Session: Recording, Code: T87F, 59 minutes

Jeff Wilcox, Software Development Engineer, Silverlight Toolkit team, Microsoft

• Agenda
  • Client platform vision
  • What’s shared between Silverlight and WPF?
  • Today’s Controls and Features
  • Building controls for Silverlight and WPF
  • Bringing it all together
• Why?
  • Become a .NET expert once
  • Develop a versatile skill set
  • Not about building apps that “just work” everywhere
• Client Platform Vision (3:12)
  • Great Platforms
    • Maximize reach with Silverlight
    • Add value with WPF
  • Shared skills, techniques, and vocabulary
  • Create once, use everywhere
    • XAML
    • .NET Code
    • Tests
  • World-class developer and designer tools
• Current State of Microsoft client platforms, 5:14
  • Compatibility Council
  • SL3, SL Toolkit, .NET 4
  • We’re working to ensure compatibility
• You don’t have to be a code ninja!, (6:20)
• A Shared Demo
  • Build a SL app, and a WPF app
  • Makes a common folder
  • In 2nd project, “Add as Link”
• What just happened?
  • Shared .NET platform
  • Shared development environment
  • Shared components
  • 100% the same source code
  • 'Can make changes in Blend to the common, and they show up in both app’s
• Shared Client Platform
  • The Gu Technology
• Shared .NET Framework
  • Great application platform
  • Powerful runtime
  • Great language support
  • Amazing Communities
• Business Objects
  • Modern .NET business objects and logic
    • Collections, Generics, LINQ
  • Easy to add framework-specific value
• Core Building Blocks, 16:21
  • XAML
  • Rich compositing
    • Shapes
    • Visual tree
  • Managed framework
    • Dependency and attached properties
    • Events
    • Control model
  • Controls
  • Layout
• Improving compatibility, 17:50
  • Silverlight Toolkit
    • March 2009 release
      • SL2 and SL# releases available
    • SL2 development continues
  • WPF Toolkit
    • Available today
    • .NET 4
• Silverlight toolkit
  • Fills today’s slight compatibility gap
  • Developing new controls with a rapid development cycle
  • Ships in Silverlight SDK and on CodePlex
• Silverlight Toollkit, 20:20
  • WPF Compatible controls
    • DockPanel
    • WrapPanel
    • TreeView
  • WPF Compatible feautes
    • ImplicityStyleManager
    • LayoutTransform
  • New controls offered for Silverlight and WPF
    • Charting
    • AutoCompletedBox
• WPF Toolkit and .NET 4, 20:38
  • Calendar
  • DatePicker
  • DataGrid
  • VisualStateManager
  • All of the SL themes will be included in WPF Toolkit
• Building Controls for SL and WPF, 20:54
  • Summary: build for Silverlight first, and then move to WPF
  • Step 1: Basics and C# Strategy
  • Step 2: Source layout
  • Step 3: Dependency properties
  • Step 4: XAML
  • Step 5: Default styles
  • Step 6: VSM
  • Step 7 Wild hacks
• C# Techniques
  • Partial classes
  • Extension methods and utility classes
  • Preprocessor directives
    • #if SILVERLIGHT
      • // Silverlight
    • #else
      • //WPF
    • #endif
• Source layout, 23:05
  • Peer folders for Silverlight and WPF
  • File links and source control
  • Try to do the real work in Silverlight projects, and link from the WPF project
• Dependency Properties, 25:55
  • Avoid WPF-specific metadata
    • Coercion
    • Read-only properties
• XAML,31:26
  • Use WPF namespace
    • xmlns:=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation”
    • xmlns:x=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml”
  • Watch out for the Silverlight 1.0 namespace
    • http://schemas.microsoft.com/client/2007
    • “if you use this one, you won’t have the compatibility story”
• Default Styles, 31:54
  • Default styles and templates for controls are selected via DefaultStyleKey property
  • Defined differently
    • WPF: Static constructor
    • Silverlight Instance constructor
• VSM, 35:05
  • Silverlight doesn’t have triggers
  • .NET 4 / WPF get VSM
  • Add a dependency to WPF toolkit, to get VSM
  • Try to have a central state management code
• Wild hacks, 37:45
  • Declare routed events in a partial class
    • MyControl.Wpf.CS
  • Firing routed events
    • source.OnSelectionChange (new SelectionChangedEventArgs(
      • #if SILVERLIGHT
        • SelectionChangedEvent,
      • #endif
      • removed, added));
• Wild Hacks 2, 39:30
  • helper extension methods
  • Utility Classes
    • Abstract out application model differences
    • Abstract client platform differences
• Putting it All Together, demo