Over the next few weeks, Gavin Leader and I will be giving lunch-time training sessions on Silverlight to our co-workers at Ascentium. While these classes are limited to Ascentium employees, we will be posting a series of articles chronicling this training process. If you work at Ascentium and are not already aware of these meetings please see Gavin or I, if not, please feel free to follow along with these weekly blog posts and ask questions, add comments or tell us where we screwed up.

Our primary target audience is front-end web developers who are familiar with HTML and probably JavaScript. Some weeks though will be more designer or back end developer focused. At the end of each week’s session we will identify the topic and audience for the next week so everyone knows what to expect.

Agenda

For the 1st week we are going to do an overview on what exactly Silverlight is. We will also delve into the tools needed to build it, resources to use when learning and get into an introduction of what exactly XAML is.

1. Showcase
   • I’m A PC – Silverlight Video Wall
   • Microsoft Success Stories
2. Describing the Silverlight Plugin
   • Cross-Browser – IE, Firefox and Safari (Kinda on Chrome)
   • Cross-Platform - Runs on XP, Vista, Mac and Linux
   • Contains .NET CLR
3. Limitations
   • Executes in browser
     • No direct access to server resources
     • No access to local system resources
     • Similar constraints as JavaScript
   • Limited .NET Support
     • Not all .NET libraries are supported
     • All referenced libraries must be compiled against Silverlight CLR
   • Limited Install Base
     • Growing but still not pervasive
     • More common on Windows PCs
4. When it should (and shouldn’t) be used
   • Use on sites that need a rich experience, typically including subtle transitions and animations that are difficult or ugly with DHTML.
   • Use for applications that need the power of managed code. Sometimes JavaScript just isn’t powerful enough to do the job.
   • Don’t use when you just need simple mouse-overs or changing content panes.
5. Tools
   • Where to get them
   • Visual Studio 2008 SP1 w/ Silverlight Tools
   • Expression Blend 2 SP1
6. Learning Resources
   • Silverlight.net
     • Blogs
     • Forums
     • Videos
     • Tutorials
     • Showcase
   • What Is Silverlight?
   • Blogs
     • RIA Thoughts
     • weblogs.asp.net/gavinleader
     • www.ascentium.com/blog/ria
     • Silverlight Cream
   • Silverlight 2 in Action
   • Source code for this course - (link will be provided next week)
7. Introduction to XAML syntax
   • Designs as Objects
   • XAML representation of all graphical elements
   • Elements and attributes
   • Elements as attributes

Future weeks will be much more hands on and have code and working samples for attendees to run and extend. We haven’t yet decided on how many weeks this is going to happen but you can be sure that it will not be short. The topic for next week’s training session will be over the different controls in Silverlight and will have sample code and homework to accompany it.