Hi all,

Microsoft released Silverlight 5 first beta (you can download it from here).

Unfortunately it has not so many futures as we probably expected to get in this first drop of Silverlight 5.

This build of the Silverlight 5 includes next top futures:

• XAML Debugging with breakpoints for binding debugging
• Implicit data templates for easy UI reuse
• Double (and multi) click support
• GPU-accelerated XNA-compatible 3D and immediate-mode 2D API
• Low-latency sound effects and WAV support
• Real operating system windows and multi-display support
• Significant performance improvements, fixes and much more

Most of these futures could be used only in Silverlight 5 applications, but not the first one :)

But it's amazing that by installing Silverlight 5 tools for Visual Studio we can get XAML Debugging (Binding Debugging) not only for Silverlight 5 applications but also for Silverlight 4 applications!

Let's try it:

The goal is to build Silverlight 4 based application and try Binding Debugging in it. After we make sure that binding debugging work correctly we will try to run our application on PC which has only Silverlight 4 installed.

1. Create Silverlight 4 application

Let's create Silverlight 4 based application first. Select Silverlight 4 in Silverlight Version combobox:

2. Test Binding Debug

Now let's create some class to which we will bind to and set DataContext of our form:

In xaml we will use simple <Textblock /> to display text stored in SomeString property of the Data class.

Ok, now we all set to start testing Binding Debug.

Place a caret inside binding element and hit F9 to set a break point.

Now start application and see that debugger is able to stop on break point and you could see binding details in Locals window:

Ok, so we are able to use Binding Debugging even with Silverlight 4 applications.

Update: you still can debug Binding in XAML even if your application is built using Silverlight 4 tools only! Try to lunch any application which you have built before installing Silverlight 5 tools and see that you can place a break point in XAML and debugger can stop on that break point and show binding details for you :)

Hi all,

We all are waiting for Silverlight 5 beta which should be released today.

Good news: Microsoft created a page with Silverlight 5 download link.

Bad news: it still points to the Silverlight 4 installer :(

But it's almost here ;)

Often you need to run some initialization operations during application startup or control creation. Assume you can’t show or enable UI till all operations complete. In this case you need some code to watch for server requests and raise some ‘InitializationCompleted’ event when all requests are done.

This piece of code should store and manage current state (which operations are in Running state and which one are completed) somehow. And it is better if state management code will be reusable.

This is exactly what I gonna  to build for you.

I’d like the idea to use enum to define initialization phases:

[Flags]
public enum InitializationPhases: uint
{
	None = 0,
	MachineSeetingsLoad = 1,
	UserSettingsLoad = 2
}

Please note that I use Flags attribute on the enum type. This allow us to use bitwise operations on enum values.

The idea is to set particular bit to ‘1’ when operation starts and mark as ‘0’ when operation completes. If all bits become ‘0’ then all operations will be completed.

To make code reusable I’d like to create generic type. Unfortunately we can’t  define enum constraint for generic type parameter. But enum is also a structure so at least we could constraint generic parameter to structures.

Enum type support IConvertable interface. Which allow us to perform conversion to uint value and then we could do bitwise operations with that value. The only moment we should be sure about is that generic type is created with enum generic parameter. To check it we will use .NET  reflection.

public class InitializationStateManager<T> : INotifyPropertyChanged
    where T : struct, IConvertible
{
    private UInt32 _initializationPhasesInRun;

    static InitializationStateManager()
    {
        Type t = typeof(T);

        if (!t.IsEnum) throw new ArgumentException("T must be an enumerable type");

        bool flagsAttributeFound = false;
        foreach (object attribute in t.GetCustomAttributes(false))
        {
            flagsAttributeFound = attribute is FlagsAttribute;
            if (flagsAttributeFound) break;
        }
        if (!flagsAttributeFound) throw new ArgumentException("T must be marked with Flags attribute");
    }

    public bool IsInitialized
    {
        get { return _initializationPhasesInRun == 0; }
    }

    #region INotifyPropertyChanged Members

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    #endregion

    protected void OnPropertyChaneged(String propertyName)
    {
        if (PropertyChanged != null) PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
    }

    public void MarkPhaseCompleted(T phase)
    {
        _initializationPhasesInRun &= ~phase.ToUInt32(null);
        OnPropertyChaneged("IsInitialized");
    }

    public void MarkPhaseStarted(T phase)
    {
        _initializationPhasesInRun |= phase.ToUInt32(null);
    }
}

In constructor we check what generic type parameter is enum and marked with Flags attribute.

Two methods MarkPhaseStarted and MarkPhaseCompleted are used to indicate that initialization phase started or completed. When all initialization phases will be completed the PropertyChanged event will be raised.

There are still some missed functionality:

1. Code is not thread safe
2. Probably it should be a Start() method to indicate that all initialization phases are started, to avoid the situation when some phase will complete before other one start

Are you still waiting for Microsoft to release Silverlight 4 for Visual Studio 2010 RC?

I'm not anymore :)

You could completely use Silverlight 4 bits for VS 2010 Beta 2 with VS 2010 RC. Alex Sorokoletov has found how to install Silverlight 4 on VS 2010 RC.

There is no magic and steps are simple as One, Two, Tree:

1. Download Silverlight 4 Tools For VS 2010 Beta 2
2. Run installation. The dialog window saying what Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 should be installed will appear. Don’t hit the cancel button!
3. Locate folder named like ‘bfb0032a835647b79718f26ba81d3392’ on root of some of your hard drives. And copy it’s content to some other location.
4. Open ParameterInfo.xml and comment out <BlockIf DisplayText="Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 ..."> section (it is placed on lines 13-41)
5. Now you are ready to SPInstaller.exe to install Silverlight 4 Tools
6. One additional step is required to force Visual Studio to use Silverlight 4 instead of Silverlight 3 for visual designers. To do it open regedit and search for DesignerPlatforms. Under this key go to Silverlight and change SilverlightHost value to ‘4.0’.

You should be happy now :)

If you need RIA services then load patched Microsoft.RiaServices.Tools.dll assembly and copy it to ‘c:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\RIA Services\v1.0\Libraries\Server’ folder.

And then open GAC management console by [Win+R] -> assembly ->[Enter]. Remove old one assembly and add new one.

Restart Visual Studio and you are done.

Thanks for Alex!