Microsoft Silverlight Books

Get a jump on the next release of Silverlight with early insights from a Technical Evangelist on the Microsoft Silverlight team. This guide describes how you can simplify the development and deployment of rich interactive applications (RIAs) by using Silverlight 2 tools with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and the Microsoft .NET Framework. RIAs are Web applications with the features and functionality of full desktop applications. Processing tasks are performed on the client, but data is stored on the server. With Silverlight, RIAs install quickly via a small, on-demand plug-in. This book demonstrates how you can easily use existing skills and tools to deliver next-generation user interfaces and media experiences. You ll discover how to begin building different types of Silverlight-based solutions, generate Silverlight applications dynamically on the server, create an XAML service, and more. The book also features a companion Web site with code samples in Microsoft Visual C# and Visual Basic .

Key Book Benefits:

* Delivers practical, grounded advice from a member of the Silverlight team, including an insider's view of the evolution of this Web presentation technology
* Describes how Silverlight 2 will simplify development and deployment of RIAs with the .NET Framework and Visual Studio 2008
* Provides context about the relationships among Silverlight and the various .NET Framework 3.0 and 3.5 technologies
* Places RIAs in context for both Web and Windows-based developers
* Features a companion Web site with code samples in Visual C# and Visual Basic

Silverlight 2 - Introduction, Silverlight Architecture and User Experience, XAML.
Expression Suite, Expression Encoder, how to use Expression Blend for building Silverlight Applications.

Building a Silverlight Application with Visual Studio, Building a Game with Silverlight 2.

XAML Properties, Brushes, Shapes, Geometries and Clipping.
XAML Controls in Silverlight

XAML Animation and Transformations with Exprerssion Blend
Working with Animation in Expression Blend

Silverlight and the Browser, Page Load Events, Handling errors, Programming UI elements

Silverlight Controls, Presentation and Layout
Button, Checkbox, Image, HyperlinkButton, RadioButton, ListBox, TextBox, TextBlock
Silverlight Control Properties, Events and Methods

More Advanced Controls
DataGrid, DatePicker, Calendar, RepeatButton, ToggleButton, ScrollViewer, Slider and WatermarkedTextBox

How to build a custom Control for Silverlight

Application Connectivity in Silverlight, Connecting with XAML, Connectivity with JavaScript,
ASP.NET AJAX and Web Services

Media, Deep Zoom, Ink
MediaElement Control, Programming MediaElement, VideoBrush for painting Video
InkPresenter Control, MultiScaleImage and Deep Zoom Controls

Silverlight Styles and Templates
Styling Silverlight Application, working with Templates

ASP.NET Controls for Silverlight
Silverlight MediaPlayer Control for ASP.NET

Dynamic Languages in Silverlight
Silverlight with IronPython, Ruby, JavaScript,
Application Examples

Topics also cover
.NET Framework, Visual Basic, Visual C#, General Web Development, Data Access

Solid Intro to Silverlight 2 beta 2

This review refers to the beta 2 version of the book. This book is exactly what the title says - it is a good, solid introduction to programming Silverlight 2 beta 2 in C#. Laurence does a good job of covering all of the basics of writing Silverlight applications - his web site has a good table of contents (http://blogs.msdn.com/webnext/) which clearly describes the books contents. One of the features of the book that I especially like is the valuable information about how to run Silverlight from a Linux system and also information about using Silverlight with PHP, Java, MySQL, JavaScript, AJAX, Ruby, and IronPython. Laurence has been very responsive in helping to resolve any issue with the code that I have had. The book's code is Silverlight 2 beta 2; however, there has been one minor upgrade and I am sure that there will be more so having good response from the author is very important when dealing with beta software. I do highly recommend this book as a basic introduction to writing Silverlight 2 beta 2 code in C#. David Roh

David Roh
27 July, 2008

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Brillilant Introduction

Laurence Moroney's book is a wonderful introduction to Silverlight 2, and he produced this when folks need it, just when Silverlight 2 is new. He did this by hard work, and by knowing the product inside and out (and he's providing continuing support through release and beyond.) The book is extremely well written and well organzied, with solid coverage of all the core topics and a good bit beyond (including extensive coverage of Deep Zoom, interacting with ASP.NET and using Dynamic Languages such as Ruby) Moroney is one of the most knowledgable writers about Silverlight, and his style is straight forward and to the point. This book is everything you might want in an introduction to programming Silverilght 2, and I would not hesitate in recommending it. Jesse Liberty Senior Program Manager - Microsoft Developer Community Liasion

Jesse Liberty
24 September, 2008

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Great book worth recommending

This book has a great introduction of Silverlight 1.0, and had a nice flow of documentation that made the book a fun read. The book covered the silverlight platform well, and illustrated a few examples of how Silverlight can work in conjunction with a few other technologies like Asp.net and PHP. The book had very good code samples to illustrate specific points of Silverlight 1.0 technology, and additionally included a good primer on the upcoming Silverlight 1.1. Overall I think this book is a great resource to get up and running on Silverlight in a short period of time.

Derek Smithson
26 November, 2007