R – C# Silverlight Datagrid – ADO.Net Data Entities CRUD

1. You should package data into service entities that are exposed by your WCF Service.

2. WCF basic HTTP binding in SL2, in SL3 you have many more options

3. <DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding MyCollectionOfObjects}" />

RIA Models

There are two different models for integrating Silverlight (or any RIA technology) into your website:

• Entire Silverlight application hosted in simple website
• Silverlight controls integrated into a website with other interaction (forms, jQuery, etc.)

Either model works well, it's up to you to decide which works better in your scenario.

Silverlight communication with the server

Your Silverlight application is a plugin hosted in a browser, so it's best to think of it like jQuery or other client-side code. There are several ways to communicate back to the server:

• RIA Services
• ADO.NET Data Services
• Custom WCF service
• Other REST / SOAP communications you build yourself

Silverlight supports WebClient and HttpWebRequest, so you can get as low-level as you'd like in your client-server communication. I really recommend looking at RIA Services since it handles not only the communications, but also the validation rules.

Silverlight integration with HTML / Javascript

Silverlight can both call and be called from Javascript via the HTML bridge. This means that your Silverlight components can be as closely integrated with your web-page as you'd like. Silverlight can also directly interact with the DOM - setting and reading form values, changing CSS properties, etc. You can do just about anything you'd do in Javascript via the HTML bridge if you'd like.