Silverlight 2 Unleashed

Full Color Code samples appear as they do in Visual Studio and Expression Blend!

Printed entirely in color, with helpful figures and syntax coloring to make code samples appear as they do in Visual Studio and Expression Blend!

Silverlight is Microsoft’s new web-based User Interface (UI) technology, based on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which is introducing many revolutionary concepts in the world of UI development. Silverlight uses XAML, with tools like Expression Design and Expression Blend, to create astonishing UI effects (such as gradients, compositions, and animations.) In addition to the richness of the UI elements, Silverlight 2 allows the use of C# or VB in addition to JavaScript to automate web pages. With Silverlight, you have the power of .NET on multiple platforms (IE and Firefox on Windows, Firefox and Safari on Macintosh, and Firefox on Linux). The author brings you up to speed very quickly with numerous hands-on examples.

• Use XAML to create state-of-the-art user interfaces
• Create XAML transforms and animations
• Design compelling user experiences with Microsoft Expression Blend
• Integrate media into your rich Internet applications
• Program Silverlight with both JavaScript and .NET languages
• Deploy Silverlight content to web pages
• Encode videos with Expression Media Encoder
• Make the most of Silverlight elements, resources, and styles
• Use templates to quickly change your application’s look and feel
• Efficiently debug Silverlight code
• Use design tools to create graphics that import seamlessly into Silverlight

Laurent Bugnion has been a software engineer since 1996. He has worked with many programming languages and environments, including C, C++, Java, HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and, since 2002, the Microsoft .NET platform. He has been honored twice as a Microsoft MVP: first for ASP.NET and now for Client Application Development. He blogs about Silverlight and related technologies at http://blog.galasoft.ch.

ON THE WEB:

Download all examples and source code presented in this book from informit.com/title/9780672330148

Category: Microsoft Programming/Web Programming

Covers: Microsoft® Silverlight 2

User Level: Beginning―Intermediate

Laurent Bugnion works as a senior software developer and architect in Switzerland, where he lives with his wife, Chi Meei, and his two daughters, Alise (2001) and Laeticia (2004). Originally an electronics engineer from the Engineering School of Yverdon (Switzerland), his interests quickly moved to software, and he achieved a post-graduate degree in software engineering in 1999 in the Engineering School of Rapperswil (Switzerland). Currently, his interests are very much set on WPF, Silverlight, and other .NET 3.5 technologies, which he helped introduce, teach, and coach at Siemens for the past three years. Prior to that, he first wrote embedded C/C++, and then moved to desktop computers in Java, JavaScript, and eventually .NET (WinForms and ASP.NET). After more than 12 years spent developing various software products at Siemens, Laurent is employed since December 2008 by IdentityMine, one of the world’s leading firms in WPF and Silverlight development and design.

Privately, Laurent has also been active, developing websites and web applications in HTML, JavaScript, CSS, ASP, and currently ASP.NET. He has done his best to contribute to various developers communities, first in the JavaScript newsgroups, and then in Microsoft’s forums related to ASP.NET, C#, WPF, and Silverlight. He blogs regularly on http://blog.galasoft.ch and publishes articles, prototypes, and demos related to the mentioned technologies. Laurent became a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in 2007 for ASP.NET and then in 2008 for Client Application Development. In 2008, he also earned an MCTS for Windows Presentation Foundation.