Silverlight 2 in Action (Paperback)

~ Chad A Campbell (Author), (Author), Ashish Shetty (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

***When you purchase the Print book, you can download a PDF copy from Manning Publications at no additional charge***

Microsoft describes Silverlight as a "cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web." That's a really boring description for a really exciting new technology. Anyone who has looked at the demos and gotten a taste of what Silverlight can do knows that Silverlight represents an entirely new level of rich web interface technology for Microsoft developers.

With Silverlight 2, developers can use JavaScript, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby to build user-friendly, interactive, and visually-dazzling web applications that work in most major browsers.

Silverlight 2 in Action covers Silverlight 2, a far more robust implementation of Silverlight than the Silverlight 1 release that supports only JavaScript. The much-anticipated 2 release adds powerful new features along with the ability to code in multiple languages and integrate your work with Visual Studio and the new Expression suite of tools.

This book delivers real-world examples and in-depth walkthroughs to help you confidently enhance your web applications using Silverlight 2.

Silverlight 2 in Action devotes extensive coverage to flexible layout components, the extensible control model, the communication framework, and the data-binding features "all cornerstones of software development. Author and Microsoft MVP Chad Campbell also describes rich media and vivid graphical and animation features. The final chapters include a variety of Silverlight deployment scenarios.

In addition to the fundamentals of Silverlight, you'll be introduced to architectural components such as the Silverlight object model. The book addresses the developer/designer collaboration model Silverlight enables, showing the developer how to include the designer effectively in the project workflow. This model is illustrated throughout the examples.

For ongoing reader support, the author will maintain a dedicated book-support website providing up-to-the-minute working examples, complete with source code, all in Silverlight.

About the Author

Chad Campbell is a Microsoft MVP and solutions architect. He has been developing enterprise-level web applications with a wide variety of technologies since 1999. Beginning with the initial public release of what would become Silverlight in 2006, Chad hit the ground running and has not looked back. He holds MCSD and MCTS certifications. In addition, Chad has a BS degree from Purdue University where he focused his studies on computer science and minored in psychology.

John Stockton has been developing advanced web applications using Microsoft technologies for fortune 500 companies and government agencies for the last decade. He is very active in the local community by speaking at and organizing events and is also an active member of the online Silverlight community. In his free time John enjoys model railroading, woodworking, being active outdoors and playing with his two year old son.

Product Details

• Paperback: 371 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933988428
• ISBN-13: 978-1933988429
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #247,453 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to learn Silverlight 2, November 11, 2008

By	Peter M. Brown (Gambrills, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This has been a crazy summer, but since our daughter has decided not to show up on her due date (which was September 24). I finally got some time to sit down and read a pre-release of Manning's Silverlight 2 in Action. I know the two authors who wrote this, and while John and I have had beer and burgers up in Bellevue, Chad and I have yet to meet up offline. So if I have to pick on someone, it will be Chad ;)

[ Disclosure: I was given a MEAP copy of this book specifically for review purposes ]

Executive Summary: If you want to learn Silverlight 2, get this book

First, a comment on organization. I like the way Chad and John have organized this book, building up from simple to more advanced concepts. While that may be a no-brainer, many authors lose sight of what it takes to bring a person up to speed on a new technology, and often start off with a concept that is just completely foreign to them. For folks who have an understanding of Silverlight, the first chapter will be review, but that is to be expected.

I tend to prefer books that are more presentation of facts than just run-throughs of tutorials. I know many folks also like the tutorial approach as well. For me, this book is a great example of the factual approach I prefer. Lots of detail and very well organized. You can approach the chapters or the subchapters in an ad-hoc way without getting lost in the middle of a larger tutorial. Great stuff!

One thing that stood out in chapter 1 was the mention of attached properties. This is often left out, and really is, along with the whole concept of dependency properties, a core concept that isn't intuitively obvious from looking at source and markup. The first time you look at xaml, you often wonder what the heck that "Canvas.Left" is doing on those controls.

Chapter 2 gets into the theory and practice of how Silverlight sits on an html page. The book explains the two separate OMs and how they integrate to build a full solution. It also goes into detail on the instantiation/installation model and the properties for the objects/functions used. I haven't seen this level of detail in any of the other books or online resources.

One you get past all that great information in Chapter 2 (which may be something you skip past at first, but will want to return to), Chad and John get into the guts of Silverlight programming, graphics, text and layout. From there he goes into controls, input and focus.

Then in Chapter 5, the guys talk about Data Binding. Binding is another one of those essential skills any Silverlight and WPF developer needs. Sure, Binding in WPF is richer, but it is still extremely useful in Silverlight 2. The chapter explains in detail what it takes to bind something, and what the under-the-covers binding process looks like.

Including LINQ in 5.5 seemed a little odd at first, but you have to cover it somewhere, since LINQ is an important technology that Silverlight can use. We even used it back in our Silverlight 1.1 alpha application in July 2007. So, including it in a chapter on Data Binding probably wasn't a bad idea.

Chapter 6 gets into a topic near and dear to my heart : Networking and Communications. This is the main chapter that John Stockton wrote. The authors do a good job here covering all the communications mechanisms in pretty good detail. I was about to complain about the lack of WCF Duplex, but then I found it under the advanced topic - a good place for this technology. The chapter glosses over the server-side work required to make the example work. As much as I would have liked to have seen that in there, I can understand why that might take up just way too much room in the book (and the book is on Silverlight 2, not WCF)

The section on sockets was just a placeholder in the version I reviewed. If the coverage of sockets is as good as the rest of the chapter, I have no doubt the content will be good.

Chapter 7 covers media and delivery mechanisms for that media. Media has been pretty beaten to death since Silverlight 1.0, so despite the great coverage of the content here, you may think there's nothing new to learn here. However, the chapter has great detail not only on the properties, but the lifecycle and order of events. Great stuff!

Chapter 7 is also the chapter where you'll see how to work with images and Deep Zoom.

Chapter 8 goes into vector graphics and brushes, and does a great job explaining all the moving parts there. Chapter 8 is also where you'll find the information on transforms. Transforms apply across the board to most any element, so don't assume by the placement here that they are restricted to vector graphics elements.

Chapter 9 goes into animation. I won't insult you by saying this topic is scary to developers, as I think most developers looking at Silverlight will be comfortable at least understanding the basics of animation. However, good animation can be daunting, and this chapter gives you at least the foundation you can build on or use to execute on the animations the designer has provided.

If you're an animation professional, or used to professional animation tools, you may want to skip chunks of this chapter, but most folks will need this basic understanding.

Chapter 10 goes into styling. First the chapter covers the basics of styling (and source URIs and resources), and then it gets into control templates. Finally, it tackles VisualStateManager, arguably one of the most important styling and state concepts.

Chapter 11 gets into more of the goodies that Silverlight includes in the box. Smaller topics like Isolated Storage, creating Xaml at runtime, background threads, downloading content at runtime (an expansion of networking concepts) including fonts and compressed files, and Silverlight 2 Xaps, and the DLR all get sections here.

Chapter 12 covers packaging up your wonder creations as units you can distribute to others. This isn't xap deployment, but about creating things you can share. Chad also offers up a decent navigation pattern here that seems to work well. This is the chapter where you'll find preloader / splash screen information as well as hosting and streaming. Of all the chapters, this was my least favorite due to its organization. That may be because it is unfinished, or because it was simply the last chapter in the book, and Chad had to pop a lot in there without making the book 1300 pages :)

I found a few small nits in the book, but I suspect those will be corrected in the final version. Overall, my opinion is that this is a very strong Silverlight 2 book.

Do I recommend this book? Definitely. If you are new to Silverlight, this one will be great resource for you to quickly get up to speed. There's just enough Blend in there to make sure you get the basics of the tool (which is often all most developers will need) and plenty of markup to help you along the way.

Two thumbs up.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Silverlight 2 In Action, November 11, 2008

By	Dotnetsky "Dotnetsky" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

Now that Silverlight 2 RTW is out and the dust can settle down, it might be a good idea to start looking at the books on Silverlight. One recently completed book, by Chad Campbell and John Stockton, is Silverlight 2 In Action.

Both Campbell and Stockton are active Tweeters that you might want to follow with your favorite Twitter client, and Stockton in particular has quite a presence on the Silverlight Forums. Overall, this is a book that will satisfy both beginners to Silverlight as well as more advanced programmers who may not necessarily need "the basics".

Silverlight 2 In Action is laid out in 12 Chapters:

1 Introducing Silverlight
2 Harmony with the web
3 Back to the basics: Layout and text
4 Handling user interaction
5 Getting down with data binding
6 Networking
7 Managing digital media
8 Getting a grip on graphics
9 Bringing it to life: Animation
10 Giving it style
11 Enhancing the experience
12 Share the light: Distribution and deployment

The first chapter gives background information and some interesting statistics. It also talks about some basics that will be helpful to beginners and even to intermediate - level programmers. Expression Blend is covered quite well here.

The second chapter covers how Silverlight interacts with the HTML DOM of the browser and how the Silverlight plug-in works. It also covers installation issues and handling events.

The third chapter covers layout and text - the concept of the Canvas, how the XAML works, how to arrange and layout content, and more. UIElement and FrameworkElement are covered. All is in great detail.

The fourth chapter covers user interaction - drag-and-drop, controls, and dialog boxes. Keyboard input and events, the mouse, and much more.

The fifth chapter covers databinding - binding syntax, data sources, binding modes, the DataContext property, customizing the display, converting values, DataGrid and subcontrols, using LINQ, and a lot more.

The sixth chapter covers networking - trust, security and browser limitations, cross-domain policy, and connecting to data sources of all types. Very detailed treatment here.

The seventh chapter convers how to manage digital media in detail.

The eighth chapter deals with graphics - drawing, images, composite geometries, brushes, gradients, you name it, they seem to have it covered here.

The ninth chapter covers animation -- storyboards, doubleAnimation, the works.

The tenth chapter covers styling - resources, project structure, bundling of resources, and more. Visual State Manager is also discussed.

The eleventh chapter deals with enhancing the user experience -- IsolatedStorage, dynamic runtime XAML treatment, BackgroundWorker, updating the UI, retrieving content on demand, and more.

Chapter twelve covers distribution and deployment of Silverlight applications: UserControls, Dependency Properties, navigation, splash screens, and more.


Silverlight 2 In Action is loaded with excellent diagrams, illustrations, code samples and XAML. It is obvious that the authors took pains to ensure that they produced quality reading content. There is also an active forum for the book, in case you want to "keep up".

I've read a number of Silverlight books to date; many suffer the scars of having been begun for earlier Silverlight versions and have had to be updated as Silverlight has changed. Silverlight 2 In Action does not suffer from this -- it is feature-complete for the Silverlight 2 RTW (release) version and I do not believe I have seen any Silverlight book yet that has this much detail on virtually all the facets of Silverlight development.

Campbell and Stockton have done an excellent job. Recommended! I'd also like to mention that I'm pretty impressed with the Manning books in general so far.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Want to master Silverlight? You must read this book!, December 31, 2008

By	Davide Zordan (Italy) - See all my reviews

The book is very well written, Chad Campbell and John Stockton guide you to master every single aspect of Silverlight programming using a friendly writing style and powerful examples ready be used in your applications.
But the book also provides many other topics: why you need to learn and use Silverlight and how it compares with other RIA technologies.
I can only recommend to read this book and to keep it in your desktop for reference during your daily job.