R – Is silverlight the right choice for what i need

netsilverlight

I am looking at the best approach to add rich functionality to an existing ASP.NET 3.5 application. I have not developed anything in Silverlight but as i was thinking about what functionality i needed i started wondering if Silverlight might be the answer.

Here is what i need:
The ability to move/select objects, select each object and be able to apply properties such as color from a color picker. The objects should all implement a common Interface and/or base class.

I was thinking of how easy this would be to do with a Windows Forms app, but this MUST be a web app that can run on Windows and Mac.

I was wondering if Silverlight is more just for fancy graphics or has the ability for me to fullfill this business need and function more like an ASP.NET/AJAX app (but with better access to the objects).

Here are some considerations:

I have done nothing with WPF
The user base for this is somewhat
small but i cannot dictate O/S
I need to be able to load/save the data back to the server (np im sure)
I have much experience with nTier,
.NET, etc… but the xaml/SL learning
curve..?

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at this 🙂

Update
Thank you all for your comments, very helpful.

Having the users install silverlight will not be an issue, it is a small subset of the overall application and will be a requirement if they want that functionality.

Best Answer

Since installing the plugin is not a problem for your clients then I highly recommend going for Silverlight. Version 3.0 is really good for line of business apps and as someone else mentioned...silverlight is fast approaching the point where interactive HTML can be fully done away with.

With your .net experience using Silverlight is a no-brainer. XAML is a piece of cake and if for some reason you are not comfortable defining your UI with XAML (despite excellent tools like Blend) then you can add and invoke them via code behind.

I have done nothing with WPF For simple forms this wont be an issue. There are a ton of tutorials out there covering normal form based interaction with silverlight.
The user base for this is somewhat small but i cannot dictate O/S As long as they are using OS X or Windows they have full silverlight capability. Linux users are lacking a bit behind with Moonlight...
I need to be able to load/save the data back to the server (np im sure) Silverlight allows you to interact with server via Sockets, WCF / WCF Duplex Services, .Net RIA Services.
I have much experience with nTier, .NET, etc... but the xaml/SL learning curve..? I dont think there is much of a learning curve involved with XAML / SL specially if you are experienced with .Net and nTier apps.

Here are some good resources

http://www.silverlight.net/learn http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted

Good luck!

This is the style that Microsoft tends to use in their examples.

It appears that the guidance in this area may have changed, as StyleCop now enforces the use of the C# specific aliases.

C# – the difference between const and readonly in C#

Apart from the apparent difference of

having to declare the value at the time of a definition for a const VS readonly values can be computed dynamically but need to be assigned before the constructor exits.. after that it is frozen.
const's are implicitly static. You use a ClassName.ConstantName notation to access them.

There is a subtle difference. Consider a class defined in AssemblyA.

public class Const_V_Readonly
{
  public const int I_CONST_VALUE = 2;
  public readonly int I_RO_VALUE;
  public Const_V_Readonly()
  {
     I_RO_VALUE = 3;
  }
}

AssemblyB references AssemblyA and uses these values in code. When this is compiled:

in the case of the const value, it is like a find-replace. The value 2 is 'baked into' the AssemblyB's IL. This means that if tomorrow I update I_CONST_VALUE to 20, AssemblyB would still have 2 till I recompile it.
in the case of the readonly value, it is like a ref to a memory location. The value is not baked into AssemblyB's IL. This means that if the memory location is updated, AssemblyB gets the new value without recompilation. So if I_RO_VALUE is updated to 30, you only need to build AssemblyA and all clients do not need to be recompiled.

So if you are confident that the value of the constant won't change, use a const.

public const int CM_IN_A_METER = 100;

But if you have a constant that may change (e.g. w.r.t. precision).. or when in doubt, use a readonly.

public readonly float PI = 3.14;

Update: Aku needs to get a mention because he pointed this out first. Also I need to plug where I learned this: Effective C# - Bill Wagner

Best Answer

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C# – the difference between String and string in C#

This is the style that Microsoft tends to use in their examples.

C# – the difference between const and readonly in C#

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