Professional ASP.NET 3.5 SP1 Edition: In C# and VB

Appendix C. Silverlight 2 and ASP.NET

Silverlight is the newest Web platform from Microsoft that allows you to create and run Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) on all major browsers available on both Mac and Windows. Silverlight applications execute within a browser plug-in installed on the local machine similar to the way Flash animations run. The Silverlight plug-in supports all of the wow factors that you would expect from a RIA platform, such as vector-based graphics and animations, full audio and video integration, including high definition video support.

Beginning with version 2, the platform introduced a cross-browser, cross-platform version of the .NET Framework. This means developers can write Silverlight applications in any .NET language and use the rich Silverlight base class library, networking stack, controls, and XAML-based UI, all without requiring the end user to install the actual .NET Framework.

While it is outside the scope of this book to give more than an introduction to Silverlight 2, this appendix will focus on the key points that an ASP.NET developer needs to know about integrating a Silverlight application into a new or existing ASP.NET application.

The appendix starts by showing you how to create a new Silverlight application using the Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1. Next, it looks at the two new ASP.NET server controls provided by the Silverlight SDK that make embedding Silverlight into your ASP.NET applications a snap. Finally the appendix ...