.NET for Silverlight - Some Features...

  • Article

Not a comprehensive list as I simply can't type and keep up with what's going on - these things are coming thick and fast.... (disclaimer - I'm typing this on the fly so check the docs - it may not be 100% accurate)

  • Networking
    • via browser HTTP networking stack
    • Same domain only as per browser security model
    • Looking at secure ways to do cross domain requests in future
  • XML
    • XmlReader & XmlWriter
    • No XPath, XmlDocument etc
  • Web Services Support
    • JSON support in the Alpha (including WCF)
    • WCF & SOAP support coming
    • Async request support in the Alpha
  • Async Support
    • Future support for easy background worker thread to offload to
  • ASP.NET
    • Access ASP.NET & WCF services from Silverlight
  • LINQ
    • All the goodness of LINQ in Silverlight
  • HTML Integration
    • System.Windows.Browser namespace
    • HtmlPage class is entry point
    • Provides access to HTML elements, controls, hookup event etc
    • Mark class as [Scriptable] and call Webapplication.Current.RegisterScriptableObject to make object accessible to JavaScript
    • Mark a .NET property, method or event as [Scriptable] gives you access from to that specific member from JavaScript
    • Demo'd using an HTML Texbox to drive a search feature that applied a filter in the managed class (ie a JavaScript handler on button click sets the property on the managed class)
    • Persistent links & Fwd/Back button integration (ie I can send a link to a specific nav point in my app and can use the back button)
    • System.Windows.Browser.Net namespace provides access to browser network stack
  • Application Services
    • Isolated Storage
    • Safe File Open
  • Mac Debugging
    • Where required, you can remote debug a Silverlight .NET app running on a Mac including breakpoints, step into/over, immediates window etc etc

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