Page view counter
Home > Get Started > Silverlight Overview

Silverlight Overview

This page provides additional information about Silverlight and the optional tools available for download.

Silverlight Runtimes

Currently there are two runtimes available for users to experience Silverlight content.

Both runtimes support rich media capabilities and enable fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality audio and video to all major browsers including Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer running on the Mac or on Windows. The designer experience remains largely the same for both runtimes as well. The main difference resides in the developer experience.

Features Matrix

The Features Matrix below provides an overview of the new capabilities in Silverlight 2. Silverlight 2 is able to run Silverlight 1.0 applications without change.

Features Silverlight 1.0 Silverlight 2
Cross-Browser Support for Firefox, IE, Safari
Cross-Platform Support for Windows and Mac (and Linux through the Moonlight Project)
2D Vector Animation/Graphics
AJAX Support
HTML DOM Integration
HTTP Networking
Canvas Layout Support
JavaScript Support
Silverlight ASP.NET Controls (asp:media, asp:xaml)
XAML Parser (based on WPF)
Media – 720P High Definition (HD) Video
Media – Audio/Video Support (VC-1, WMV, WMA, MP3)
Media – Image Support (JPG, PNG)
Media Markers
Windows Media Server Support
Support for Visual Basic.NET and C#; Common Language Runtime (CLR) based languages  
Support for IronPython, IronRuby, Managed JScript, and other Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) based languages  
Rich Core Framework (e.g. Generics, collections)  
Multi-Threading  
Layout controls including StackPanel and Grid  
Full suite of Controls (TextBox, RadioButton, Slider, Calendar, DatePicker, DataGrid, ListBox, TabControl, and others)  
Managed Control Framework  
Templating Model  
Visual State Manager  
Isolated Storage  
Deep Zoom Technology  
Media – DRM Powered by PlayReady  
Media - Windows Media Audio 10 Professional support  
Media - MediaStreamSource for managed code media file parser and protocol extensibility  
High quality resizing  
Media - Basic SSPL Support  
Cross Domain Network Access  
Easy access to server-side data via Web Services  
Direct access to TCP sockets  
Interoperability with SOAP and REST services, including support for XML, JSON, RSS and Atom data formats  
LINQ (including LINQ to XML, LINQ to JSON, and LINQ to Entities)  
Duplex communications (“push” from Server to Silverlight client)  
Data Binding  
ADO.NET Data Services  
Managed HTML Bridge  
Managed Exception Handling  
.NET Framework Security Enforcement  
Type Safety Verification  
XMLReader/Writer  
Enhanced Keyboard Input Support  
File Upload Support (via WebClient API)  
WPF Compatibility  
Accessibility  
Localization  
Remote Debugging (PC and Mac)  

Silverlight Tools

Microsoft Silverlight enables designers and developers to easily use existing skills to deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web with role-specific tools: for designers, Microsoft Expression Studio, and for developers, Microsoft Visual Studio.

Microsoft Expression Studio takes the many sides of a designer’s creative personality to a whole new level. These professional design tools provide a greater flexibility to create sophisticated applications and content, while also providing compatibility with powerful developer tools to facilitate the development process of the completed site. Expression Blend delivers a set of features that enable designers to create compelling user experiences for Silverlight. Expression Design enables the ability to create rich visual elements for Silverlight applications.

Silverlight offers a flexible and consistent programming model that supports AJAX, IronPython, IronRuby, and .NET languages such as Visual Basic and C#, and integrates with existing Web applications. Developers can take advantage of the current version of Microsoft Visual Studio to make building Silverlight application easier than ever.

While both suites of products, Expression Studio and Visual Studio, are within the realms of building the next generation of applications, they target different roles and metaphors when building your solution. Expression Studio has been built for designers to create the graphics and user interaction in a Silverlight application, whereas the Visual Studio family of products targets developers who add application logic and code.

Microsoft® Expression® Studio professional design tools provide a greater flexibility to create sophisticated applications and content, while also providing compatibility with powerful developer tools. Expression Blend 2 SP1 enables designers to create compelling user experiences for Silverlight. Expression Design 2 enables the ability to create rich visual elements for Silverlight applications.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 professional developer tool makes programming Silverlight applications easier than ever. Silverlight offers a flexible and consistent programming model that supports AJAX, IronPython, IronRuby, and .NET languages such as VB and C#, and integrates with existing Web applications.

Developing Silverlight Experiences

Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1

The add-on to create Silverlight applications using Visual Studio 2008. This install also installs the Silverlight Developer Runtime and the Silverlight 2 SDK. Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 works with Visual Studio 2008 as well as Visual Web Developer.

Designing Silverlight Experiences

Expression Studio 2
Microsoft® Expression® Studio takes your creative possibilities to a new level. The professional design tools and innovative technologies in Expression Studio give you the flexibility and freedom to bring your vision to reality—whether you are designing standards-based Web sites, rich user experiences for the desktop and Silverlight, or managing digital assets and content.

Expression Design
Expression Design 2 is a professional illustration and graphic design tool that lets you build compelling elements for both Web and desktop application user interfaces. Creating rich visual elements for Silverlight applications is made simple using Expression Design. XAML is automatically generated for elements that are supported on the Silverlight platform and all other visuals are automatically rasterized and included as bitmap objects. The use of XAML means the designer can be confident that the look-and-feel- of their graphics or user interface elements-will be maintained through the whole workflow, from Expression Design, through Expression Blend to Visual Studio.

Expression Blend 2
Expression Blend 2 is the professional design tool to create engaging, Web-connected, user experiences for Silverlight. Expression Blend seamlessly imports XAML assets created in Expression Design and enables a powerful workflow between designers and developers by sharing a common project format with Visual Studio, allowing you to bring your cutting-edge user interfaces and stunning designs to life.

Expression Encoder 2
Expression Encoder enables rapid import, compression and Web publishing of digital video imported from a variety of popular formats, including AVI and QuickTime, into WMV. Capable of running on the desktop or Windows Server, Expression Media Encoder is a template-driven system that integrates seamlessly into existing Web publishing workflows for both live and on-demand content delivery.

Microsoft Communities