Essential Silverlight 3- P1

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Praise for Essential Silverlight 3
“Essential Silverlight 3 is not only filled with technical details, clear examples,
and performance tips that will make any Silverlight application better, but
Ashraf also includes insights that can only come from one of the lead devel-
opers of the Silverlight runtime. From graphics, to text, to media—this book
contains all the information you need on the core Silverlight 3 runtime.”
—Brad Abrams, product unit manager, Microsoft
“The third iteration of Silverlight is a big step forward in true line-of-business
capability for RIAs. Ashraf takes these new concepts and puts them forth
in a meaningful and concise read.”
—Jason Beres, Microsoft MVP; author; INETA Speaker
“Essential Silverlight 3 is truly an essential book in the library of any
Silverlight developer. The ‘Under the Hood’ portions of each chapter
explain the details of Silverlight’s implementation, and the ‘Performance
Tips’ explain how to use that information to get the most out of your soft-
ware. I am very grateful I don’t have to track down or figure out all of this
critical information on my own.”
—Noah Gedrich, director of technology, BLITZ Agency
“Ashraf Michail delivers an insightful and practical book for anyone seeking
to better understand, master, and unlock the full potential of Silverlight 3.
It is filled with code samples, performance tips, and other useful advice to
help you create truly outstanding Silverlight applications.”
—Oleg Kokorin, CEO, MS Team, LLC
“Essential Silverlight 3 tackles in depth a rich, vast platform. The author has
a depth of knowledge and technical insight that is present throughout,
providing a pleasing ‘why’ on top of the usual ‘how.’”
—Richard Leggett, interactive developer

“This is a book of inestimable value on Silverlight. Even experienced
Silverlight developers will learn from Essential Silverlight 3.”
—Mark Monster, software engineer, Rubicon
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“A great reference and textbook on Silverlight 3.”
—Judith Myerson, systems architect and engineer
“Chock full of performance tips and information about Silverlight internals
that you won’t find anywhere else.”
—Jeff Prosise, cofounder, Wintellect
“Skillfully written, comprehensively explained, and logically delivered.
Essential Silverlight 3 is undoubtedly a must-have study and keep-
on-your-desk practical guide for building a wide range of high-value rich
Internet applications.”
—Ash Rofail, CEO, Santeon, Inc.
“Essential Silverlight 3 is a must-read for anyone who wants a better
understanding of the Silverlight Framework. In his book, Ashraf Michail,
architect on the Silverlight team, offers unique insights into Silverlight’s
architecture and design principles, along with guidance on how to
improve the overall quality and performance of Silverlight applications.”
—Gerhard Schneider, senior development lead, Microsoft
“Essential Silverlight 3 does not just get your feet wet—its technical insights
and performance tips take you for a deep dive into the Silverlight ocean.”
—Velvárt András, Silverlight MVP; founder, Response Ltd.
“This book really lives up to the title—Essential, indeed. Anyone
doing Silverlight 3, or looking to get started with it, needs this book
close at hand.”
—Chris G. Williams, Microsoft MVP and principal consultant,
Magenic Technologies

“A must-read for all software developers who are trying to build rich
Silverlight applications with great performance—it provides many useful
performance tips. I would recommend it to anyone trying to improve
performance of Silverlight 3 applications.”
—Radenko Zec, senior software developer, Lanaco; INETA group leader,
Banjaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Essential Silverlight 3
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T
he award-winning Microsoft .NET Development Series was
established in 2002 to provide professional developers with the
most comprehensive, practical coverage of the latest .NET technologies.
Authors in this series include Microsoft architects, MVPs, and other
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Ashraf Michail
Essential

Silverlight 3
Upper Saddle River, NJ • Boston • Indianapolis • San Francisco
New York • Toronto • Montreal • London • Munich • Paris • Madrid
Capetown • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore • Mexico City
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the designations have been printed with initial capital letters or in all capitals.
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The author and publisher have taken care in the preparation of this book, but make no expressed or implied
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The publisher offers excellent discounts on this book when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or special
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Michail, Ashraf.

Essential Silverlight 3 / Ashraf Michail.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-321-55416-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Silverlight (Electronic resource) 2. Multimedia systems.
3. Websites—Design. 4. Application software—Development.
I. Title.
QA76.575.M52187 2009 2009
006.7—dc22
2009026788
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright, and
permission must be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval
system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
likewise. For information regarding permissions, write to:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Rights and Contracts Department
501 Boylston Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02116
Fax: (617) 671-3447
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-55416-1
ISBN-10: 0-321-55416-7
Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at RR Donnelley in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
First printing, September 2009
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To my mother, for a lifetime of encouragement.
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Contents
Figures xvii
Foreword xxiii
Preface xxv
Acknowledgments xxix
About the Author xxxi
1 Silverlight Overview 1
Silverlight Principles 3
Web Deployment 3
Security 3
Media and Rich Internet Applications 4
Ease of Development 5
Cross Platform 5
Silverlight Features 6
Application Model 7
Graphics 7
Text 7
Input 8
Animation 8
Layout 8
Media 8
Controls 9
Data Binding 9
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Networking 9
Under the Hood 9
Where Are We? 10
2 Applications 11
Application Principles 11
Web Deployment and Out of Browser 12
Platform Libraries 12
Designer and Developer Collaboration 13
Cross Platform 13
Security 14
Creating an Application in Visual Studio 14
Application Components 15
Taking an Application Out of Browser (New in Silverlight 3) 21
XAML 22
XAP Package 30
Under the Hood 32
Architecture Overview 32
Silverlight Plug-In 33
Downloader 34
XAML Parser 35
.NET Common Language RunTime 36
Element Tree 36
Event System 37
Animation 37
Layout 38
Rendering 39
Where Are We? 39
3 Graphics 41
Graphics Principles 41

Vector Graphics and Bitmap Images 41
Retained Mode 43
Cross Platform Consistency 47
Tools 47
Balancing Image Quality and Speed 47
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Contents
Graphics Elements 48
Shapes 48
Images 61
Brushes 62
Image Brushes 68
Strokes 69
Canvas 72
Under the Hood 81
Draw Loop 82
Rasterization 82
Bilinear Filtering 89
Incremental Redraw 92
Occlusion Culling 94
Multi-Core Rendering 94
How Content Gets to the Screen 95
Where Are We? 96
4 Text 97
Text Principles 98
Cross-Platform Consistency 98
Scale Independent Layout 98

Rendering for Readability 99
Text Elements 99
TextBlock 100
Glyphs 107
Under the Hood 110
Font Enumeration 110
Font Fallback 111
Font Download 111
Caches 112
Rasterization 112
Where Are We? 113
5 Input Events 115
Input Principles 115
Receiving Web Browser Events 116
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Contents
Custom Controls 117
Cross-Platform Consistency 117
Multiple Languages 118
Input Events 118
Mouse Input Events 120
Keyboard Events and Focus 126
Under the Hood 128
Mouse Events 128
Keyboard Events 129
Asynchronously Firing Events 129
Where Are We? 130

6 Animation 131
Animation Principles 132
Time-Based Animation versus Frame-Based Animation 132
Changing Properties over Time 134
Custom Animations 135
Performance 136
Animation Elements 136
Starting an Animation 138
Interpolation and Key Frame Animations 140
Timelines 144
Easing Functions (New in Silverlight 3) 144
Custom Animation Functions (New in Silverlight 3) 147
Under the Hood 147
The Animation Tick 148
Property Change Speed 149
Screen Display 151
Where Are We? 152
7 Layout 153
Layout Principles 153
Automatic Sizing and Positioning 154
Automatic Application Resize 156
Scale Independent Layout 157
Layout Elements 158
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Contents
Canvas 158
Border 159

StackPanel 161
Grid 162
Layout Rounding 167
Building a Custom Layout 169
Layout Events 173
Under the Hood 174
The Layout Algorithm 174
Where Are We? 176
8 Media 177
Media Principles 178
Integrate Media 178
Deliver Content 178
Deliver Full Screen Experiences 179
Generate Players with Expression Media Encoder 180
Media Elements 180
Play a Video 180
Making Player Controls 183
Video Effects and Transitions 187
Full Screen 188
Connecting Video Markers to Application Display 189
Under the Hood 190
The Source 190
The Player 191
Where Are We? 193
9 Controls 195
Control Principles 196
Built-In Controls 196
Custom Controls 198
Customization 198
Control Elements 198

ContentControl and ItemsControl 199
VisualStateManager 203
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Contents
Styling 206
Create Custom Controls 207
Under the Hood 209
Control Instantiation 209
The Visual State Manager Algorithm 210
Where Are We? 211
10 Data Binding 213
Data Binding Principles 213
Data Sources 214
Automatic Connection and Synchronization 214
Declarative XAML Model 214
Data Binding Objects 215
Connecting to Data with a Binding 215
DataContext Inheritance 218
Data Synchronization and Binding Modes 219
Data Binding Collections with ItemsControl 221
Value Converters 225
Data Validation 227
Element to Element Binding (New in Silverlight 3) 228
Under the Hood 229
Binding Object 229
ItemsControl 230
Where Are We? 231

11 Effects 233
Effect Principles 233
Real-Time Speed 233
Common Built-In Effects 234
Effect Elements 234
Applying an Effect 234
Creating an Effect 236
Under the Hood 248
Surface Generation 248
BlurEffect and DropShadowEffect 249
Where Are We? 250
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Contents
12 GPU Acceleration 251
GPU Acceleration Principles 251
Achieve Better Performance for Common Scenarios 252
Maintain Good Image Quality 252
Maintain Reasonable Stability 252
GPU Acceleration Features 253
GPU Acceleration Prerequisites 253
Enable GPU Acceleration 253
Using the CacheMode Property 254
Diagnose Performance Problems 259
Under the Hood 263
Graphics Device Creation 263
Texture Creation 264
Rendering Stages with GPU Acceleration Enabled 265

Multiple Monitors 265
Where Are We? 265
Index 267
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Figures
F
IGURE
1.1:
Example Silverlight sites shown at 2
F
IGURE
1.2:
Installing a Silverlight application so that it can run outside the Web
browser 2
F
IGURE
1.3:
Visiting a Silverlight Web page without installing the Silverlight
runtime 4
F
IGURE
2.1:
Visual Studio Silverlight application project 14

F
IGURE
2.2:
Hello World application 16
F
IGURE
2.3:
Application install menu 22
F
IGURE
2.4:
Application install prompt 22
F
IGURE
2.5:
Application running outside the Web browser 23
F
IGURE
2.6:
Example path 25
F
IGURE
2.7:
Architectural Overview 33
F
IGURE
2.8:
Layout Example 38
F
IGURE

3.1:
Scaling up an image of a circle 42
F
IGURE
3.2:
Scaling down an image of a circle 42
F
IGURE
3.3:
Scaling a vector graphic circle 42
F
IGURE
3.4:
Removing a rectangle with a retained mode API 44
F
IGURE
3.5:
Removing a rectangle with an immediate mode API 44
F
IGURE
3.6:
Rectangle element with an outline 49
F
IGURE
3.7:
Rectangle element with rounded corners 50
F
IGURE
3.8:
Ellipse element 51

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F
IGURE
3.9:
Line element 52
F
IGURE
3.10:
Pixels rendered for a Line element 53
F
IGURE
3.11:
Sharp horizontal line drawn with a Rectangle element 54
F
IGURE
3.12:
Example path 55
F
IGURE
3.13:
Path with an empty space in the center 58
F
IGURE
3.14:
Different fills for the same outline 59
F
IGURE

3.15:
Winding mode numbers resulting in a filled center space 60
F
IGURE
3.16:
Different fill as a result of a different point order 61
F
IGURE
3.17:
Image element example 62
F
IGURE
3.18:
Linear gradient brush 65
F
IGURE
3.19:
Radial gradient brush 66
F
IGURE
3.20:
Focal gradient brush 67
F
IGURE
3.21:
SpreadMethod example 68
F
IGURE
3.22:
ImageBrush example 68

F
IGURE
3.23:
Sample stroke applied to an ellipse 69
F
IGURE
3.24:
The widening process applied to an ellipse 70
F
IGURE
3.25:
The widening process applied to a triangle 71
F
IGURE
3.26:
StrokeDashArray example of long and short dashes 71
F
IGURE
3.27:
RenderTransform example of overlapping a rectangle over
an ellipse 73
F
IGURE
3.28:
3D projection example 75
F
IGURE
3.29:
Position three rectangles in the same 3D projection camera 76
F

IGURE
3.30:
Clipping example 78
F
IGURE
3.31:
Canvas Opacity versus per path Opacity 79
F
IGURE
3.32:
OpacityMask example 80
F
IGURE
3.33:
Sampling a circle 84
F
IGURE
3.34:
Sampling a circle with integer sample point coordinates 85
F
IGURE
3.35:
Anti-aliasing sampling pattern 85
F
IGURE
3.36:
Anti-aliased rasterization 86
F
IGURE
3.37:

Anti-aliasing seam example 87
F
IGURE
3.38:
Pixel snapped rasterization 88
F
IGURE
3.39:
Seams with a rotated edge 89
F
IGURE
3.40:
Image with bilinear filtering 90
F
IGURE
3.41:
Image with nearest neighbor 90
Figures
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Figures xix
F
IGURE
3.42:
The bilinear filtering process 91
F
IGURE
3.43:

Image scaling within good limits 91
F
IGURE
3.44:
Image scaling extremes 92
F
IGURE
3.45:
Incremental redraw regions 93
F
IGURE
3.46:
Dividing a scene for multi-core rendering 95
F
IGURE
4.1:
TextBlock example 100
F
IGURE
4.2:
TextBlock wrapping example 100
F
IGURE
4.3:
TextBlock border with ActualWidth and ActualHeight 101
F
IGURE
4.4:
TextBlock alignment example 103
F

IGURE
4.5:
TextBlock formatting example 104
F
IGURE
4.6:
Inherited formatting 104
F
IGURE
4.7:
Text radial gradient example 105
F
IGURE
4.8:
Math formula using Glyphs element 109
F
IGURE
4.9:
Text baseline 110
F
IGURE
5.1:
Hit-test area for a Canvas with a rectangle and circle 125
F
IGURE
6.1:
Frame-based animation 132
F
IGURE
6.2:

Time-based animation 133
F
IGURE
6.3:
Animation timing artifacts 135
F
IGURE
6.4:
Smooth spline versus linear segment interpolation 141
F
IGURE
6.5:
Bounce animation 145
F
IGURE
6.6:
Easing out functions 146
F
IGURE
7.1:
Surrounding text with a rounded rectangle 154
F
IGURE
7.2:
Positioning elements in a vertical stack 155
F
IGURE
7.3:
Automatic resize behavior 157
F

IGURE
7.4:
Positioning content explicitly with the Canvas element 158
F
IGURE
7.5:
Surrounding a TextBlock element with a border 160
F
IGURE
7.6:
Adding a rounded rectangle background to a TextBlock element 160
F
IGURE
7.7:
Padding a border element 160
F
IGURE
7.8:
Vertical StackPanel example 161
F
IGURE
7.9:
Horizontal StackPanel example 161
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