Silver light Development

Microsoft Silver light


Microsoft Silver light is a web application framework that provides functionalities similar to those in Adobe Flash, integrating multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime environment. Initially released as a video streaming plugin, later versions brought additional interactivity features and support for List of CLI languages and development tools. The current version, 3.0, was released on July 9, 2009.



Silver light provides a retained mode graphics system similar to Windows Presentation Foundation, and integrates multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime environment. In Silver light applications, user interfaces are declared in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) and programmed using a subset of the .NET Framework. XAML can be used for marking up the vector graphics and animations. Silver light sites or regions of sites are not searchable and index able by search engines so duplicate html content must be sent to search engine robots if site content is to be indexed. (This same html is also sent to users without Silver light installed). This is because there is no Silver light version of the Flash Headless Player for search engines which enables search engines like Google and Yahoo to index Flash content. Silver light can also be used to create Windows Sidebar gadgets for Windows Vista.



Silver light applications can be written in any .NET programming language. As such, any development tools which can be used with .NET languages can work with Silver light, provided they can target the Silver light CoreCLR for hosting the application, instead of the .NET Framework CLR. Microsoft has positioned Microsoft Expression Blend versions 2 and 2 SP1 for designing the UI of Silver light 1.0 and 2 applications respectively. Visual Studio 2008 can be used to develop and debug Silver light applications. To create Silver light projects and let the compiler target CoreCLR, Visual Studio 2008 requires the Silver light Tools for Visual Studio.



A Silver light project contains the Silverlight.js and CreateSilverlight.js files which initializes the Silver light plugin for use in HTML pages, a XAML file for the UI, and code-behind files for the application code. Silver light applications are debugged in a manner similar to ASP.NET applications. Visual Studio's CLR Remote Cross Platform Debugging feature can be used to debug Silver light applications running on a different platform as well.



In conjunction with the release of Silver light 2, Eclipse was added as a development tool option.



California and several other U.S. states also have asked a District Judge to extend most of Microsoft's antitrust case settlement for another five years, citing "a number of concerns, including the fear that Microsoft could use the next version of Windows to 'tilt the playing field' toward Silver light, its new Adobe Flash competitor," says a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article. The final judgment on the motion extended the settlement two years, to November 2009, but for reasons unrelated to Silver light. In Windows 7 the Silver light Web browser plugin is not installed automatically, but is a downloadable optional update through Windows update.



Microsoft has been criticized for not using the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) standard for Silver light, which, according to Ryan Paul of Ars Technical, is consistent with Microsoft's ignoring of open standards in other products, as well. However, according to David Betz, a .NET specialist and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), while it "seems to some to be a valid criticism and a good point to some of the web standards world, it is absolutely groundless and carries no weight." Microsoft would have had to alter the SVG specification in order to integrate it with .NET. Consequently, he thinks the "choice by Microsoft to use XAML over SVG, served to retain the SVG standard by not adding proprietary technology (to SVG)".