Fuziness and Cognizance... : XBAP and Silverlight

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XBAP and Silverlight

What is the difference between XBAP and Silverlight and when should i use which of these technologies?

Let me step back and start with a precursor:

In .NET 3.0 we have Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) which allows us to create stunning UIs for desktop applications using managed code. If you still haven't experienced the power of WPF check out the WPF applications here.

Now the logical question was "How can we take the same stunning experience onto the web" - the first step towards that was XBAP - XAML Browser Application (XAML is eXtensible Application Markup Language - an XML type markup to store the UI). XBAPs allow you to run Rich Internet Applications that look and function like WPF desktop applications. These XBAPs run inside the Internet Explorer in a separate sandbox to prevent applications from accessing resources on the local system. A restriction on XBAPs is that they need .NET framework 3.0 or higher to be installed on the client machine to run.

This is exactly what Silverlight is for. So if you want your application to be available on the internet and not dependent on the .NET framework, Silverlight is the way to go. Silverlight is a cross platform, cross browser plugin that allows you to run UIs defined in XAML inside the browser. Silverlight supports a subset of XAML as of now.

I hope this clarifies some of the doubts around XBAP and Silverlight. Feel free to leave questions if you have any.

Posted: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 3:33 AM by bsinghal

Comments

M. Rajesh said:

Can you provide any tutorial to get started with Silverlight to create pages for websites. For example how do you get these effects as seen on http://heroeshappenhere.co.in/

We would like to implement this kind of animation for our websites.

Please help.

# February 26, 2008 11:18 PM

Noticias externas said:

What is the difference between XBAP and Silverlight and when should i use which of these technologies

# February 26, 2008 11:22 PM

Sync said:

Why does 3D work in XBAP and don't in Silverlight? I heard that 3D doesn't support in order to serve Silverlight as a cross-platform technology.. but what exactly is technical reason? Can you tell me a lit bit deep information about that reason?

# February 27, 2008 1:40 AM

D2 said:

As explained by yourself, can we say that XBAP has been replaced by Silverlight?

# October 8, 2008 9:31 AM

RajaSekhara Reddy Karumuru said:

pls find the diff to the best of my Knowledge.

XBAP

Only Targets IE/Windows

All WPF Features are available

Deployment is harder as we need to take care of deploying all .Net Dependencies on client Machines

Heavy Weight

Best for Intranet Applciations

We can use all controls of WPF

SilverLight

Targets to Any Browser/Platform(Even in Linux)

Subset of WPF features only available

Deployment is easy as SilverLight will take care of installation of dependants

Light Weight

Best for Internet Applications

We can't use all the controls. But As silverlight is the future of web apps,we might be getting more controls

Support MVC for TDD.

Thanks

Raj

# October 15, 2008 10:52 PM

devvvy said:

THanks

By WBA I meant WPF "Web Browser Application" - I tried and run the app it's contained within a brower (Firefox on my XP) - so I think it's a browser based app BUT not served by IIS or webserver and therefore only available through file share? (This also explains why WBA is not a replacement for ASP.NET)

file:///I:/dev/NET3.0/WpfBrowserApplication1/bin/Debug/WpfBrowserApplication1.xbap

Now Silverlight when i tried run Silverlight app, I get this from browser:

http://localhost:1716/Default.aspx[^]

Meaning Silverlight is available via webserver/browser and not restricted to deliver by file share as in case of WBA. It does require Silverlight plugin however and the entire app gets executed on clientside once served, this significantly reduces postbacks.

On contrary, ASP.NET require plug-in and Silverlight/ASPNET are alternatives, competiting technologies. But, Silverlight again does not replace ASP.NET.

My understanding right?

# February 12, 2009 8:23 PM

bsinghal said:

@devvvy - you can publish a XBAP (or WBA as you mentioned) on a file share, ftp or a web server - so technically it can replace a ASP.NET app. However XBAPs are not meant to replace ASP.NET applications which are more loosely coupled and work on a the request-response model. XBAPs even when they are published on a web server get downloaded and cahced on the client machine and run entirely locally from the context of the web browser.

Regarding ASP.NET and Silverlight - they are not competing technologies but rather complimentary. Silverlight brings the Richness to ASP.NET that is lacking or otherwise too difficult to create in ASP.NET alone. Besides ASP.NET does not require any client side plug-in but Silverlight does.

# February 13, 2009 1:38 AM

Xenki Viewer Blog said:

I found a short and nice post on the differences between XBAP and Silvelight. Here is the link. http

# May 21, 2009 7:05 PM

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