Guidance on Differences Between WPF and Silverlight

New Post: The downloaded file does not open in pdf reader

thirumalai_pm — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:09:45 GMT

Hi. I am not sure where the problem is. I downloaded the pdf file into my local. When I open the file I got message "There was an error opening this document. The file is damaged and could not be repaired.". The same happened when I downloaded some other pdf files for Architecture. I downloaded three time the same file, but it saved each time separate size of the file. Pls let me know where could be the problem.

New Post: doesn't display properly in customized color scheme

depend — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:53:46 GMT

I am not sure if it's the problem of Adobe Reader or the doc itself. I am using Adobe Reader 9.1.0. In Edit->Preferences->Accessibility I changed to use windows color scheme or custom color (eg, Black/Yellow). The document doesn't display properly.

Thanks.

Closed Issue: VideoBrush doesn't exist in WPF

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:46 GMT

WPF contains only 6 Brushes: 2 GradientBrushes (Linear- and RadialGradientBrush, both deriving from GradientBrush), 1 SolidColorBrush, and 3 Tilebrushes (DrawingBrush, ImageBrush and VisualBrush, all deriving from TileBrush), but there is no VideoBrush there, as the Document says.

Cheers
Thomas C. Huber
Comments:

Closed in Version 1.1

Closed Issue: A small typo on page 57

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:30 GMT

Page 57 of 69

... have "JavasScript" call Silverlight methods ...

(JavasScript instead of JavaScript)

Besides that, this is a 10/10 whitepaper. Very informative.
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: Page 55: Add SL3 Note on Validation

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:29 GMT

Since you're noting places where SL3 fills a gap, please add on page 55 that Silverlight 3 supports validation.
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: Page 35: Incomplete networking information

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:28 GMT

You should probably pay lip services to things like the JSON serialzer, ability to call REST services, the ADO.NET DS/Astoria client etc. since you mention that WPF has access to the whole stack, but then go into just a couple of the things SL supports.

Also note that in SL3 you get additional options including binary SOAP.
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: Page 25: Silverlight UI Elements do not derive from Control

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:28 GMT

Only Controls derive from Control. Many other elements, such as TextBlock, do not (textblock derives directly from FrameworkElement). Maybe you're thinking of UIElement or FrameworkElement?

This is important when you deal with styles that target a base class.

Pete
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: Page 21: Fonts

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:27 GMT

Not a big deal, but you don't need to embed the fonts in Silverlight; you can also use the webclient to download them.

Also note that Portble User Interface is Lucida Sans only on Windows. I'm not sure what is is on Mac and Linux.
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: Page 17: Apple Key

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:26 GMT

They key for the apple key is actually available without resorting to the platform key code, but it is treated as a modifier. See Keyboard.Modifiers
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: MediaElement does not wrap MediaPlayer

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:25 GMT

MediaElement, at least on Silverlight, is completely separate from any local media player functionality. (Page 8)
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: You confuse XAML with the underlying framework

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:24 GMT

In several places in the document, you say "XAML defines" and "XAML provides", but it's not XAML that provides the ability to have linear animations or user controls -- those are all functions of the underlying libraries for Silverlight and WPF. XAML simply provides an elegant way to instantiate classes via markup.

Unfortunately that adds to confusion for folks who are new to the technologies. Assuming you're going to revise this for Silverlight 3 and WPF 4, I very strongly recommend that you modify the wording around XAML/framework as well.

Pete
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: TargetType in WPF

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:23 GMT

Page 11 says "Some XAML elements use a TargetType attribute to specify the type of element being referenced. For example, Styles use TargetType to specify the type of element being styled. WPF requires a more verbose nomenclature than Silverlight" ACtually, TargetType="Button" works both in WPF and Silverlight.
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Closed Issue: Great document - small bits of feedback

stevenporter77 — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:21:22 GMT

Hi,

I just read your document - top class effort :-) I had some small bits of feedback based on my first reading;

Page 8: Seems to imply there's no VideoBrush in Silverlight but there is and the document mentions it later on.
Page 13: Might be worth saying that Blend 3 brings triggers, actions, behaviors in a common way to Silverlight and WPF.
Page 15: I think Silverlight 3 has a limited form of RelativeSource here.
Page 16/17: It'd be great to line this up with the event tunnelling/bubbling discussion on Page 30.
Page 22: Might be worth saying that BitmapEffects in WPF are (I think) deprecated and we have 2 effects Blur/DropShadow and that is the same in Silverlight 3 and the custom pixel-shader mechanism is the same too.
Page 23: Might be worth highlighting the lack of a tile brush means image/video brushes can't tile.
Page 33: Might mention the FormatString option in WPF.
Page 35: Might mention that binary encoding is in Silverlight 3
Page 53: Might be worth talking about the validation bits in Silverlight 3.

More generally...
It might be worth discussing differences in Accessibility.
A small section on Visibility [Collapsed/Hidden/Visible] ?
Might mention that WPF can _display_ HTML via the Frame and the WebBrowser controls but Silverlight can't and lives "inside" HTML
On the network section - might be worth mentioning explicit ADO.NET Data Services libraries.

Thanks again for the document

Mike.
Comments:

Fixed in version 1.1

Reopened Issue: Great document - small bits of feedback

sloscialo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:44:31 GMT

Meant to set issue to Fixed.

Closed Issue: Great document - small bits of feedback

sloscialo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:43:35 GMT

Fixed all the listed errors. Didn't add new content mentioned in this issue yet.

Released: Microsoft WPF-Silverlight Comparison Whitepaper (Jun 04, 2009)

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:39:12 GMT

This whitepaper documents both the identical (or nearly so) functionality as well as the differences. WPF and Silverlight have many technological concepts in common: Dependency Properties, Data Binding, Custom Controls and Animation to name a few. In addition, this paper documents functionality implementations that may be available in only one technology or the other. For example, WPF implements a large library of controls for document handling, including printing and formatting large documents.

Finally, this whitepaper outlines some strategies in obtaining code reuse across both technologies. Due to minor differences in implementations of common elements, developers need to carefully plan their development in order to reuse code in both platforms. Of course, since certain functionality may not exist in one platform, developers may need to reduce the scope of the application in those cases.

Guidance on Differences Between WPF and Silverlight

New Post: The downloaded file does not open in pdf reader

New Post: doesn't display properly in customized color scheme

Closed Issue: VideoBrush doesn't exist in WPF

Closed Issue: A small typo on page 57

Closed Issue: Page 55: Add SL3 Note on Validation

Closed Issue: Page 35: Incomplete networking information

Closed Issue: Page 25: Silverlight UI Elements do not derive from Control

Closed Issue: Page 21: Fonts

Closed Issue: Page 17: Apple Key

Closed Issue: MediaElement does not wrap MediaPlayer

Closed Issue: You confuse XAML with the underlying framework

Closed Issue: TargetType in WPF

Closed Issue: Great document - small bits of feedback

Reopened Issue: Great document - small bits of feedback

Closed Issue: Great document - small bits of feedback

Released: Microsoft WPF-Silverlight Comparison Whitepaper (Jun 04, 2009)

Updated Release: Microsoft WPF-Silverlight Comparison Whitepaper (Jun 04, 2009)

Updated Release: WPF-Silverlight Comparison Whitepaper v1.1 (Jul 17, 2009)

Released: WPF-Silverlight Comparison Whitepaper v1.1 (Jul 17, 2009)

Updated Release: Microsoft WPF-Silverlight Comparison Whitepaper (Jul 17, 2009)