Beginning Silverlight 4 in C# (eBook)

Robert Lair is the president and chief executive officer of Intensity Software, Inc. and has been working with Microsoft .NET technologies since prior to its initial release in 2000. Among his accomplishments, Robert was on the team that created the original ASP.NET sample application IBuySpy, used to demonstrate the power of ASP.NET. Robert is an active speaker and writer in the development community.

Title Page 
1 
Copyright Page 
2 
Contents at a Glance 4
Table of Contents 
6 
About the Author 15
About the Technical Reviewer 16
Acknowledgments 17
Introduction 18
Who Should Read This Book 
18 
How This Book Is Organized 
18 
CHAPTER 1 Welcome to Silverlight 4 20
The Evolution of the Use I 
20 
Rich Internet Application Solutions 
23 
What Is Silver light? 
23 
Benefits of Silverlight 
24 
Cross-Platform/Cross-Browser Support 
25 
Cross-Platform Version of the .NET Framework 
25 
Use of Familiar Technologies 
26 
Small Runtime and Simple Deployment 
26 
The Silverlight Development Environment 
27 
New Features in Silverlight 4 
29 
Improved Performance 
30 
Summary 
30 
CHAPTER 2 Introduction to Visual Studio 2010 31
What Is Visual Studio? 
31 
What's New in Visual Studio 2010? 
32 
Support for Multiple Monitors 
32 
Zoom Support for Source Edior 
33 
Improved IntelliSense 
34 
Add References Performance 
35 
Reference Highlighting 
36 
Box Selection 
37 
Call Hierachy Window 
38 
Code Generation 
39 
Extension Manager 
39 
Building Your First Silverlight Application in Visual Studio 
40 
Try It Out: Hello World in Silverlight 4 
40 
Hosting Your Silverlight Application: Web Site or Web Application? 
44 
Using a Visual Studio Web Site 45
Using a Visual Studio Web Application Profect 
45 
Summary 
46 
CHAPTER 3 Layout Management in Silverlight 47
Layout Management 
47 
The Canvas Panel 
48 
Try It Out: Using the Canvas Panel 
49 
Filling the Entire Browser Window with Your Application 
53 
The StackPanel Control 
54 
Try It Out: Using the StackPanel Control 
54 
Try It Out: Nesting StackPanel Controls 
57 
The Grid Control 
59 
Try It Out: Using the Grid Control 
60 
Try It Out: Nesting a Grid and Spanning a Column 64
The WrapPanel Control 
68 
Try It Out: Using the WrapPanel Control 
69 
The DockPanel Control 
73 
Try It Out: Using the DockPanel Control 
73 
Summary 
76 
CHAPTER 4 Silverlight Controls 77
Setting Control Properties 77
Attribute Syntax 
77 
Element Syntax 
78 
Type-Converter-Enabled Attributes 
78 
Attached Properties 
78 
Nesting Controls Within Controls 
79 
Handling Events in Silverlight 
80 
Try It Out: Declaring an Event in XAML 
81 
Try It Out: Declaring an Event Handler in Managed Code 
85 
The Border Control 
89 
User Input Controls 
93 
Try It Out: Working with the TextBox Control 
93 
Try It Out: Working with the RadioButton and CheckBox Controls 
97 
Extended Controls 
100 
Adding an Extended Control 
100 
Try It Out: Using the GridSplitter 
101 
Summary 
104 
CHAPTER 5 Data Binding and Silverlight List Controls 105
Data Binding 
105 
The Binding Class 
106 
Try It Out: Simple Data Binding in Silverlight 
106 
Element to Elemet Binding 
115 
Try It Out: Element to Element Binding 
115 
The DataGird Control 117
Try It Out: Building a Simple DataGrid 
118 
The Columns Collection 
123 
DataGridTextColumn 
124 
DataGridCheckBoxColumn 
125 
DataGridTemplateColumn 
125 
Try It Out: Building a DataGrid with Custom Columns 
126 
The ListBox Control 
132 
Default and Custom ListBox Items 
132 
Try It Out: Building a ListBox with Custom Content 
134 
New Data Binding Features in Silverlight 4 
136 
Data Binding and String Formatting 
136 
TargetnullValue and FallBackValue Extensions 
138 
Summary 
139 
CHAPTER 6 Silverlight Toolkit 140
Overview of the Silverlight Toolkit 
140 
Installing the Toolkit 
142 
Toolkit Controls 
143 
Accordion 
143 
Try It Out: Working with the Accordion Control 
144 
AutoCompleteBox 
149 
TabControl 
151 
ViewBox 
152 
Modal Windows 
154 
Try It Out: Using the Modal Child Window 
155 
Summary 
165 
CHAPTER 7 Data Access and Networking 166
Data Access in Silverlight Applications 
166 
Accessing Data Through Web Services 
167 
Try It Out: Accessing Data Through a WCF Service 
167 
Accessing Services from Other Domains 
178 
Accessing Data Through Sockets 
179 
Summary 181
CHAPTER 8 Navigation Framework 182
Frame and Page Object 
182 
Try It Out: Creating a Silverlight Navigation Application 
183 
Benefits of the Navigation Framework 
192 
Deep Linking 
192 
The NavigationService Object 
193 
Try It Out: Using the NavigationService Object 
194 
Passing Data to Navigation Pages 
196 
Try It Out: Passing Data to Navigation Pages 
196 
Uri Mapping 
200 
Try It Out: Uri Mapping and the Navigation Framework 
200 
Silverlight navigation Application Template 
203 
Try It Out: Using the Silverlight Navigation Application Template 
203 
Using MultiPle Frames 
207 
Try It Out: Using Multiple Frames 
207 
Summary 
209 
CHAPTER 9 Isolated Storage in Silverlight 210
Working With Isolated Storage 
210 
Using the Isolated Storage API 
211 
IsolatedStorageFile 
211 
IsolatedStorageFileStream 
211 
IsolatedStorageSettings 
212 
Try It Out: Creating a File Explorer for Isolated Storage 
213 
Creating the Application Layout 
214 
Coding the File Explorer 
224 
Testing the File Explorer 
233 
Managing Isolated Storage 
235 
View and Clearing Isolated Storage 
235 
Try It Out: Increasing the Isolated Storage Quota 
236 
Summary 
239 
CHAPTER 10 System Integration and Device Support 240
Notification (Toast) API 
240 
Try It Out: Implementing Toast Notifications. 
240 
Webcam/Microphone Access 
246 
Try It Out: Accessing a User's Web Camera and Microphone 
247 
Working with Captured Streams 
252 
COM Interoperability 
252 
Try It Out: Executing an EXE 
253 
Dropping Files on a Silverlight Application 
257 
Drop Event 
257 
Try It Out: Enabling an Application As a Drop Target 
257 
Summary 
260 
CHAPTER 11 Introduction to Expression Blend 261
Key Features in Expression Blend 
261 
Visual XAML Edior 
262 
Visual Studio 2010 Integration 
262 
Splip-View Mode 
262 
Visual State Manager and Template Editing Support 
263 
Word-Class Timeline 
263 
Try In Out: Working with Projects in Expression Blend 
264 
Exploring the Workspace 
268 
Tollbox 
268 
Project Panel 
270 
Properties Panel 270
Objects and Timeline Panel 
271 
Laying Out an Application with Expression Blend 
271 
Working with the Grid Control in Expression Blend 
271 
Try It Out: Editing a Layout Grid with Expression Blend 
272 
Summary 
278 
CHAPTER 12 Styling in Silverlight 279
Inline Properties 
279 
Try It Out: Setting Inline Properties with Visual Studio 
279 
Try It Out: Setting Inline Properties with Expression Blend 
287 
Silverlight Styles 
296 
Try It Outl: Using Styles As Static Resources 
297 
Defining Styles at the Application Level 
305 
Merged Resource Dictionaries 
306 
Silverlight Style Hierarchy 
308 
Inheriting Styles Using BasedOn 
309 
Implicit Styles 
310 
Summary 
312 
CHAPTER 13 Transformations and Animation 313
Introduction to Silverlight Animation 
313 
Silverlight Storyboards 
314 
Types of Animations in Silverlight 
315 
Programmatically Controlling Animations 
317 
Using Expression Blend to Create Animations 
319 
Viewing a Storyboard in the Expression Blend Timeline 
320 
Try It Out: Creating an Animation with Expression Blend 
320 
Creating Transformations in Silverlight 
328 
Transformation Types 
329 
ScaleTransform 
329 
SkewTransform 
330 
RotateTransform 
330 
TranslateTrasform 
330 
Try It Out: Using Expression Blend to Transform Silverlight Objects 
331 
Summary 
335 
CHAPTER 14 Custom Controls 336
When to Write Custom Controls 
336 
Silverlight Control Model 
337 
Parts and States Model 
337 
Dependency Properties 
338 
Creating Custom Controls in Silverlight 
339 
Implementing Custom Functionality 
339 
Try It Out: Building a Custom Control 
339 
Setting Up the Control Project 
340 
Defining Properties and States 
342 
Defining the Control's Appearance 
345 
Handling Control Events 
349 
Compiling and Testing the Control 
354 
Summary 
356 
CHAPTER 15 Printing in Silverlight 357
The Printing API 
357 
Try It Out: Implementing Simple Printing 
357 
Printing Custom Content 
365 
Try It Out: Implementing a Custom Print 
365 
Additional Printing Customization 
368 
Try It Out: Handling the BeginPrint and EndPrint Events 
368 
Summary 
371 
CHAPTER 16 Deployment 372
Deploying Silverlight Applications 
372 
XAP Files 
372 
Hosting Silverlight Content 
372 
Application Library Caching 
373 
Try It Out: Exploring Assembly Caching 
374 
Full Screen Pinning 
377 
Out of Browser Support 
378 
Customizing the Install Application Dialog 
380 
Out of Browser API 
382 
Removing Installed Applications 383
Elevated Trust Applications 
384 
Summary 
387 
Index 388