Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

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Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

posted @ Tuesday, October 06, 2009 10:40 AM | 17 Comments

If you’re a pro Silverlight developer, this post isn’t for you. Just a brief update that I’ve updated some of our getting started material for beginners – those who really haven’t done anything. These will be showing up on the Silverlight Community Site soon, but I wanted to post a link to it here first.

Getting Started with Silverlight Development is a 7-part series where I aim to do my best in trying to stuff as much as possible about Silverlight development in a simple application we develop at different steps. It uses:

Navigation
Styles/templates
Data Templates
Data binding
Value Converters
Silverlight Toolkit controls
Isolated Storage
Network connectivity
Web service requests to a public service
Out-of-browser experiences

I hope that it is simple enough for beginners to follow but also provide a broad spectrum of capabilities to the beginner. Full code in C# and Visual Basic is provided.

Hope this helps!

tags: silverlight toolkit, silverlight, ria, xaml, getting started, expression blend, blend

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.

Comments

Vidz

10/6/2009 5:13 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures (million words). Videos please!!!
timheuer

10/6/2009 5:51 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Vidz - Throughout the tutorials I reference videos that speak to some of these points.
Vidz

10/6/2009 8:53 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Tim, I see the videos. Thanks. Just a couple of good topics for future videos (Your videos are better than your awesome blogs):

1. How to use user and/or custom controls in Silverlight to do simple animations with images (where number of images are known at runtime, slideshows the proper way). How do techniques like Clipping Path come into picture?

2. How to deliver videos using IIS Smooth streaming with Silverlight 3 (complete setup of video files, IIS and the Silverlight host application part of course)

3. Architecting a large business (enterprise) Silverlight application (dynamically loaded assemblies, performance, memory constraints, size of the Silverlight application, etc.)

These would really help Silverlight gain momentum and should be exciting for everyone in general and you.
Dentist

10/6/2009 10:04 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

I wish Silverlight had the penetration that Flash had - seems like they give the user faster requested items and you can't go wrong with the full win32 api behind your back :)
Vidz

10/6/2009 10:40 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

The full Win 32 API does not work for web applications across platforms other than Windows. There is no comparison. Silverlight should have just been part of the .NET Framework install on Windows (and optionally available like it is right now on the web for all those who don't have it yet). People just don't like to download and install plugins these days - no matter how superior or advanced a technology is. Too bad the EU is always after Microsoft. We should sue the EU for not allowing us to add a Lexus massage chair in BMWs. There is no such choice in European products. Their products and for that matter Linux always comes bundled with everything.
Manar Muhammad

10/6/2009 10:48 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

I want to try Silverlight.
John Graham

10/7/2009 12:14 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

I wouldnt know why the EU would make a problem of this because
1) Flash has been pre-installed with Windows for like forever, that helped them get the market penetration they have today
2) Flash has the monopoly here as it is on 98% (or whatever the number is) of PC's. I think they should force Adobe to, when you install Flash, that it should give you a prompt on what other RIA's to install like Silverlight :-D

I know when I say this it sounds ridiculous but this is exactly what the EU is having Microsoft do with IE on Windows 7. It's all pretty weird rules if you ask me.
Vidz

10/7/2009 5:44 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Thank you John, exactly my sentiments. However, for the subject at hand, Tim do you think we can expect some videos based on my previous post (1,2 and 3)?
:)
Howard

10/7/2009 6:31 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

It is very difficult to folow your tutorial. My suggestion is that you use the classical meethod of numbering your tutorials so tht when you finish 1 you know easily how to go to 2, etc. I would have on th right the list of numbered and showing the topics.

Comments shoudl only show if the student clicks on them and want to read.

I hate your updates appeaaring all over the place. Like many folks I have limited time and would like to quickly get up to speed on silverlight.

Thanks!!!
timheuer

10/7/2009 9:31 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Howard -- the index is linked to in this post above: timheuer.com/.../...h-silverlight-development.aspx. And at every beginning of each part of the series, there is a list back to the index and at the end of the part in the series there is a link to the next part.

As to the comments -- this is a blog with comments -- this is just a series of posts I put up.
Tom

10/8/2009 1:49 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

those videos may not be a bad idea Tim... silverlight needs more support from all microsoft employees to become ubiquitous
Kiran

10/12/2009 3:25 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Hi Tim:

This question is regarding "Out-Of-Browser" feature, Is there a way to provide an alternative solution to users to "Uninstall an silverlight application" from their desktop other than the right-click remove...

I would greatly appreciate your reply and your time.

Thanks,
kiran
timheuer

10/12/2009 10:00 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Kiran -- there currently is not unfortunately.
Brian

10/15/2009 9:03 AM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Tim, I am a developer who spends lots of time in Visual Studio (2008). I am repaving my machine for a few reasons: 1. get off of RC of Win7, 2. prepare dev env for a new project.

The new project is maintenance on an existing SL2 project. I've been working in VPC for too long now and really want to gain some productivity back by working out of my main machine. My project is a short engagement, so I don't want to have to repave/rebuild my dev env in a few weeks to support newer SL3 work. I'd like to setup my main machine to be able to do both SL2 and SL3 development within Visual Studio 2008 and Blend.

Is a setup supported where I can develop SL2 and SL3 applications in Visual Studio 2008 and Blend? ...Or am I going to be forced to use a virtual machine? If it is supported, how would I go about doing it?
timheuer

10/16/2009 3:28 PM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

Brian -- it isn't supported easily in VS2008, but there are some ways: timheuer.com/.../...s-with-visual-studio-2008.aspx
shweta Tripathi

10/27/2009 11:15 AM | # que.........softwere

I request u plz provide me a silverlight softwere .
timheuer

10/27/2009 11:16 AM | # re: Updated Silverlight getting started for beginners

shweta - you can get all the software you need at http://silverlight.net/getstarted