What is SILVERLIGHT

What is Silverlight?

Heard and seen various advertisements on the web, still figuring out what is Microsoft Silverlight? A few of my blog readers requested me to give them an Introduction about Microsoft Silverlight, Thanks for coming forward and asking!! In a few minutes I will brief you’ll through it and would give out a simple Hello World application.

Microsoft Silverlight History

 Microsoft introduced a new web technology back in 2007, which would create rich internet applications called Microsoft Silverlight. It was a competitor to Adobe’s Flash since developers would face difficulty in implementing Flash on their web pages. One of the main goals of Silverlight is to bridge the gap between Windows Application and Web Application as far as the User Interface (UI) is concerned. 

What is Silverlight and Why Silverlight?

Silverlight is approximately 6 MB, Client Side, browser plug-in which is used to enhance the User Interface of the Web Pages.

• Silverlight supports cross-browser technology i.e. ability to use across multiple browsers eg. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari
• Silverlight supports cross-platform technology (ability to use across various platforms eg. Windows, MAC, Linux with Moonlight technology etc.)
• Silverlight supports multiple devices (cross device technology) such as Desktops, Mobiles, 270p HDTV and more.
• The main advantage of Silverlight is that it is free, easy to use, and fast!!
• Large communities are available on the net for learning, rather than implementing Flash.
• Supports .Net framework. A .Net developer can easily start programming in Silverlight using his preferred language such as C#, VB.
• Transferring High Definition video files on the web is also supported by Silverlight.

Technically Speaking… 

Silverlight applications are developed using a text-based markup language called XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language). XAML is a declarative markup language that you can use to define UI elements such as Rectangle, Line, Circle and various other shapes. Silverlight’s latest version is Silverlight 5 Beta.

Applications are written either completely in XAML or in combination of XAML and JavaScript with DOM (Document Object Model) to manipulate the user interface. It requires Silverlite.js file which you need to reference from the HTML page and an additional JavaScript file in order to declare the Silverlight Object. You can download the Silverlight.js from here  

Silverlight 2.0, Silverlight 3.0 and Silverlight 4.0 

Silverlight 2.0 fully supports .Net framework 3.5 and various ASP.Net controls such as TextBox, CheckBox, Radio Button, TabControl, DataGrid… It also provides Deep Zooming Facility using Mouse Scroll.

Silverlight 3.0 is an extension to 2.0 and it provides improved graphics capabilities, media management, and application development by Integrating with the Expression Blend tool (helps designers to design high quality videos and enhance graphics) provided by Microsoft. It also helps in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

Silverlight 4.0 is the current version which is used and it provides additional features such as Local Fonts, Printing, Webcam, and Microphone. 




Who can work on Silverlight?


You must know HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to work on Silverlight 1.0. To learn Silverlight 2.0 onwards, you must know ASP.Net (framework 3.5) and AJAX.
I have managed to write a simple Hello World code in Silverlight,HTML, and Javascript you can check out the follow link 


Download Hello World Code (Extract and Run the HelloWorld.html file) - RAR File
Download Hello World Code (Extract and Run the HelloWorld.html file) - ZIP File


Those who are using Firefox 3.6.3 might face issues as there is some browser problem. I tried to find out but there is no such plug-in check out this link Firefox 3.6.3 Issue as soon as I'll get their reply ill post it. 


You can play around with the colors and gradients used in the HelloWorld.xaml file to see different color effects and understand what each object does. I'll write a similar post and explain the different objects used in the JavaScript and XAML files.