Silverlight™ 2 Bible

Chapter 13. Using the Silverlight Presentation Framework

The Silverlight presentation framework consists of several libraries that provide most of the functionality for Silverlight applications. Parts II and III of this book cover much of the presentation framework, as we discuss the various techniques to program Silverlight applications. For example, all of the Silverlight controls you learn about in Chapter 3 are part of the presentation framework, as are the media and animation controls discussed in Chapter 8.

Because most of the UI functionality of the presentation framework has already been discussed, this chapter focuses on helping you understand how to use the presentation framework to interact with the browser, access the client file system, and implement threading.

Understanding the Silverlight Presentation Framework

The main purpose of the Silverlight presentation framework is to provide you with the UI controls and functionality to implement rich Internet applications. However, the presentation framework is much more than just the UI controls; it also encompasses browser interaction, threading, and system calls. Table 13.1 lists the namespaces that are part of the Silverlight presentation framework.

Table 13.1. Silverlight Presentation Foundation Namespaces

Library	Description
System.Windows	Provides the general presentation and base classes for Silverlight development. For example, the Application, UIElement, EventTrigger, and FontStyles.
System.Windows.Browser	Provides the classes ...