Silverlight 2 - Discussion and Halo 3

Greetings...

I hope your summer is going well. Mine has been busy finalizing Silverlight 2 in Action. I have been working closely with John Stockton to make this book as solid as possible. John has stepped up and has been working really hard to provide deep and informative content around communication and services for Silverlight 2 in Action (chapter 6). I'm working with John to ensure that the content and structure is consistent with the rest of the book. This is really important because chapter 6 really glues together the content from some of the previous chapters.

With that said, we are nearing completion. We are doing a lot of editing and filling in the holes. We will wait until the release candidate (mentioned in some comments by Scott Guthrie) to actually finalize the content. While Beta 2 is looking pretty good, we really want this book to be as accurate and complete as possible. With that said, we have some time and I would like to get some feedback from YOU.

On Sunday, July 20th at 9 p.m. EST I would like to discuss Silverlight 2 with anyone interested. I would really like to find out what you really want to know about and make sure that it is in the book. I figure if one person has a concern, there are certain to be others that share that concern. The forum for this discussion will be Halo 3 over X-Box Live. I've been itching to play it as I have been disconnected due to the book. If you would like to party up, please post a comment on this post. Please include your email address and gamertag. This comment will NOT be published in order to respect your privacy. Once I receive your comment, I will send you an email and a friend invite.

Have a great day!
Chad

Personal - Software Development Meme

My buddy Dan Rigsby called me out in his Software Development Meme. I guess it's my turn...

1. How old were you when you first started programming?
   When I was about 12 years old, my parents were building a house. By building a house, I mean they were physically building it. During that process, there were some stages that I couldn't help with. To keep me busy, my dad showed me a book that had some old BASIC code in it. He told me if I entered all of that code into the old Commodore 64 line-for-line, I would be able to play a video game. I never got the game to work because a page was missing :)
   
   In reality though, it wasn't until I was 16 that I really started.
   
   
2. How did you get started in programming?
   My high school offered a C++ class. I had an open slot on my schedule and I had to fill it. The class was awesome because it had LITTLE structure. It was the first class that I was really just allowed to run as hard and as fast as I wanted. It kept me engaged, interested, and my curiousity grew.
   
   
3. What was your first language?
   Technically it was Commodore BASIC. In reality though, I would say C++.
   
   
4. What was the first real program you wrote?
   I wrote a C++ application that acted like a restaurant menu. As a user made their selections, they were saved back to a .txt file. That was probably the first app that I felt like I really did something.
   
   
5. What languages have you used since you started programming?
   Oy vey! In no particular order: C#, C++, C, Java, MIPS Assembly Language, JavaScript, Python, Visual Basic, and Farfle (It was a very primitive language that I created so no one has probably heard of it)
   
   
6. What was your first professional programming gig?
   During jr. high and high school, I worked at the local grocery store. A lady, who owned a bed breakfast asked if I could build a website for her while I was carrying out her groceries. Though the development was very primitive, I still consider that site my first paid gig in relation to software. This site is still on the web today! From there, I moved onto doing actual application development a little later.
   
   
7. If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming
   Undoubtedly. Personally, I would like to see programming as a required part of a high school education. I think if nothing else, learning to program forces you to think more logically than you may have a tendency to do.
   
   
8. If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
   Create a vision and run towards it full steam. This is probably more important in relation to technology than any other field due to the rate of change. I have really learned about this in regards to my endeavors around Silverlight. I have spent a lot of time, energy, and resources trying to convince certain individuals of the value it brings. In reality, I should have just focused on taking the power that Silverlight brings and building my own innovative solutions. Which is what I will be doing when Silverlight 2 in Action is finished.
   
   
9. What's the most fun you have ever had programming?
   I had the most fun working on a very innovative intranet search portal solution back at the turn of the century. It some incredibly cool stuff.
   
   
10. What’s the most fun you’ve ever had … programming?
    I really enjoyed the technical challenges associated with creating a compiler. I also enjoyed building an intranet search engine that handled engineering documents. They were both very challenging and I learned a lot in both scenarios.
    
    
11. Who are you calling out?
    
    Corne Van Dyk
    Dave Campbell
    Scott Bauer (just because I like the topic of his blog)
    John Stockton
    Pete Brown

FREE Silverlight 2 EBook Raffle

Greetings,

I've been heads down working on Silverlight 2 in Action over the past couple of months. With the release of Silverlight Beta 2, we are ready to make a couple of announcements. First, I would like to announce a raffle for Silverlight 2 in Action. Then, after providing a brief history of the book, I would like to announce the roadmap for the book.

Raffle

In celebration of the release of Beta, I have been given FIVE (5) coupons for one FREE Ebook to distribute. In order to provide everyone with an interest in Silverlight 2 an equal chance at this content, I have decided to create a raffle. The winners for this raffle will be randomly selected on Saturday, June 21st, 2008.

In order to enter the raffle, please visit www.farfle.com and fill out the form. You will receive a confirmation email after you fill out the form. If you do not receive a confirmation within 10 minutes of submitting, please post a comment on this blog. My web hosting provider has been having some issues, and I want to make sure your entry gets in. Regardless, please note that you may only enter once, duplicate entries will be removed.

On Saturday, June 21st, 2008 I will randomly select FIVE (5) winners. On that day you will receive one e-mail that will inform you if you or another individual has won. If you win, you will have 48 hours to respond. If you do not respond within 48 hours, another particpant will be selected and you will not receive the coupon.

Your e-mail address WILL be kept private. In addition, I will NOT spam you to buy the book. If you do not win, don't worry, you will still have the opportunity to get the content thanks to Manning Publishing's Early Access Program. If you are not familiar with this process you can find out more here.

Silverlight 2 in Action - History

Believe it or not, I started this book in the middle of May of 2007. In other words, this book has been in development for over a year. I spent a lot of time playing with Silverlight and WPF to help me write the content. I want to publicly thank the MEAP adopters that have provided some excellent feedback. Especially Ben Hayat. Ben has been encouraging and a positive voice. He has also provided some excellent feedback. I also want to thank my publisher, Manning Publishing, as well as my editor, Cynthia Kane, for their patience and guidance on this project. But we're not done yet...

Silverlight 2 in Action - Moving Forward

Currently, there are 8 chapters available through the MEAP program. These chapters are going through some finalizations. Because of this, there are still some remnants from SL2 Beta 1. Those will be fixed before we publish. If you see "bugs" in the content, please do not hesitate to let me know. I have some time scheduled to go over the whole book one final time to make sure it is all correct before we actually publish the book. MEAP customers get the updated content as it becomes available.

In regards to the remaining 4 chapters, those will come very quickly. In fact, I just sent off the o.k. to prepare chapter 12 for MEAP-ing. So that should be available next week. Chapter 4 is about 90% complete. Chapter 10 is about 80% complete. I will be focussing on Chapter 10 this weekend and I hope to finish it up. Chapter 6 is sort of in limbo right now. It is a bit of a long story, but I hope to make an announcement around that content during my next blog post.

Thank you and Good Luck!

Silverlight 2 in Action - Co-Author

Greetings,

In an effort to ensure that Silverlight 2 in Action becomes available in a timely fashion, I have asked to bring on a co-author. I am excited to announce that Michael Schwartz will be writing one of the chapters in this book.

Michael is a Microsoft MVP and seasoned Silverlight professional. In fact, I believe that Michael was one of the first three non-Microsoft individuals to get on board with Silverlight. That number may be off slightly. However, I do not think by much. Michael was an extremely early adopter.

We are hoping to MEAP some more content very soon. Thank you for your patience.

Silverlight 2 - Your LINQ to a Better Experience

Greetings,

This Saturday, April 26th, 2008, I will be presenting on Silverlight at the Indianapolis Code Camp. My presentation is called "Silverlight - Your LINQ to a Better Experience". The slides for this presentation can be found here (you are free to use them, just please mention Silverlight 2 in Action if you use these slides).

During the course of this presentation, I will walk through the implementation of a really cool master/details page (I'm not just saying that, it really is cool, not what you're expecting). This will give attendees the opportunity to see how Silverlight can address three of their most common development tasks:

• Retrieving Data
• Loading Data
• Presenting Data

Personally, I am very excited about this presentation. As someone who has been working with Silverlight since day 1, it is very exciting to be able to turn the focus to more day-to-day types of solutions. In addition, this is the first time I have given this presentation in public. With that said, if you would like me to give this presentation (or another Silverlight presentation) in your area, please let me know, we'll see if we can make it work.

Book Update

At the moment, there are eight chapters available. I was sincerely hoping to finish chapter 10 and get that available to MEAP customers. However, there are some items in the current beta that just make this chapter impossible to MEAP at this time. However, we are still working to get Chapter 6 available to MEAP customers in the near future. Chapter 6 covers networking and communications which is a very important and interesting part of Silverlight development.

Shout Out

Personally, I am somebody who installs very few third-party components on my machine. I like to keep my machine as clean as possible. However, I have recently found myself using a plugin called Xippee more and more. There is a 1-minute video on the site that shows how it works. Check it out (this is not an advertisement, I haven't received a dime for mentioning it :)).

DataGrid and DeepZoom Info Available in Silverlight 2 in Action

Greetings!
Today we released two new chapters to Silverlight 2 in Action MEAP customers. With that in mind, I want to give you some information related to the new content, as well as the previous content. In addition, I also want to let you know what you can expect moving forward.

New Content

The new chapters cover two very exciting and important aspects of Silverlight: Data and Media. This information is covered in chapters 4 and 7.

• Chapter 4 – This chapter covers a wide range of data-related topics in-depth. These topics include: data binding, data templating, using the DataGrid, and an overview of LINQ. The content in this chapter is pretty meaty. This has personally been my favorite chapter to write thus far. The reason why was primarily because of data templates. Data templates are really, REALLY cool (if you don’t believe me, come to my presentation in Indianapolis, IN on April 26th). In addition, I am pretty impressed with the DataGrid, even though it is still in its infancy.
  
  
• Chapter 7 – The focus of this chapter is media, including deep-zoom. In this chapter you will see an old-friend from Silverlight 1.0: the MediaElement. This will include information related to the properties and lifecycle of this element in Silverlight 2. You will also see information about playlists and interactive playback. In addition, there is a high-level overview of the content access (a.k.a DRM) features of Silverlight 2. From there you will get a detailed tour of the imaging and deep zooming features.

Collectively, these two chapters span 61 pages.

Previous Content

I have received some comments / questions regarding the current MEAP content. These items have generally expressed concern that the content was outdated with Silverlight 2. In fact, if you mentioned this, you are correct.

I’m still not sure what happened, but some previously released content was re-released. This was unintentional because the content originally covered Silverlight 1.1. I will say that the MEAP content that has just been released still has some Silverlight 1.1 stuff (especially in chapters 1 and 2). However, the necessary changes have been made to be consistent with Silverlight 2. I hope that by the next MEAP release, this will be resolved.

With that said, if you still feel there is content out-of-date beyond chapter 2, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Roadmap

Another common question that has been asked has been “is the MEAP version the final version of the content?” The answer is definitely NO. For instance, in chapter 4, I already know that I will be updating the DataGrid section and fixing up the LINQ portions a bit. Currently, both of these sections provide a lot of content as-is. However, there is still more that needs to be included in this book (like the sorting features of the DataGrid coming in Beta 2).

I really want this book to be a solid resource. Because of this, if you want something or feel something is missing; please do not hesitate to let me know. I will see if it can be worked in.

Currently, I am working on chapter 10. This chapter covers resources, styles, and templates. I’m hoping to finish this chapter up by the end of this weekend. From there, MEAP customers will get the content approx. 1 week after I finish the chapter.

I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen thus far. Now, I’ve got get back to writing the actual book.

Silverlight 2 in Action - New Content Available

Hello,

I am very excited to announce two things. First, there is more content available for Silverlight 2 in Action. Second, I would like to extend the opportunity to you to make some easy money promoting the book (if you like it). After providing the details surrounding those two announcements, I will discuss how and when future content related to the book will be released.

Announcement 1 - Content

To coincide with the Silverlight 2 beta, we are making 6 chapters of Silverlight 2 in Action available. These chapters cover a wide variety of items. These items include things that you have seen in 1.1, but also a lot of stuff that has not been available until now. To give you a sneak peek at what is currently available, please look at the following list:

Chapter 1 - This chapter, which is available for free, provides an overview of Silverlight and XAML. This overview explains several of the key reasons to use Silverlight. I refer to these drivers as the "Three P's of Silverlight". These are: Performance, Portability, and Productivity. This content was provided because, like you, I have individuals that I must report to. Because of this, I need to be able to confidently answer why Silverlight is a responsible choice for web application development. Considering Silverlight is a newer technology, I assumed that you may need to have similar discussions. Based on the large amount of misconceptions I have seen floating around the web, I am really glad this material is in the book. Some have mentioned they felt this material was not technical enough for this kind of book. I respect that viewpoint. However chapter 2 switches gears and goes uber-technical.

Chapter 2 - Throughout chapter 2, you will learn about Silverlight's tight integration with the web. This chapter will explain, in detail, how to add Silverlight to any new or existing web application. This includes adding Silverlight to any ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, or [name your webby server technology] application. From here, the chapter will turn to examining the Silverlight application model. Then, their will be an indepth discussion over Silverlight's rich HTML DOM APIs. This content will empower you to manipulate a web page's HTML from managed code, specifically with C#. In addition you will learn how to call managed code from the scripting world.

Chapter 3 - This chapter shifts the focus to the UI. This chapter will cover the intricacies of layout including the Canvas, StackPanel, and the Grid. In addition, the irreplacable TextBlock will be detailed. Significantly, this chapter will discuss the core visual classes in Silverlight: UIElement and FrameworkElement.

Chapter 8 - This chapter details the things you have probably already seen. These items include the 2D graphics features. These include shapes, geometries, brushes, and transformations. Significantly, these items are really an important component of what is possible with Silverlight. These items are a critical component of animation, which is the topic of chapter 9.

Chapter 9 - This chapter covers the powerful animation features within Silverlight. This is covered in detail with a number of illuminating figures. In addition, this chapter will teach you how to use animations from managed code.

Chapter 11 - This chapter shifts the focus back to items new in Silverlight 2. This includes the cross-browser-session enabling isolated storage feature. In addition, you will learn how to dynamically load XAML at runtime. This powerful feature can be complemented by the useful BackgroundWorker class. This class empowers you to perform a task behind-the-scenes, naturally, it will be covered. In addition, this chapter will explain, in detail, how to asynchronously download content on-the-fly! And finally, this chapter will conclude with a discussion around the impressive Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR).

As you can see, there is a lot of content. The breakdown of the content that is currently available is as follows:

• 6 chapters
• 167 pages
• 142 code snippets
• 38 figures
• 2 walkthroughs featuring Blend
• 57521 words
• 397678 characters

Whew... it's been a lot of work, with more to come. However, it has been incredibly educational. I'm really excited about Silverlight 2. I'm really excited to see what kind of applications we'll be able to create and consume in the near future. Hopefully, this book will help you accomplish that. If it does, and you enjoy it, I want to give you the opportunity to make some money by promoting the book.

Announcement 2 - Promotion

Everyone likes money. If you like the book, and would permit a small advertisement on your blog, you can make some money. This advertisement would be the "Silverlight 2 in Action" animation you see along the right side of this blog. This animation is 138px wide and 173px high. If you have an interest, read on.

One of the really cool aspects of Silverlight is the number of ways you can deploy such content. One such way is with Silverlight Streaming. This option is used on this blog to host the previously described advertisement. In order to add this advertisement to your blog, you can follow these steps:

1. Sign up with the Manning Affiliate program. Manning is the publisher of Silverlight 2 in Action and they have a referral program. This program keeps track of individuals who purchase the book by clicking the ad on your website. The payment details are discussed on the site. It probably won't be much, but if it is something you are interested in, please continue.
   
   
2. Add the following script to your web site:
   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://agappdom.net/h/silverlight.js"></script>
   
3. Add the advertisement where you see fit. The following HTML/JavaScript will add the advertisement to your page.
   <div id="bookAdHost" style="width:138px; height:173px;"><script type="text/javascript">Silverlight.createHostedObjectEx({source: "streaming:/7867/BookAdvertisement",parentElement: document.getElementById("bookAdHost"), initParams: "http://www.manning.com/campbell" });</script></div>
   
4. Change the initParams property value to point to your affiliate link. This link is available by logging into the affiliate site you registered with in step 1. It is important that you enter this value correctly to ensure you get credit. After you set the initParams value, test the advertisement. It should redirect you to "http://www.manning.com/campbell/". If it doesn't please post a comment on this blog.

That's it. As you can see, the Silverlight Streaming service opens the doors to some new possibilities. Silverlight Streaming will be discussed in chapter 12 of "Silverlight 2 in Action". Chapter 12 will be coming in the future.

Silverlight 2 in Action - Roadmap

Over the next couple of months, early adopters will get the remaining six chapters. These chapters will be distributed as soon as they become available. In addition, there will be a website that contains the book's content. I was going to get the site up for this initial release, however, the site currently looks like crap. I didn't want it to reflect poorly on the book, so I have decided to withhold it for the moment. But there will be a website. And finally...

• Feel free to join the Silverlight 2 in Action Facebook Group
• If you have comments related to the book, please feel free to share them. It is not too late to change content.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy Silverlight 2

Silverlight Info

Greetings,

Today I noticed two awesome Silverlight-related items that I think you may find interesting. These items are a great way to pass the time if you are chomping at the bit for Silverlight 2.

1. Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint - Very cool stuff if you are doing line of business applications.
2. Using Web Analytics with Microsoft Silverlight - Some really great information if you have a Silverlight application you want to expose to the search spiders.
   

A quick update on stuff I'm personally working on.

• Silverlight 2 in Action - When the Silverlight 2 Beta becomes available (we know its soon), I will have a total of six chapters of my book available. I am pretty excited about these six chapters. I personally feel they are VERY solid however, I will let you decide for yourself. The remaining six chapters will come rapidly afterwards. However, we will NOT release a printed copy until we are confident of the quality and technical accuracy of the book (I have worked very hard to make sure things are as accurate as possible).
• Over the next 2 weeks, I have two other FREE surprises up my sleeve. Stay tuned to this blog for more info
  

Thanks for reading.

Why I'm Excited About Silverlight - Part 1

At this point, I feel confident in saying there is a lot of excitement swirling around Silverlight 2.0. I think it is to the point where individuals are counting down the days until Mix08. The timing of this conference will coincide with the next public release of Silverlight 2.0 and a non-commercial go live license. Because of this, I think that now is as good of a time as any to explain one reason why I am so excited about Silverlight.

Why I am Excited About Silverlight

I think there are a lot of individuals who are excited about the rich user interface possibilities created by Silverlight. At the same time, I believe there are a lot of individuals jazzed about the .NET features we have started to see with the Silverlight 1.1 Alpha. This is where I come in. I hope to provide a simple explanation of why this is such a big deal.

Before you read any further, I want you to answer the following question: "What is .NET?"

Your response to this question will probably determine where you fit on Scott Barnes' RIA Role Spectrum. Personally, I am slightly more to the developer side, however, I would definately consider myself an RIA Architect. Because of this, both aspects are important to me. So, when I'm asked "What is .NET?", I have to have a response that fits both sides of my personality (sounds like a frosted mini-wheats commercial). Well, I believe that .NET is about two and exactly two things.

1. Integration and
2. Innovation

I refer to these as the two I's of .NET and these are why I want to be associated with it. I think if you understand that .NET is about these two things, it is pretty easy to get excited about Silverlight. The reason why is because the value in learning the .NET components of Silverlight go far beyond user interface scenarios. It really enters the realm of desktop applications, system-wide services, workflow applications, and many others (this one is really cool).

I realize this post isn't very deep. However, my writing juices are focused elsewhere. I posted this simply to start some discussions. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. In regards to comments on this blog, they are moderated. However, I will publish ANYTHING, positive or negative, that is related to this post. I have recently rejected comments related to a "FREE PS3" and "Testing". I want to make sure that everyone feels welcome to post their opinions. However, it has to be relevant to this post to respect everyone's time.

Thank you for reading!
Chad

Silverlight - A Gold Medal Winner

During the Consumer Electronics Show keynote presentation, Bill Gates announced that Silverlight will exclusively be used by NBC for the 2008 Beijing Olympics!

This is REALLY cool. This should definately help to get Silverlight installed on more individuals machines. You can find out more about the announcement here.

Silverlight - Discussion over X-Box Live (Halo 3)

Hello!

As this incredibly busy, yet exciting year winds down, I think some fun is in order.

I would like to once again organize an open discussion on Silverlight over X-Box Live. If you would like to participate, here is some info to put on your calendar:

Who: Anyone
What: Silverlight Discussion
Where: X-Box Live (Halo 3)
When: Thursday, December 27, 2007 @ 10 p.m. EST

If you would like to particpate, please post a comment with

1. Your Gamertag (this will not be published)
2. Anything specific you would like to discuss regarding Silverlight
3. Any game type preferences

Once I have received your comment, I will send you a friend invite using my gamertag. In addition, I will be trying to put together an agenda to make the time valuable and fun for everyone.

Sometime in the new year I will put together an old skool edition with Halo 2.

Merry Christmas,
Chad

Silverlight - Presentation

Hello,

I presented on Silverlight 1.0 and Silverlight 2.0 (previously 1.1) this evening. The presentation was given at the Kentucky .NET Developers Association meeting. As promised during the meeting, my slides are available here.

Overall, I was really encouraged to see the excitement swirling around Silverlight. The content in the presentation is slightly modified from the presentations I have given in the past. Regardles, there is one thing that I feel I need to reiterate to those who are just reading the slides.

As Tim Sneath has mentioned in his recent post, Silverlight 1.1 is not ready for use in production.

With that said, I hope to turn the content of the presentation into a webcast in the near future. This will allow those outside of the locations I've spoken at to see the content. When this occurs, you can bet I will make a post here. Because of this, make sure you are subscribed to the RSS Feed.

Silverlight - Updates

• On November 29, Scott Guthrie announced that Silverlight 1.1 will now be known as Silverlight 2.0. This is really exciting news. I think it will really help clear up some of confusion that is currently surrounding 1.0 vs. 1.1. Because of this...


• May the book title Silverlight 1.1 in Action rest in peace. However, this does not mean the book is cancelled. Oh no! Instead it is being appropriately named:


• Silverlight 2.0 in Action. The book cover and information will be updated to match the new title shortly. When this book is in your local book store, it will have been in development for over a year. That is a pretty long time for a technical publication. This should be a hint as to breadth and depth of content you should expect. Because of this, I think there will be a number of individual who will want to discuss the content. To help assist in this, I would like to announce the
• Silverlight 2.0 in Action Facebook Fan Page. Become a fan today (man I get cheesier each and every day, just ask my girlfriend's dog, Buster):

Silverlight - The Interview

Larry Clarkin and Dave Bost are two of Microsoft's evangelists in the midwest area. They have started a new site called "The Thirsty Developer".

As it turns out, they were nice enough to discuss with me the Silverlight presentation I gave at the IndyTechFest. They have since posted the interview here. I should warn you that you will need to have QuickTime (Where's the 'Light :)).

I'm fairly happy with how the interview went. This was my first time doing this kind of thing, and because of it, I do not feel I got the point across I was going for. I wanted to be more explicit in stating how one of the really great things about Silverlight 1.1 is it's ability to work with data and communicate over the internet. Because of this, I feel that Silverlight provides some extremely valuable offerings even if you do not have a need for a rich visual experience. For instance, you could use Silverlight to simply work with your web services, in place of JavaScript (AJAX, DOJO, etc). You can learn more about this in my book (shameless plug, I know).

On an unrelated note, Mike Harsh posted a message mentioning a "Service Release" for Silverlight 1.0. To learn more about the features, go here.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Popfly and Visual Studio 2008

Greetings,

Today I saw something that I thought was incredibly interesting.
Visual Studio 2008 is supposedly going to have a Popfly tie-in called "Popfly Explorer". If this is what it sounds like, I am SUPER excited. In fact, I haven't seen really any other blogs mention this. I think this will add a lot more excitement around Popfly and encourage even MORE mashup components. This is like taking webparts and putting them on 'roids (that's Steroids).

The full article is here.

The fact that this is being included in VS 2008 is nudging me towards adding another section in the final chapter of my book. Check out the comments on it thus far in the nice little Silverlight Streaming application in the upper right corner. Oh yeah, and the final chapter has a walkthrough related to Silverlight Streaming.

Free Book Chapter - Silverlight 1.1 in Action Early Adoper Open for Business!

Hello,

I am excited to announce that we have opened up early access to "Silverlight 1.1 in Action." If you have an interest in joining or pre-ordering, please click here. If you are hesitant, you can read chapter 1 for FREE through here. I feel obligate to mention that the page count is just an estimation. There may be more, there may be less. Regardless, here is my personal overview and opinions on the first two chapters.

Chapter 1

This chapter is really an overview of Silverlight and describes what I call the three "Ps" of Silverlight. In addition it provides an overview of XAML as well as a walkthrough to give you a feel for the designer / developer workflow available within Silverlight. You will need to provide you own .wmv file to get the walkthrough to work. However, I will be posting a special surprise once the full book is completed.

Personally, I feel a large majority of technical books focus on the "what" and "how", but rarely address the "why". For this reason, I wanted to address the why right off the bat. Admittedly, this chapter is not very technical (there is still a fair amount of code), however, I still feel it is incredibly valuable.

One of the questionable items in chapter 1 has been the "color" or tone. It is incredibly upbeat. Personally, that was my goal. My feelings are, if you are buying a book, you should feel good about it (as long as the content is technically correct). If you feel it is inappropriate, please feel free to post a comment on this blog.

Chapter 2

This chapter jumps right into the technical details. Throughout this chapter you will unlock the mysteries of the Silverlight plugin. This chapter will also show you how to manipulate the HTML DOM from managed code, as well as, work with managed code from script. When all is said and done, you should be able to masterfully integrate Silverlight content within your web applications. Once again, this chapter ends with a walkthrough to give you a hands on way to solidfy the chapter's content.

Personally, I originally overlooked the significance of the ability to work between the HTML DOM and managed code. However now, I view it as probably one of Silverlight's most important features. It really is that cool.

For the early adopters, let me proactively answer the question "when will the rest of the content become available?" I want to release chapters, in order. They will be released based upon the accuracy of the content in relation to future availability of Silverlight 1.1. For this reason, I cannot give you an exact date. I can tell you that there are several other chapters completed or near completed. However, because of the structure of the book, I really feel it is important to release the content sequentially.

I look forward to your comments related to the content that has been posted. The good news is, the content has not been sent to the printing press yet, so if there is something you despise, please let me know. I will review it and see if we can work something out.

I want to thank everyone that participated in the book raffle. There were 157 of you and the winners have been notified. Now, back to working on Chapter 11 of Silverlight 1.1 in Action.

Popfly info and some humor

1. Yesterday, Microsoft announced that Popfly has officially gone Beta. In conjunction with this, the invitation approach has been removed, and you only need a Windows Live ID to use Popfly. In celebration of this, a contest for creating Popfly creations has been announced. Personally, I have been using Popfly since about May or June and I'm pretty excited about the potential surrounding it. In addition, I think it is a great tool to show to individuals when they ask about Silverlight.
2. Dave Bost has posted the Buck Foley Speech from the IndyTechFest. Personally, I found this to be a refreshingly humorous opening to a technical event. Great Job Buck!
3. Don't forget to sign up for the FREE Ebook Raffle!

Lastly, this blog feels like it has been a spam machine as of late. Once the "Silverlight 1.1 in Action" book is completed, I promise I will be posting some more valuable content. Thanks for reading, I sincerely appreciate it.

Silverlight 1.1 Book Raffle!

Hello,

I am excited to announce we are VERY near opening up the early adopter program for my upcoming "Silverlight 1.1 in Action" book. In celebration of this event, I have been given TEN (10) coupons for one FREE Ebook. In order to provide everyone with an interest in Silverlight 1.1 an equal chance at this content, I have decided to create a raffle, where the winners will be randomly selected on Wednesday, October 24, 2007.

In order to enter the raffle, please send an e-mail with the subject of "October 2007 - Raffle" to "chads.email.is@gmail.com". Please provide your name within the body of the e-mail. It is important that you enter the subject correctly because I will be using a script to retrieve the participating e-mails. After the winners have been drawn you will receive one e-mail. This e-mail will either inform you that you have won, or someone else has won. If you win, you will be notified and you will have 48 hours to respond. If you do not respond within 48 hours, another particpant will be selected and you will not receive the coupon.

Your e-mail address WILL be kept private. In addition, I will NOT spam you to buy the book. You will receive only one e-mail stating whether or not you have won, unless you mention in the e-mail that you would like more communication related to Silverlight 1.1 in Action.

If you do not win, don't worry, you will still have the opportunity to get the content thanks to Manning Publishing's Early Access Program. If you are not familiar with this process you can find out more here. Once the early access program has opened specifically for my book, I will publish more information on this blog.

Good luck!

Silverlight 1.1 - IndyTechFest Presentation

Hello,

In about 2 hours, I will be presenting on Silverlight 1.1 at the IndyTechFest in Indianapolis, IN. My presentation that I am giving is available here. This presentation is ever-so-slightly different than the ones I have given in the past. During this session I am highlighting the ability to manipulate the HTML DOM via Managed Code.

Also, in relation to my book, "Silverlight 1.1 in Action", which is where the content for my presentations is pulled from, I have some EXCITING news. We will be very shortly, as in any moment now (minutes/hours/a couple of days, but not weeks), providing Early Adopter content. Once the process goes live, you can be sure that I will post more detailed information on this blog about how you can access this content. So make sure your RSS readers are up-to-date :).

I have to say, I have been VERY impressed with the IndyTechFest event. There are approximately 500 software development professionals at this event. The breadth, depth, and quality of presentations has been phenomenal. We even had a surprise visit by Buck Foley. This motivational speaker gave us his unique, and highly entertaining perspective of the topics being presented today. If you're doing an event, I think he does an excellent job of meshing technology and humor and his website is available here: http://www.buckfoley.com/.

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.