of Windows and Mac OS, it will probably not be supported at all (IE for Windows RT already does not support Silverlight).
Sorry man, Silverlight is dead, you arrive after the battle.
If your developing your application for an Intranet, I would say Silverlight is an excellent choice.
If you are developing for the Internet, use an HTML based language
Looking for opinions. I'm working on a mid-sized 3-tier ASP.NET project (.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005) with an Oracle on Unix back-end, some beefy MS web servers, and IE browser clients. Performance is pretty bad, and users feel the UI looks outdated as well. We may have an opportunity soon to redesign and rewrite the entire application from the ground up, and I'm wondering what the current or recommended MS platform is.
I was involved with WPF and Silverlight on a different contract when MS downgraded support for Silverlight in favor of "HTML5" for Windows 8 and Windows Phone a few years back. I'm not trying to start a flame war between how long Silverlight or even WPF will be around, but I'm looking for some modern alternatives as of today, April 2013. The one requirement we can't get around is that we can't install something on each and every user PC throughout the client organization.
My own background is in WinForms and C# more so than any of the above, but everywhere I turn it seems developing any new LOB apps in WinForms isn't done much anymore.
Whatever happened to the Application Server platform and apps run thru Remote Desktop? Does it still make sense to develop desktop apps and deploy to app servers and just put a shortcut on each user's desktop, or even map a drive letter like we used to do back in the day?
Your $0.02 would be appreciated!
I would definitely consider doing it as an internal web site.
The UI would be HTML5 using the "single page application" (SPA) for each function you need. Each function would be on a page that is loaded when the user needs it. The javascript/ajax code in the browser would interact with the web server which feeds back the raw data needed to be displayed.
Using Active Directory, you can have full security and customization per person.
If you need lots of interactivity, then you'd also want to consider including SignalR in the mix. (That is one of the "new" MS tools!)
If you can't install anything in the end users' PCs then go ASP.Net. Anything else will require installation.
You can make a web application more appealing to the users by having a good designer and a LOT of javascript. Not remotely comparable to the power and beauty of WPF, but that's your best bet.
WPF is part of the .Net framework and will not run without it installed.
Silverlight could also be an option, but it still requires an installation (although minimal, 4 MB, less-than-2 minute install), but an install anyways.
WinRT only works in Windows 8. It's not supported in lower versions (Vista, XP, 7). So I don't think it's an option as of now (unless all your users have Windows 8, of course).
And no, winforms is not an option. It's also part of the .Net framework, and even if you could get it installed, it doesn't make any sense having to deal with the limitations of it, having many much much better technologies at your disposal.
This question already has answers here:
Why change from WPF to Silverlight 4?
(8 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
If I understand correctly, Microsoft Silverlight is a lightweight .NET implementation meant to run on the client side, inside a browser. So now I hear about "out of browser" silverlight applications and I'm confused.
What is the advantage of an "out of browser" silverlight application, compared to a traditional .NET desktop application?
An out-of-browser install of a Silverlight application still runs in a security sandbox where as a traditional .NET desktop application won't.
The objective of an OOB is to give the user the ability to lift a web-based application out of its browser container and make it easier to access. Its still a web based application. Its worth bearing in mind that this works on a Mac where as a traditional .NET desktop app won't.
This area has become muddier with SL4 OOB that can now ask the user for elevated trust. Now the sandbox is more relaxed and there are greater opportunities to work with the native OS. However there are still many restrictions in place primarily to support multi-platforms. It would not be desirable if it became a defacto that trusted OOBs tend only to work on Windows. It remains to be seen whether that can be avoided.
So if you're thinking of a full-fledge Windows desktop app then you're probably better off using WPF. On the other hand if you don't need full access to the OS, you can deliver via a web page and/or you want to be able run on both Windows and Macs (and possibly other platforms) then perhaps Silverlight 4 OOB+Elevated Trust may be what you need.
Silverlight 3 out-of-browser apps allow any Silverlight app to have a desktop shortcut, and don't require the browser to be opened to run the app (so technically you could now run the app even if you're offline, since you don't have to fetch the SL app via the web).
With SL 4, you can now have elevated privileges, allowing the SL app to access local resources (such as the network stack and file system).
There's also a simple API call for an out-of-browser SL app to check for updates on startup, and download an update from the server. This could be seen as similar to click-once deployment, but it happens automatically and quickly, so it's more efficient and straightforward than click-once.
Compared to a traditional .NET app (in this case let's compare with WPF, since that's effectively the WinForms replacement), there's very little in the way of installation. No setup program, just the xap file, easily hosted on the web and very quickly installable. SL uses a reduced .NET framework, which might seem like a negative. However, the typical pattern for an SL app is to put most of the heavy-lifting in a service tier. Then, in the service tier you have the full .NET framework and can do pretty much whatever you want (such as accessing databases with ADO.NET).
Libraries are another thing to consider between the two applications. For example, Silverlight 4 natively has built in support for talking to a web-camera and microphone out of the box while WPF and the full .net Framework have a very large third party community of libraries to draw upon which you might need source code for if you wish to rebuild them under Silverlight.
Another factor is limitations in the sandbox, for example, you wouldn't be able to write an application that could connect to any server using any socket in Silverlight 4.
Our company has a handful of Mac users. I recently built a Winform application and now my main user is using a Mac. Is it possible to run this application on a Mac? What would have to be done to convert it? If it is too much, I may just rebuild it is asp.net as a web application.
Thanks in advance!
JCC
Maybe. Many .Net programs can be compiled with mono as well, winforms usually is not a problem, but some libraries (e. g. MS Office libraries for editing Excel files). I am not sure about VB, as mono coders mostly use C#, but you can analyse your code with the Mono Migration Analyzer for portability to mono.
Depending a bit on features and controls used, it may run on Mono. Since you can run Mono on Windows as well it's rather easy to download and test it.
Your basic options are (from least intrusive to most intrusive, from the point of view of a Mac user):
Convert it to a web app.
Run it on a Terminal Server and have them use Remote Desktop.
Run the application in a virtual machine (VMWare or Parallels) that is running Windows.
Try to get it running under Mono.
If there isn’t a strong reason for it to be a desktop application, you really should be thinking in terms of web apps for new applications—at least, that’s an unwritten rule where I work.