Murad Silverlight

RSS News Using Panorama and Pivot Control

2010-10-12T19:38:00.001+08:00

Hi dude,

Today I would like to share my latest demos using Windows Phone. I decided to show a comparison between panorama control and pivot control. So I created a simple rss news project to demonstrate this.

Update to Silverlight 4 GDR1

2010-09-03T20:25:00.001+08:00

Silverlight 4 GDR 1 is now available! This version fixes several issues including data template memory issues and compatibility with Visual Studio LightSwitch.

Today we released an update to Silverlight 4 (update build is 4.0.50826.0) along with an updated SDK. We appreciate our customers’ patience on working with us to help identify and verify necessary updates to this service release. You can find all the details in KB2164913. Here are the relevant highlights:

SDK feature to enable Add New Row capabilities in DataGrid control
Improving startup performance of Silverlight applications
Adding mouse wheel support for out-of-browser applications on the Mac platform
Various media-related fixes around DRM content
Fixed memory leak when MouseCapture is used
Fixed memory leak for DataTemplate usage

All the installer links have been updated to leverage these new bits for our customers.

For end users

For end users, having them simply install the runtime will provide them with the updated bits and benefits of the fixes/features in this service release.

For Developers

If you are a developer and authoring Silverlight applications you may want to grab the new developer bits and updated SDK:

I would install the developer build first and then the SDK and you’ll have a refreshed environment. As with any release we try to get you the information as soon as possible and sometimes the information flows faster than the download servers replicate. If you aren’t getting the updated bits using the links above, please be patient as the download servers from Microsoft refresh their replication caches.

Note that when you now create a new project you’ll be using the new SDK and so the minRuntimeVersion (see above) of the project templates as well as compiled bits for your SL4 application will be using/requiring the updated runtime.

There are NO Visual Studio tools updates for this release so the Silverlight4_Tools.exe package is not needed to re-install.

For Visual Studio LightSwitch Users

When Visual Studio LightSwitch shipped they included a pre-release later build of Silverlight 4. This caused some issues for customers who were using a single machine to evaluate LightSwitch but also using the same machine. Any Silverlight 4 application developed and deployed would give customers messages indicating that they needed a later version of Silverlight, but were unable to acquire a compatible version!

This is now solved with this service release. Simply put: If you are using LightSwitch, install the updated developer runtime and SDK. This will solve this issue and allow you to develop LightSwitch applications as well as production Silverlight 4 applications.

source : http://bit.ly/aT5wqM

SilverDudde Weather

2010-06-16T00:51:00.003+08:00

Checkout my new nice and cool weather showcase. Available at http://bit.ly/bhk594

Using Silverlight 4 technology and designed using Expression Blend 4.

Sunny

Cloudy

Raining

Storm

SilverDudde Fluid Demo

2010-05-27T02:44:00.001+08:00

Checkout my latest silverlight showcase demo using FluidMoveBehaviour in Silverlight 4.

Feel free to navigate to www.silverlight.net/showcase to see the demo. Its under Geography : Malaysia

SilverDude Toolkit for Silverlight

2010-05-21T10:16:00.005+08:00

SilverDude Toolkit for Silverlight contains a collection of silverlight controls making life easier for developers. You'll no longer have to worry anymore because these controls will help you guys save your time. It's developed in C# for Silverlight 3.

Main Project Page or go here http://silverdudetoolkitsl.codeplex.com/

Source Code

Controls included : -

1. WaitIndicator

WaitIndicator is used while waiting a process to complete, a kind of loading progress concept.

Properties : WaitLoadingColor, WaitBackgroundColor
Methods : Start(), Stop()

Usage

XAML

 void MyAsynchronousCall()
{
wait.Start();
/* Do somethig here to make async call */
}

void MyCompletedAsynchronousCall()
{
wait.Stop();
/* Do something here to process the result data */
}

Live Demo WaitIndicator

2. GlowButton

Glow Button features a new and unique mouse over effect

Properties : GlowText, GlowTextColor, GlowColor
Event(s) : Click

Usage

XAML

public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();      
glowbtn.Click += new SL.SilverDude.Toolkit.GlowButton.ClickHandler(glowbtn_Clicked);       
}

private void glowbtn_Clicked()
{
/* Do something here */
}

Live Demo GlowButton

3. PagingPanel

Paging panel is used to allow user to navigate item in with paging feature.

Properties : PagingTextColor, PagingButtonColor
Methods : InitPaging()

Usage

XAML

for (int i = 0; i < content = "Hello" controltovalidate =" sp;" itemperpage =" 5;">
Live Demo  PagingPanel

4. SlidingPanel
 

Sliding   Panel is used to allow user to navigate item in an interactive manner.

Properties   : SlidingButtonColor
Methods : InitSliding()

Usage

XAML


C#
for (int i = 0; i < width =" 150," height =" 225">
Live Demo  SlidingPanel

5. SmartTextBox
 

SmartTextBox   is a universal textbox which combines a few features like normal  textbox, password textbox and
textbox with search button.

Properties   : SmartText, SmartThemeColor, SearchEnabled, PasswordBox
Events     :  ResetClick, SearchClick

Usage

Normal  SmartTextBox
XAML
 


PasswordBox  SmartTextBox
XAML
 


Search  Enable SmartTextBox
XAML
 

C#
//Need to subscribe the SearchClick event              
sch.SearchClick += new SL.SilverDude.Toolkit.SmartTextBox.SearchClickHandler(sch_SearchClick);

void sch_SearchClick(string text)
{
/* Do something here */
}

LIve Demo  SmartTextBox

6. PopupMessageBox
 

PopupMessageBox   is used to display  a popup message in your application.

Properties   : PopupMessageIcon, PopupBackgroundColor, PopupMessageType,  PopupButtonGlowColor
Methods   : Show()
Events       :  OkButtonClick, YesButtonClick, NoButtonClick, CancelButtonClick,  RefreshButtonClick

Usage

XAML


There  a a few options for PopupMessageType :
OK,  YesNo, YesCancel, OkCancel, Refresh

There a a few  options for PopupMessageIcon :
Exclamation, Information,  Question, Error, Success, None

C#
popupmsg.Show("Hello Murad");


Live Demo  PopupMessageBox

Microsoft releases Silverlight-powered Windows Intune beta

2010-05-05T17:41:00.000+08:00

Microsoft recently released a beta of Windows Intune, a Silverlight powered Web console for midsize businesses to manage their PCs.

Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7 in order to make computers and users operate at peak performance, from virtually anywhere. Windows Intune is a comprehensive solution that includes PC management, malware protection, Windows upgrades, and more. Customers can use the Windows Intune cloud service beta to:

Manage updates
Protect PCs from malware
Proactively monitor PCs
Provide remote assistance
Track hardware & software inventory
Set security policies

You can read more about Windows Intune here: http://www.microsoft.com/online/windows-intune.mspx

source : http://bit.ly/cWXGrg

Getting Started with Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 Development

2010-03-29T18:52:00.000+08:00

Silverlight IS the platform for Windows Phone 7 Series development!

Sweet. We also made available an update to Silverlight 4 that you might be interested in too!

You may be wondering how you get started. If you are new to Silverlight, I recommend getting familiar with Silverlight first. You can find all the tools you will need at the Silverlight community site. In addition to the core tools you’ll want to get the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP. This will add to your Visual Studio 2010 installation (or install Visual Studio Express) to enable Windows Phone and XNA Game Studio development. Be sure to read the documentation on the release notes to understand any limitations. A link to the tools, documentation, developer/UX guides and more can be found on the Silverlight for Windows Phone page. The key elements you’d want to get are:

Windows Phone developer tools CTP (read the release notes)
Expression Blend 4 add-on for Windows Phone (Christian Schormann’s blog)

I’ve also taken some quick time to get some quick videos up for some tips and familiarity with the tools and some initial areas you’ll want to take a look at. Here are some starting videos for you:

The getting started video has some quick tips and tricks about the emulator and using the keyboard input control (referred to as the ‘SIP’). I suggest taking a look at these for some primer. If you have questions afterwards, check out the dedicated forum for Silverlight for Windows Phone.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/get-started-with-silverlight-for-windows-phone.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - WCF RIA Services Toolkit

2010-03-29T18:39:00.001+08:00

If you read above you’ll know that installing the Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio also automatically installs the WCF RIA Services framework for you. This release the RIA Services team also has a toolkit of their own. After installing the RIA Services Toolkit you’ll get:

LinqToSql DomainService
SOAP endpoint – enabling exposing a SOAP endpoint for your DomainService
JSON endpoint – enabling exposing a JSON endpoint for your DomainService
ASP.NET DomainDataSource – enabling your ASP.NET application to talk to your DomainService

This is a separate install that you must complete. For more details on this toolkit, visit Deepesh’s blog.

If you aren’t familiar with WCF RIA Services, you can view an introductory video here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - SLLauncher silent installs

2010-03-29T18:38:00.000+08:00

One of the features we added in this release was using the sllauncher.exe (which is the program that assists in out-of-browser applications) to provide silent install capabilities for your applications. The primary scenario here would be something like CD-based installation situations. Using a command like this:

   1: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Silverlight\sllauncher.exe"

   2:     /install:"D:\deploy\demoapp.xap"

   3:     /origin:"http://foocompany.com/apps/ClientBin/demoapp.xap"

   4:     /shortcut:desktop+startmenu

   5:     /overwrite

would enable you to deploy an application in this type of a situation. Setting the origin flag here enables the application to determine where it would get future updates from if CheckAndDownloadUpdateAsync methods are called within the application.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - Pinned full-screen mode

2010-03-29T18:37:00.002+08:00

Are you a developer with multiple monitor setup? I’m jealous. If you’ve used silverlight you’ve no doubt run into a situation where you’ve put something in full-screen on one monitor and anticipated being able to work on other stuff in the other monitor. Maybe you’re watching a Netflix movie while working? You’ve likely experienced the issue that the full-screen mode goes back to regular when activity occurs in the second monitor.

We’ve changed that to enable the developer to prompt for permission to 'pin’ the Silverlight application to the monitor. This will prompt the consent dialog option (with preference remembering) to get the user’s permission. The code is extremely simple:

   1: App.Current.Host.Content.FullScreenOptions = System.Windows.Interop.FullScreenOptions.StaysFullScreenWhenUnfocused;

Once that is implemented, the full-screen application will remain pinned until the user hits ESC key or until you change the IsFullScreen mode in the code for them.

You can view a video on using the full-screen pinning mode here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - XAP Signing for trusted applications

2010-03-29T18:37:00.001+08:00

We think trusted applications (or elevated privileges applications) will be a widely used feature for this release. We changed the install prompt dialog for trusted applications. These are different dialogs than the typical out-of-browser install prompt as we need the user to have more information provided about them. One key feature of a trusted application is the ability to code-sign the XAP file. Here’s a trusted application install prompt from an un-signed application:

Windows:

Mac OSX:

And here is one from a code-signed one:

Windows:

Mac OSX:

Which would you feel more comfortable installing? Notice that in signed applications your custom icon will show as well (even if you have the icon settings set up, if the app is unsigned they will not show). The process of code signing is very simple and although I expect the tooling for Silverlight to improve on this, it is as simple as adding a post-build event task (or a task for automated builds) that uses the signtool.exe (installed with Visual Studio) to sign the XAP. Here’s my post-build event task:

   1: "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\signtool.exe" sign /v

   2:     /f c:\users\timheuer\documents\authenticode\timheuer.pfx

   3:     /p "MYPASSWORD"

   4:     /t TIMESTAMP_URI_FROM_PROVIDER $(TargetName).xap

The PFX file is an exported certificate with my private key and password protected. You can acquire code-signing certificates (normal Authenticode ones) from providers. We were thankful to get assistance in testing this feature from the following providers who can provide you code-signing certificates for your organization:

All of the above provide Authenticode code-signing certificates and are trusted certificate authorities (CA) on Windows. A trusted CA means that their root certificates are already a part of Windows verification. The process of obtaining one is not instant so plan ahead. There is a specific organizational verification process that occurs which may require documentation of proof of the organization and a few phone calls. Once you have these certificates you will be on your way to providing even more trusted applications to your users.

NOTE: Thawte code-signing certificate requests should be made from a Windows XP machine as their current process does not support Windows Vista or Windows 7. If you use Vista/7 you will not be able to export to a PFX file for automated build or to have your certificate stored on other machines. Read each instructions carefully.

You can also sign your XAP using self-signed certificates. If you do so, it is likely that you are not a trusted CA on machines and would have to instruct your users further. In my opinion, it is better to acquire a trusted CA cert for external applications. Take a look at Jeff Wilcox’s epic post on Code Signing 101.

A special note on trusted applications…please read! If you want to take advantage of using the update features of Silverlight for your application (aka CheckAndDownloadUpdateAsync), then your application must be signed. If you do not sign your XAP for a trusted application it cannot auto-update. Self-signed works here to, but don’t get your application in a state where it cannot be updated automatically!

You can view a video walk-through of XAP signing here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - User consent dialogs (webcam/clipboard/etc.)

2010-03-29T18:36:00.001+08:00

We call those dialogs that require user permissions ‘consent dialogs.’ Your users will see these whenever code requires things like requesting device access for webcam/microphone, clipboard access, or quota increase for IsolatedStorage. In the beta we showed these dialogs always and didn’t have a mechanism for enabling the user to determine if they wanted their consent preference saved. That has changed in this release. Consent dialogs now give the user the option to remember the setting which is persisted to their preferences only for that application and is in their control. Here’s the new consent dialog for clipboard, webcam and full-screen pinning:

And if you look at the Silverlight configuration dialog you’ll notice a permissions tab now where these permissions are set for the user, which they can change or delete:

This consent dialog ‘remember my preference’ setting is not available for IsolatedStorage quote increase however. It doesn’t make sense to enable that really for that scenario.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - Language/script support

2010-03-29T18:35:00.001+08:00

Silverlight now has extended language support, including Thai and Vietnamese. Additionally we added support for multiple Indic scripts. The following Indic scripts are now supported:

Script	Language
Bengali	Bengali, Assamese, Manipuri
Oriya	Oriya
Malayalam	Malayalam
Kannada	Kannada
Tamil	Tamil
Telugu	Telugu
Gujarati	Gujarati
Gurmukhi	Punjabi
Devanagari	Hindi, Marathi, Sanskirt, Konkani, Kashmiri, Nepali, Sindhi

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - Native automation (COM interop)

2010-03-29T18:31:00.001+08:00

API changes in the naming of the native integration (COM interop) feature for trusted applications. Before:

   1: dynamic excel = ComAutomationFactory.CreateObject("Excel.Application");

After:

   1: dynamic excel = AutomationFactory.CreateObject("Excel.Application");

Simple, but will catch you in a recompile :-). You can view a video on using native integration here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - Printing API enhancements

2010-03-29T18:29:00.000+08:00

The printing API was enhanced to help developers query for the printer page size and the printable area. Another change was where the ‘document name’ is provided. It is now required and a part of the Print() method. Before:

   1: PrintDocument doc = new PrintDocument();

   2: doc.DocumentName = "Sample Document";

   3: doc.Print();

After:

   1: PrintDocument doc = new PrintDocument();

   2: doc.Print("Sample Document");

You can view a video on using the printing APIs here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - WebBrowser control

2010-03-29T18:28:00.000+08:00

The beta provided us with a mechanism for hosting HTML content within an out-of-browser application. This is still available to us, however some APIs have changed. The HtmlBrush is now called the WebBrowserBrush to be consistent in naming and what it actually does.

You can view a video on using the WebBrowser control here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight 4 RC - RichTextBox (the control formerly known as RichTextArea)

2010-03-29T18:27:00.001+08:00

Silverlight 4 introduced a new control for enabling editing and display of rich text. (See original details here for RichTextArea.) A few things have changed here, one key one being the name: RichTextBox. This was to be more consistent with WPF and also based on your feedback. Additional improvements were also enabling the ability to get the XAML that makes up the underlying runs and paragraph of the rich text. This is helpful for saving off the data and re-hydrating later if desired. It’s a simple property on the RichTextBox control (assuming the control name is ‘MyRichContent’):

   1: string richText = MyRichContent.Xaml;

In addition to that, there are also some new text selection and position APIs to enable you programmatically select text and/or know where the current position of the text is located. This is best demonstrated in the ‘Silverlight Notepad’ sample application in the hands-on-lab area where you can see examples of it being used.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

A guide to what has changed in the Silverlight 4 RC

2010-03-29T18:25:00.000+08:00

At MIX10, Silverlight 4 released an update, the Silverlight 4 RC (release candidate). A few things have changed since the beta which was released in November. If you haven’t read my guide to Silverlight 4 you may want to check that out. The features still exist, but there are some changes to the implementations of some of the features as well as some new ones. Please go read the previous post to familiarize yourself with the features. This post will be complimentary to that and identify new/changed.

First let’s get you going with the tools:

Visual Studio 2010 RC
Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010 (this installs Silverlight developer runtime, SDK, tools, and WCF RIA Services).
Silverlight Toolkit March 2010 Release (coming soon)
WCF RIA Services Toolkit
Expression Blend 4 beta (note: existing Blend 3 licensed users will get this as a free upgrade)
BREAKING CHANGES DOCUMENTATION – read this
Windows Phone Developer tools

And since sometimes people just want to get going with learning resources here’s my top suggestions:

Silverlight learning videos for Silverlight 4 (3 new feature ones added)
Silverlight 4 hands-on-labs – major updates including an 8-part business application lab
Silverlight 4 books – check out what you can pre-order from the experts

So here we go, here’s my brain dump of some key areas of what you’ll be seeing in the Silverlight 4 RC. This is not all-inclusive, but I think a list of some that most will want to know about.

Changed	New
RichTextBox improvements WebBrowser control Printing API enhancements Native automation (COM interop) Language/Script support Networking and Sockets User consent dialog on webcam/clipboard/etc.	XAP Signing Custom window chrome for trusted applications Pinned full-screen mode WCF RIA Services Toolkit ContextMenu control SLLauncher silent installs

A quick note about Visual Studio 2010 RC

The Silverlight 4 tools linked above target the RC release of Visual Studio. There have been 2 patches to Visual Studio 2010 RC since it’s release. It is recommended that you have these two patches installed prior to installing the Silverlight tools. Information about these patches (and links to them) is available here.

Source : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/15/whats-new-in-silverlight-4-rc-mix10.aspx

Silverlight Client for Facebook updated for Silverlight 4 RC

2010-03-29T18:22:00.000+08:00

If you installed the Silverlight Client for Facebook, and also upgraded to the release candidate for Silverlight 4, you may have noticed it stopped working :-).

NOTE: Applications compiled on Silverlight 4 beta will not work on machines with Silverlight RC runtime. This is known/expected. As with all pre-release software, this type of breaking can be expected.

We’ve recently updated the Facebook application, and you will have to re-install. Follow these steps:

Uninstall the Silverlight Facebook client. You can do this in a few ways. First on Windows through the Add/Remove Programs or by right-clicking on the application while it is running (even though it doesn’t work) and choose ‘Remove Application’ – I recommend the Add/Remove Program control panel option. On Mac OSX, simply move the application to the trash.
Ensure you have Silverlight 4 RC installed. If you don’t the Facebook client welcome page will provide the links. Reminder that this is still pre-release software and future uninstalls might be required.
Visit http://bit.ly/facebookclient and follow the instructions.

You should now have the updated Silverlight for Facebook application installed. The team received a lot of good feedback they look at. This build doesn’t necessarily have any of those suggestions/fixes…and is more of a compatible build for the Silverlight RC runtime. There are a few things that we finally brought forward from the initial PDC09 demonstration.

Custom Window options are clearly visible. You’ll notice the ‘window chrome’ (as it is referred to) is gone and the custom window is in the application:

Notice the custom maximize, minimize and close buttons:

Also notice in the lower right corner the resize adorner:

The updated application also implements the ‘mini-mode’ (from the toolbar area in the upper right) which produces a stripped down view of the main news feed:

Again this is a subtle update to keep the client working for you. These features use the custom window options available to Silverlight 4 developers. You can read about this updated feature here and also watch a developer video tutorial on how to implement similar functions in your application here.

Have fun on Facebook and hope this helps!

Reference : http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/03/22/silverlight-client-for-facebook-updated-silverlight-4-rc.aspx

Capturing mouse scroll / wheel event in Silverlight

2009-02-20T15:19:00.000+08:00

Silverlight doesn't support mouse wheel event. There is a way to catch them if we ask to the browser for them. This workaround works well if the page with your Silverlight application fits in the browser. If the page is bigger in height a scroll appears. Then the whole content of the page is scrolled and the SL application doesn't receive the wheel event until one end is reached.
Hook up to the event. Different names are used in the different browsers.
C#
using System.Windows.Browser;...
HtmlPage.Window.AttachEvent( "DOMMouseScroll", OnMouseWheel ); // MozillaHtmlPage.Window.AttachEvent( "onmousewheel", OnMouseWheel );HtmlPage.Document.AttachEvent( "onmousewheel", OnMouseWheel ); // IE
This is how you get the wheel delta.
C#
private void OnMouseWheel( object sender, HtmlEventArgs args ) { double mouseDelta = 0; ScriptObject e = args.EventObject; // Mozilla and Safari if ( e.GetProperty( "detail" ) != null ) { mouseDelta = ( ( double )e.GetProperty( "detail" ) ); } // IE and Opera else if ( e.GetProperty( "wheelDelta" ) != null ) mouseDelta = ( ( double )e.GetProperty( "wheelDelta" ) ); mouseDelta = Math.Sign( mouseDelta );}

That's it!

Things about .XAP file

2009-02-20T15:06:00.001+08:00

What is an .xap file?
A .xap file is basically a compiled Silverlight application. The file is actually a .zip file that contains all the files necessary for the application. Just rename the .xap file to have a .zip extension and then you can open it up to see its contents. Just try it yourself.

What files are contained within the .xap file?
The .xap file contains an application manifest (AppManifest.xaml) file and all the necessary DLL's that are required by the application. The first DLL contained is the compiled version of you application and has the same name of your application. In my test I created an application names "SilverlightApplication1", so the DLL is named "SilverlightApplication1.dll". The rest of the DLL's are the dependancies the application requires.

What is the AppManifest.xaml file?
First lets look at an example AppManifest.xaml file:

--Deployment xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007/deployment" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" EntryPointAssembly="SilverlightApplication1" EntryPointType="SilverlightApplication1.App" RuntimeVersion="2.0.30226.2">
--Deployment.Parts
--AssemblyPart x:Name="SilverlightApplication1" Source="SilverlightApplication1.dll" />
--AssemblyPart x:Name="System.Windows.Controls" Source="System.Windows.Controls.dll" />
--AssemblyPart x:Name="System.Windows.Controls.Extended" Source="System.Windows.Controls.Extended.dll" /> --
--/Deployment>

The first element in the AppManifest.xaml is a Deployment node. This node defines the application and contains child AssemblyPart nodes.

As you can see the AssemblyPart nodes define what assemblies (DLLs) are contained within the .xap file, and give each of them a name.

Now, if you look back up to the top, you'll see the Deployment node has EntryPointAssembly and EntryPointType attributes. The EntryPointAssembly attribute defines which assembly defined below (as a child AssemblyPart node) is the main assembly (DLL) for the application. And, the EntryPointType attribute specifies the Class contained within the assembly (DLL), defined in the EntryPointAssembly attribute, is the main class that will be instantiated to start the application.

The Deployment node also has a RuntimeVersion attribute that defines the version of Silverlight the application is built for.

Conclusion
There you go, now you have a basic understanding of what an .xap file is.

Silverlight Calculator Control & Silverlight Calendar Control Finally Released

2009-02-20T11:40:00.005+08:00

Hi dudes,

Finally... I managed to create 2 new cool widget control, calculator & calendar. This application was developed using Microsoft Expression Blend 2 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1. This is what I do during free time.

Currently this 2 widget have been published at silverlight.net showcase. To be more specific, in the showcase page, click on the geography menu at the top left corner, then click on the Malaysia flag.

Silverlight Calculator Control

A smooth blend effect when you hover your mouse on the buttons.

click here to see the live demo

now in codeplex

Silverlight Calendar Control

A smooth blend effect to the gradient background color when you pick any color provided at the bottom of the calendar.

click here to see the live demo

now in codeplex

Silverlight Berita Harian

2009-02-20T11:04:00.001+08:00

Hi dudes,

Today I managed to upload my first Silverlight application that read RSS feed data about articles and news. This application was developed using Microsoft Expression Blend 2 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1. Due to Silverlight security limitation to access cross domain server, I have to create a proxy server to read the rss feed and push it back to my silverlight application . You can see the live demo here. The RSS feed of course taken from Berita Harian website (www.bharian.com.my). This is just a demo to showcase something what Silverlight can do.

Here is the screenshot :-

The animation takes place when you hover your mouse on the left menus.

Here is the code snippet to call the rss feed :-

void GetFeed()
{
WebClient client = new WebClient();
client.OpenReadCompleted += new OpenReadCompletedEventHandlerclient_OpenReadCompleted);
client.OpenReadAsync(new Uri(LINK));
}

It is recommended that you used OpenRead rather than DownloadString. This method is the Microsoft best practice on how to read xml from URI.

Here is the code snippet to process the result :-

void client_OpenReadCompleted(object sender, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Error != null)
{
return;
}

try
{
using (Stream s = e.Result)
{
XDocument doc = XDocument.Load(s);
if (doc != null)
{
IEnumerable items = from rss in doc.Element("rss").Element("channel").Elements("item")
select rss;

if (items != null && items.Count() > 0)
{
spListBox.Children.Clear();
foreach (XElement item in items)
{
FeedData feeditem = new FeedData();
feeditem.txtFeedTitle.Text = item.Element("title").Value;
feeditem.txtSummary.Text = item.Element("description").Value;
feeditem.URL = item.Element("link").Value;
spListBox.Children.Add(feeditem);
}
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//do something
}
}

Another technology I used to process the result is Linq to XML. You need to add the System.Xml.Linq assembly in your project in order to use this feature.

Currently this application have been published at silverlight.net showcase. To be more specific, in the showcase page, click on the geography menu at the top left corner, then click on the Malaysia flag.

If you guys got any comments, please jot it down.