Summary

A thorough revision of the bestselling Silverlight 4 in Action. This comprehensive guide teaches Silverlight from the ground up, covering all the new v. 5 features in depth. You'll also explore WCF RIA Services, MVVM, and more—with dozens of code samples you can use in Visual Studio 2010 or the free Visual Web Developer 2010 Express.

About the Book

This hands-on guide explores Silverlight from the ground up, covering every feature in rich, practical detail. It is readable and the coverage is comprehensive. You'll master networking, MVVM, and more—with dozens of code samples you can use in Visual Studio or the free Visual Web Developer Express.

Silverlight 5 in Action teaches you how to build desktop-quality applications you can deploy on the web. Beginners will appreciate the progression from simple examples to full applications that employ good design and coding practices. Seasoned .NET developers will love how the sample code embraces and extends what they already know.

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

What's Inside

• 2D and 3D graphics and animation
• Business application services, rules, and validation
• The MVVM pattern and testing
• Free appendixes (150 pages) available online
• A background in C# or VB.NET is helpful, but no knowledge of Silverlight or XAML is required.

Table of Contents

PART 1 CORE SILVERLIGHT

PART 2 CREATING THE USER INTERFACE

PART 3 WORKING WITH DATA AND SERVICES

PART 4 2D AND 3D GRAPHICS

PART 5 MAKING THE MOST OF THE PLATFORM

PART 6 BEST PRACTICES

1. Introducing Silverlight
2. XAML and the property system
3. The application model and the plug-in
4. Working with HTML and browsers
5. Out-of-browser applications
6. The security model and elevated trust
7. Rendering, layout, and transforming
8. Panels
9. Human input
10. Text fundamentals
11. Editing plain and rich text
12. Control basics and UserControls
13. Animation and behaviors
14. Resources, styles, and control templates
15. Extensions, converters, custom controls, and panels
16. Binding
17. Data controls: DataGrid and DataForm
18. Input validation
19. Networking basics
20. Working with SOAP services
21. RESTful services with the ASP.NET Web API
22. Working with XML, JSON, RSS, and Atom
23. Duplex, sockets, and local connections
24. Graphics and effects
25. Working with images
26. Introduction to 3D
27. 3D lighting, texturing, and animation
28. Pop-ups, windows, and full-screen applications
29. Navigation
30. Working with files and directories
31. Printing
32. COM, Native Extensions, and p-invoke
33. Structuring and testing with the MVVM pattern
34. Debugging your application
35. The install experience and preloaders