Silverlight 2 includes a cross-platform, cross-browser
version of the .NET Framework, and enables a rich .NET development platform
that runs in the browser. Developers can write Silverlight applications
using any .NET language (including VB, C#, JavaScript, IronPython and
IronRuby). We will ship Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Studio tool support that enables great developer / designer workflow and integration when building
Silverlight applications.
This upcoming Beta 1 release of Silverlight 2 provides a
rich set of features for RIA application development. These include:
·
WPF UI Framework: Silverlight 2 includes
a rich WPF-based UI framework that makes building rich Web applications much
easier. In includes a powerful graphics and animation engine, as well as
rich support for higher-level UI capabilities like controls, layout management,
data-binding, styles, and template skinning. The WPF UI Framework in
Silverlight is a compatible subset of the WPF UI Framework features in the full
.NET Framework, and enables developers to re-use skills, controls, code and
content to build both rich cross browser web applications, as well as rich
desktop Windows applications.
·
Rich Controls: Silverlight 2 includes a
rich set of built-in controls that developers and designers can use to quickly
build applications. This upcoming Beta1 release includes core form
controls (TextBox, CheckBox, RadioButton, etc), built-in layout management
panels (StackPanel, Grid, Panel, etc), common functionality controls (Slider,
ScrollViewer, Calendar, DatePicker, etc), and data manipulation controls
(DataGrid, ListBox, etc). The built-in controls support a rich control
templating model, which enables developers and designers to collaborate
together to build highly polished solutions.
·
Rich Networking Support: Silverlight 2
includes rich networking support. It includes out of the box support for calling REST, WS*/SOAP, POX, RSS, and standard HTTP services. It supports cross domain network access (enabling Silverlight clients to directly access resources
and data from resources on the web). Beta1 also includes built-in sockets
networking support.
·
Rich Base Class Library: Silverlight 2
includes a rich .NET base class library of functionality (collections, IO,
generics, threading, globalization, XML, local storage, etc). It includes
rich APIs that enable HTML DOM/JavaScript integration with .NET code. It
also includes LINQ and LINQ to XML library support (enabling easy
transformation and querying of data), as well as local data caching and storage
support. The .NET APIs in Silverlight are a compatible subset of the full
.NET Framework.
Silverlight 2 does not require the .NET Framework to be
installed on a computer in order to run. The Silverlight setup download
includes everything necessary to enable all the above features (and more we'll
be talking about shortly) on a vanilla Mac OSX or Windows machine.
The Beta1 release of Silverlight 2 is 4.3MB in size, and
takes 4-10 seconds to install on a machine that doesn't already have it.
Once Silverlight 2 is installed you can browse the Web and automatically run
rich Silverlight applications within your browser of choice (IE, FireFox,
Safari, etc).