Rants Tagged with “Silverlight”
I will be talking about SharePoint and Silverlight Integration at Atlanta's upcoming SharePoint Saturday. If you are in Atlanta and want to hear about some of the ways you can use Silverlight in your SharePoint sites, drop by for a listen!
I've been using Amy Dullard's great batch file for switching the tools back and forth between Silverlight 2 and Silverlight 3. It works great except that it doesn't change the runtime. And while the Silverlight 3 runtime *should* run any Silverlight 2 code fine, I just don't trust it. So I had to make it better.
I've made a small change in Amy's batch file to uninstall and install the right runtime, but there is a hitch. You need to download the runtimes yourself (as they are downloaded during installation and since Amy's batch is opening up the Setup package, they aren't there).
To use the batch file you'll need to download the file (here) and unzip it into an empty directory. Into that directory copy the following files:
You can download them by clicking on the links.
If you haven't done so already, run the Silverlight 2 Tools Package and the Silverlight 3 Tools Package. Finally you can run the Setup_SLTools_Util.bat file that is in the zip file. This will create new batch files for moving two and from SL2/SL3 for Visual Studio and Visual Web Developer Express. Please see Amy Dullard's post about it for more information about how the batch files are used:
http://blogs.msdn.com/amyd/...silverlight-3-tools-to-silverlight-2-tools.aspx
As usual I have a full schedule of appearances coming up. After my long trip to the west coast, most of my appearances coming up are more on the right-coast. If you're in any of these cities, come by and hear me discuss your favorite topics:
Don't forget to drop by and say hello if you're at any of these events!
My sessions are in the running for CodeStock in Knoxville, TN. You can help pick which sessions are going to be given (including mine) at this year's CodeStock. How does it work?
You go to CodeStock and register to attend (an incredible deal at $25 for two days), then you can vote on the content that you want! You can register here:
http://codestock.org/Pages/Register.aspx
Voting for the sessions ends on May 15th.
I want to start living side-by-side with Sivlerlight 2 and 3. Its not that easy, but it can be done.
Up to now I've been leaving my SL3 development on a VPC, and that is clearly the safest route. If you aren't ready to maybe screw up your Visual Studio installations with Silverlight 3, don't follow anything I am going to tell you.
First, there is Visual Studio. I found this great set of batch files for switching back and forth:
http://blogs.msdn.com/amyd/archive/2009/03/18/switching-from-silverlight-3-tools-to-silverlight-2-tools.aspx
Second, Blend 2 SP1 and Blend 3 will install side-by-side.
I haven't done this yet, so wish me luck (in the morning...its too late to try tonight). Buf if you've had luck with this, let me know in comments!
I got the chance to sit down and record a podcast with Jon Galloway, K, Scott Allen, Kevin Dente and Scott Koon. We talked everything Silverlight 3 including a long interlude on RIA Services.
Go get a listen so you can argue with me on my every opinion...
I just found out (through Adam Kinney's great Continuum show) that there is a Fireworks to XAML Panel for Fireworks. I haven't used Fireworks in a few years but I used to love it (though it seems that Adobe hasn't been investing in it). It now works with Silverlight too!
You can see him talking about the plugin on Channel 9 here:
http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/Continuum/Fireworks-to-XAML-Panel
I will be in Nashville, TN in August 13 - 15, 2009 to speak at the DevLink conference. DevLink is a great deal at $75 for three days of technical content. I will be doing sessions on:
Will it Blend?: It’s easy to assume that the Expression toolset is just for designers. It’s even got that cool dark background with a completely non-Windows looking skin. But is that the reality? In this session I will show developers how Blend can be used to make their jobs quite a bit easier, even without a single ounce of artistic talent.
Silverlight + MVVM = Easy: Building a simple gadget or proof-of-concept in Silverlight is a pleasurable experience. But for larger applications, we should be able to leverage some of the tried and true software development patterns to help us build reliable and robust solutions. One of the most power of these techniques is the model-view-view-model (MVVM) pattern. In this session, I will present a example of building your applications using the MVC pattern to enable testability and separation of concerns.
Registration starts tomorrow at:
http://www.devlink.net
One week left before the Silverilght Tour starts teaching Silverlight 3! If you want to be ready for the next version of Silverlight, this is the place to be. On April 6-8th in Chicago, IL our three-day Silverlight workshop is going to teach the latest features of Silverlight as well as the complete Silverlight 2 stack.
The new features we are covering include:
- Out of the Browser Support
- Pixel Shaders
- Hardware Graphic Accelleration
- Behaviors
- Navigation Framework
- Blend 3
- Binding Improvements
- Secure Web Services
- Binary XML Transport
- RIA Services Client Controls
- Preview of RIA Services
To sign up for the class or hold a seat, visit the registration site:
https://agilitrain.com/workshop/info/Silverlight_Tour_Workshop
You only have one week left to register for our innaugural Advanced Silverlight Workshop. On March 30-31st, we will be holding the class in Atlanta, GA. This new class covers the material that you need to build large, robust applications using Silverlight 2 or 3. The workshop includes coverage of:
- Custom Control and Custom Layout Control Development.
- Testing Your Silverlight Applications.
- Securing Web Services.
- Sharing Entities Between Client and Server.
- Implementing Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) in Silverlight
- Using Inversion of Control Containers with Silverlight
- Composing Large Applications using Prism
If you are headed into a Silverlight project and want to be prepared to successfully architect and design your solution, this is the class for you. For more information visit:
https://agilitrain.com/workshop/info/Advanced_Silverlight
