Silverlight 1.1 - October Speaking Events

Hello,

I have updated the Silverlight Events Wiki to show 2 upcoming events that I will be presenting at.
If you are in the Midwest area and have heard me present before, I would like to point out that these two presentations are going to present a VERY fast overview of Silverlight, however the majority of the time will be spent discussing the AWESOME potential for using the ASP.NET Futures to display Silverlight content, and one of the features that is one of my personal favorites, the ability to manipulate the HTML DOM via MANAGED CODE!

If you have the opportunity to join us, I hope you will. If you cannot, I will be posting my notes on this blog.

In addition, I felt I should inform everyone that my book (Silverlight 1.1 in Action) is coming along nicely. So far I am VERY pleased with the content and structure. I need to smooth out the transitions and content in chapters 1 and 2, however, after these chapters, I feel everything else is very smooth.
In order to proactively answer the question "when will it be available?", well, I cannot say. However, I can say that ultimately it depends on how stable the next Silverlight 1.1 public bits are. Once the 1.1 bits become available I will need to re-check the manuscript to ensure that the content is technically accurate and all of the code examples work.

I am writing A LOT of code examples, which will be made publicly available with the book. My goal with this book is not necessarily to be the first Silverlight 1.1 book (though that is definately a goal to shoot for), I am more focussed on being the first complete and accurate Silverlight 1.1 book.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Silverlight 1.1 - Controls!

In all of the hype of yesterday’s big announcement around the official release of Silverlight 1.0, something very exciting seemed to get lost in the mix. As it turns out, if you download the Silverlight 1.1 Alpha September Refresh there are some input controls! The refresh includes:

• Button
• RepeatButton
• ListBox
• ScrollBar
• ScrollViewer
• Slider

In addition, there is a little sample page that has all of the controls (screenshot below). Personally, I appreciate the non-operating specific default look of the controls, however, I sincerely hope that the finished versions of these controls have a little bit more sex appeal by default. Please!

Silverlight 1.1 - KY - Day of .NET Presentation

Hello,

On this past Friday, I organized and presented at the KY - Day of .NET. Overall, it was a great event and I am very happy with the participation from the attendees, organizers, representatives, speakers, and sponsers. Thank you so much.

As requested, the presentation I created can be downloaded from here.

For those that could not attend, you may find value in this presentation as it includes some material from the first chapter of my upcoming book "Silverlight 1.1 in Action". The material shows the number of computers that Silverlight can reach and some benchmarks related to performance.

Enjoy!

Silverlight - Events

Adam Kinney introduced me to the very useful Silverlight Events Wiki. This is a great way to learn about and post Silverlight related events. Enjoy!

Silverlight - August Presentations

Hello,

Over course of this summer, Jeremy Sublett and I have been organizing a "Day of .NET" event in Louisville. I will be presenting at this event, as well as, at Microsoft's DevCares event on Silverlight. The dates and links to events can be found here:

Date	Location	Event	Topic
08.28.07	Indianapolis	DevCares	Microsoft Silverlight In-Depth
08.31.07	Louisville	KY - Day of .NET	Silverlight Up The Web

I hope to see you there. Don't be shy, feel free to introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting you.

Silverlight 1.1 in Action - The Book Cover

Hello!

Today I officially selected the cover for my upcoming book "Silverlight 1.1 in Action". Here it is:



This cover is only a draft and I anticipate the "Silverlight 1.1" text will be fully exposed in the final version. The cover is consistent with Manning Publications Co. cover scheme. I specifically chose this cover because of the fact the guy is unsheathing a sword which is

• Awesome
• Consistent with the theme in the first chapter, which will be available on this blog fairly soon.

I hope you like it. If you would like to know more about Manning's cover approach, the information is available here

Silverlight 1.0 - Beta 1 to RC1 Breaking Changes

Hello,

I apologize for not having all of my samples migrated yet. I was having some difficulties and really scratching my head. As it turns out, I have pinpointed a breaking change that I do not believe is in the SDK. The breaking change is...

The width and height properties in the createObject function call must be string values, not integer values.

I had been using integer values in my samples and it caused me a bit of confusion while I was attempting to migrate my samples. I hope this post will help you avoid the same problem.

Silverlight 1.0 - How to Show a Line being Drawn

This example is an updated version of an earlier post. For information related to this item, please review my previous post.

I apologize for the delay, my previous file hoster seems to be on the fritz. Thankfully though, it seems like the Windows Live Folder service is up an running in beta form.

Project Information
Source Code:	here
Developed For:	Silverlight 1.0 RC

WPF - Point an Image to an Embedded Resource

This post has been moved to here. Thank you.

Silverlight 1.0 - How to show a line being drawn

Recently in the official Silverlight forum, several individuals have asked how to dynamically show a line being drawn. This post contains code that will animate a line to look just like the following:



The Silverlight model makes this type of animation very simple. Everything is handled within the XAML code. The XAML code looks like the following:

<Canvas xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007"
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Width="300" Height="200">
<Canvas.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Canvas.Loaded">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard Name="lineStoryboard">
<DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="mainLine" Storyboard.TargetProperty="X2" From="1" To="290" Duration="0:0:8" AutoReverse="false" />
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Canvas.Triggers>

<Line Name="mainLine" Canvas.Left="5" Canvas.Top="5" X1="0" Y1="0" X2="1" Y2="0" StrokeThickness="2" Stroke="#C0504D"></Line>

<Canvas Name="playAgainCanvas" MouseLeftButtonUp="playAgainCanvas_MouseLeftButtonUp" Canvas.Top="10" Canvas.Left="102">
<Rectangle RadiusX="5" RadiusY="5" Width="95" Height="40" Fill="#9BBB59"></Rectangle>
<TextBlock Text="Play Again" FontFamily="Verdana" Canvas.Left="5" Canvas.Top="10" FontSize="14" FontWeight="Bold" Foreground="white" />
</Canvas>
</Canvas>

The steps, which are derived from the Silverlight SDK, are as follows:

1. Create a DoubleAnimation. In our case, we are concerned about animating the line being drawn, so the following are key attributes are set:
   • StoryBoard.TargetProperty - Set to X2 because we want to make the line grow in length.
   • From - Set this value to the default X2 position.
   • To - Set this value to the end result (290)
   • Duration - Set this value to 8 seconds just to make it easy to see the line grow.


2. Place the DoubleAnimation inside of a Storyboard. We give the Storyboard a Name so that we can access it from the client-side code-behind file. This allows us to restart the animation through an event handler associated with the "Play Again" button.


3. Begin the Storyboard when the Canvas is loaded. This is accomplished through the use of a Trigger

Animation will be covered in Chapter 4 of my upcoming book "Silverlight 1.1 in Action".

I want to apologize to anyone who has been trying to access code samples over the past couple of weeks. I use StreamLoad to host my code samples and they have had some problems over the past couple of weeks. Everything seems to be working better now. If the problems persist, I will look into an alternative solution.

Project Information
Source Code:	here
Requirements:	Silverlight 1.0

Silverlight 1.1 in Action - Blend

I would like to begin this post by SINCERELY thanking everyone that posted a comment on the last post. Your comments were sincerely helpful and provided valuable insights.

After reviewing all of the comments, I wanted to provide an update with the direction that I think (no guarantees) I am going to take in regards to incorporating Blend within my "Silverlight 1.1 in Action" book.

Today, I thought of a different approach which I think is a happy medium between the two options mentioned in the last post. I believe I am going to end each chapter in the first part of the book with a section called "Blending It All Together". This section will add value by:

• Giving readers the option of learning Blend as they progress through the book
• Keeping the focus of each chapter squarely on Silverlight
• Reiterating chapter contents in an interactive, optional fashion.

I'm going to play around with this to see how it works, but I'm pretty excited about it. It feels right.

Also, somebody asked, "when will the book be available?" As of right now, I have completed approximately 6 or 7 chapters. Because the book is targeting Silverlight 1.1 the availability of the book will be dependent upon the timeline of the Silverlight 1.1 release. The book is targeting Silverlight 1.1 because, this is the version that provides the powerful .NET Framework. At the moment Silverlight 1.1 is in an Alpha state so it is difficult to squarely answer the "when" question.

I want to make sure I am providing quality content that you can use. I plan on providing Chapter 1, for free, on this blog very shortly. I know this does not squarely answer the "when" question, however, if I were to give an estimate, I would say an electronic version will be available in October with a printed version being available around the February timeframe. Please bear in mind this is only an estimate.

Disclaimer: The items discussed regarding the Silverlight in Action book are merely thoughts and will not necessarily be in the final version of the book.

Silverlight 1.1 in Action - The Book

Hello!

I am currently working on a book that will target Silverlight 1.1, called "Silverlight 1.1 in Action" and I am seeking some feedback from the community. The first half of the book will address the UI elements of Silverlight, while the second half will discuss the .NET Framework provided with Silverlight 1.1.

Because the first half of the book is squarely focussed on UI components, I thought it would be nice to add some additional value to the book by explaining how to create the various UI components using Microsoft Expression Blend. The incorporation of Blend has caused some internal debate between me and myself. However, I feel that incorporating Blend is important because it may introduce readers to a new, productive tool, while at the same time, helping readers build a vocabularly that can help to communicate with designers more effectively. Essentially, for each UI element, I want to provide the following:

• An illustration that shows the UI element that is created
• The XAML that corresponds with the illustration
• A walkthrough of how to use Blend to create the UI element.

My debate is as follows:

Option 1 - Provide all three items (the illustration, the XAML, and the walkthrough) for each UI component. Here are the advantages/disadvantages I see with this approach:

• Advantages
  • Readers do not have to flip to the back of the book for Blend content.
  • Encourages the use of Blend while reading the text
• Disadvantages
  • Takes up a lot of space. This may cause the reader to skip pages to get back into the developer focussed content.

Here is a sample of creating a MediaElement to give you a feel for how this may look in the text if Option 1 is used.

Option 2 - Provide only the illustration and the XAML in the text. Then, reference a walkthrough which is provided in an appendix, instead of in the actual text. Here are the advantages/disadvantages I see with this approach:

• Advantages
  • Keeps the reader focussed on the developer related content.
• Disadvantages
  • Treats Blend as a second-rate citizen (it's not, it is especially helpful if you are creating animations)
  • Causes the reader to flip between the actual text and an appendix, this searching can be annoying.

Here is a sample of creating a MediaElement to give you a feel for how this may look in the text if Option 2 is used:


Personally, I am leaning towards Option 2, however, I wanted to seek some feedback before going too far down this path. I look forward to your comments and thank you for your help!

WPF - Non-Rectangular Window Sweetness

Recently, I have been working on a small WPF project. It is truly an exciting project and I hope to provide more details on the specifics later. Regardless, I learned something really cool about WPF while working on this project that I felt I needed to share.

My WPF application is not an archetypal rectangular window. It has a very well designed looking interface that really makes the application look nice. One of the distinguishing features is a large image in one of the corners of Window. As an illustration, imagine the application window looking like a more complicated version of the following:



I wanted to ensure that users could only drag the window if they were clicking within the bounds of the window. This means I needed to take into account the area occupied by the green ellipse. I learned how to create non-rectangular windows through this article.

I knew I could use the Path element to define the bounds of my window. However, the following discovery pleasantly surprised me. I was able to use a graphic, which was already created by a graphic designer, and simply make the background of the image file transparent. WPF automatically created the bounds of the window tightly bound AROUND the image.

This made my life significantly simpler. I was afraid I was going to be tinkering with Paths all day long. Very sweet.

My book "Silverlight 1.1. in Action" is coming along nicely. There should be some content available for consumption soon. Thanks for reading!

Silverlight 1.1 - Slide Deck

If you thought I was done posting content this week after the video walkthrough, you were wrong :)! I presented on Silverlight at the Indianapolis .NET Developers Association monthly meeting on June 16, 2007. I created a Point Point slide deck (complete with notes) that provides a high-level overview of Silverlight.

In addition, I also provided a walkthrough of creating a media player using Silverlight 1.1 during the meeting.

Feel free to use the content of the slidedeck, I only ask that if you use it, you please post a comment explaining what works and what didn't work with your presentation.

Personally, I feel this is a pretty solid overview especially given the time constraints of the presentation. Enjoy!

Silverlight 1.1 - How to Create a Media Player

During the June 16th, 2007 Indianapolis .NET Developers Association monthly meeting, I will be presenting an overview of Silverlight. In addition to the overview, I thought it might be helpful to provide a walkthrough of creating a media player using Silverlight 1.1 (the one with the .NET Framework).

In order to prepare for the presentation and provide the content to individuals after the meeting, I decided to create this webcast. Enjoy!

I apologize for the quality of the video, I'm still trying to get the webcast thing down. I wanted everything to be large enough so everyone could read the code. If anyone has some suggestions in terms of how to create a better webcast with Windows Media Encoder, please let me know. I look forward to your feedback and comments on this presentation.

Project Information
Presentation:	here
Duration:	30:58
Source Code:	here
Requirements:	Silverlight 1.1 Alpha

Silverlight and Halo 2

Last month, some of us played the Halo 3 beta and discussed Silverlight, I have some exciting news. I would like to party up again on Tuesday, June 19th at 9 p.m. EST to play Halo 2 and discuss Silverlight in between games. If you have an interest, please post a comment with your XBox Live gamertag and e-mail address. All comments on this blog are moderated, so I will NOT post the comment that contains your gamertag and e-mail address. I will then e-mail you giving you my XBox Live gamertag.

Also, if there is a topic you would like to discuss, please bring it along. Personally, I would like to discuss the following:

• atypical controls that you think may be cool. By atypical, I am referring to controls beyond button, textbox, dropDownList, etc.
• Silverlight Streaming

Also, next week I will be posting a webcast on Silverlight 1.1 so stay tuned for some real content :)

'07 Summer Tour

Hello,

June is going to be an exciting and busy month. I'm going to be presenting at a wide variety of events and if you're in the midwest geography, feel free to stop in and say "hey!".

Date	Location	Event	Topic
05.22.07	Indianapolis	DevCares	Visual Studio "Orcas" and LINQ
06.01.07	--	Internal	Silverlight
06.08.07	Louisville	DevCares	Microsoft Expression
06.14.07	Indianapolis	Indy .NET Assoc.	A Bit of Fun with Microsoft Silverlight
06.26.07	Indianapolis	DevCares	Microsoft Expression

It's going to be a busy month :)

Silverlight and SharePoint Integration Contest

Michael Gannotti has posted a contest on Silverlight and SharePoint Integration.

Definately check it out, first prize is pretty impressive. Thanks goes to Corne Van Dyk for pointing this out.

Silverlight - Book

Greetings,

I am currently working on a book aimed at Silverlight 1.1. I am seeking comments from you regarding any of the following:

• What are somethings you really like in your technical books?
• What are somethings you really dislike in your technical books?
• Are there any items you would really like to see in this book?

I will be posting a variety of code samples, thoughts, and other mumblings throughout this authoring endeavor.

Thanks!
Chad

Silverlight and Halo 3

If you are excited about the Halo 3 beta and would like to discuss Silverlight, I have some exciting news. I would like to party up on Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. EST to play Halo 3 and discuss Silverlight while the games are loading. If you have an interest, please post a comment with your XBox Live gamertag and e-mail address. All comments on this blog are moderated, so I will NOT post the comment that contains your gamertag and e-mail address. I will then e-mail you giving you my XBox Live gamertag.