Microsoft Silverlight 4 Beta

Microsoft Silverlight 4 Beta

Silverlight is a free plug-in, powered by the .NET Framework and compatible with multiple browsers, devices and platforms. Bringing a new level of interactivity to wherever the Web works.

By Microsoft Corporation, Published 17th November 2009

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Nov 18, 2009 Microsoft Corp. created Microsoft Silverlight to help companies design, develop and deliver engaging, interactive user experiences for Web, desktop and mobile applications when online or offline. Silverlight is a free plug-in, powered by the .NET Framework and compatible with multiple browsers, devices and platforms. Bringing a new level of interactivity to wherever the Web works, Silverlight will ultimately deliver seamless experiences across PCs, TVs and phones.

On Nov. 18, 2009, at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft unveiled a beta version of Silverlight 4. This latest version delivers hundreds of features and controls that, when combined with the continued innovation in Microsoft's world-class tools for designers and developers - Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend - offer benefits in rapid, powerful application development. Silverlight 4 was developed with strong consideration of customer feedback and includes nine of the top 10 most-requested features. With printing support, rich reporting and charting, and integration with back-end systems and server products including Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), Silverlight is ready for business.

New Features in Silverlight 4

Silverlight 4 delivers a full suite of powerful features to application developers, bringing innovative platform capabilities to browser-based experiences. Silverlight provides an ideal platform for developing and deploying modern business applications for both internal and end-user applications on both sides of the firewall.

• Enabling business application development. Silverlight 4 affirms its position as the natural choice for building business applications on the Web:

  What's new for application developers

  • Comprehensive printing support now enables the creation of a virtual print view, enabling applications to deliver print-friendly documents.
  • A full set of controls with more than 60 customizable, skinnable components makes it easy to build forms that can be sorted, resized and validated. New controls include RichTextArea with hyperlinks, images and editing.
  • Localisation enhancements with bidirectional text, right-to-left support and complex scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew and Thai and 30 new languages.
  • The Microsoft .NET Framework Common Language Runtime (CLR) now enables the same compiled code to be run both on the server and the client, reducing development time and testing resources.
  • Enhanced databinding support reduces the amount of code needed to work with customised data for display.
  • Managed Extensibility Framework supports building completely modular applications, allowing for fast startup and download, efficient development and testing, as well as agile customisation and servicing.
  • Windows Communication Foundation RIA Services introduces enterprise class networking and data access, allowing applications to work with any source of data and any server.
  • Extensive tooling support for Silverlight, new in Visual Studio 2010:
    - Fully editable design surface for drawing out controls and layouts
    - Rich property grid and new editors for values
    - Drag and drop support for databinding and automatically creating bound controls such as listbox and datagrid
    - New datasources window and picker
    - Easy-to-pick styles and resources to make a good-looking application based on designer resources built in Expression Blend
    - Built-in project support for Silverlight applications
    - Editor with full IntelliSense for XAML and C# and Visual Basic languages
• Empowering richer experiences. Silverlight 4 introduces additional capabilities that enable developers to create richer, more appealing, high-performance interactive and innovative media experiences:
  • Enhanced animation capabilities allow for more dynamic, interactive presentation of data in lists.
  • Webcam and microphone support allow sharing of video and audio in applications such as chat and customer service.
  • Audio and video local recording capabilities capture RAW video without requiring server interaction, allowing new scenarios such as capturing voice or video to send in e-mail, or allowing the recording to be edited locally before saving.
  • Copy/paste and drag-and-drop make it easy to bring photos, text and other data into your application.
  • New features such as right-click and mouse wheel scrolling enable developers to add conventional desktop interaction models.
  • Silverlight 4 runs across all platforms and major browsers.
  • Silverlight 4 applications start quicker and run 200 percent faster than the equivalent Silverlight 3 applications with performance optimisations.
  • Multitouch support enables a range of gestures and touch interactions to be integrated into user experiences.
  • Multicast networking enables enterprises to lower the cost of streaming broadcast events such as company meetings and training, with seamless interoperability with existing Windows Media Services streaming infrastructure.
  • Content protection now available for H.264 media through Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady.
  • Output protection for audio/video streams allowing content owners or distributors to ensure protected content is only viewed through a secure video connection.
• Moving beyond the browser. Silverlight 4 extends out-of-browser capabilities pioneered in Silverlight 3 that enable a Web presence to establish closer, more persistent relationships with customers without any additional runtime download or the need to write applications in a different way.

  For sandboxed applications

  • Developers can place HTML within their application, enabling much tighter integration with content from Web servers such as e-mail, help and reports.
  • Silverlight 4 provides support for desktop pop-up notification windows to easily provide real-time information and feedback to users using a common user interface metaphor.
  • Offline DRM extends the existing Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady technology to work in a disconnected state, enabling users to view content and engage with a Silverlight application where and when they want. Protected content can be delivered with an embedded license so that users can go offline immediately and start enjoying their content.
  • Silverlight 4 offers full control over window settings such as start position and size to ensure applications have maximum usability and flexibility.

  For trusted applications

  • Users can read and write files to their My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos folder (or equivalent for non-Windows platforms), enabling applications to make local copies of reports and media files.
  • COM automation enables access to devices and other system capabilities such as a Universal Serial Bus security card reader.
  • Users can access other desktop programs such as Microsoft Office Excel to create a report.
  • Group policy objects allow organizations to manage which applications are trusted.
  • Comprehensive keyboard support in full-screen out-of-browser mode enhances kiosk and media applications.
  • Enhancements to networking allow cross-domain access without a security policy file.

Adoption and Momentum

Silverlight is currently installed on more than 45 percent ofInternet connected devices worldwide. Some countries in Europe have penetration as high as 60 percent.

• Many new partners have joined the Silverlight Partner Initiative since the launch of Silverlight, including leading content delivery networks, solution providers and encoding independent software vendors, bringing the total to about 350 partners in more than 35 countries that are helping customers around the world develop, design and deliver compelling Silverlight experiences.
• Numerous strategic Microsoft products are using Silverlight including Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, the Bing toolbar, Bing Visual Search and Bing Maps (formerly Virtual Earth), Bing Videos (formerly MSN Videos), Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows Live, the Xbox and Zune Web sites, and more than 400 Microsoft Web sites in the U.S. and around the globe.