Silverlight 5.1.50907

Highlights of new features include the following:

- WCF RIA Services introduces enterprise class networking and data access for building n-tier applications including transactions, paging of data, WCF and HTTP enhancements.
- Comprehensive printing support enabling hardcopy reports and documents as well as a virtual print view, independent of screen content.
- Localization enhancements with Bi-Directional text, Right-to-Left support and complex scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew and 31 new languages including Vietnamese and Indic support.
- Read and write files to the user’s MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyPictures and MyVideos folder (or equivalent for non-windows platforms) for example storage of media files and taking local copies of reports.
- COM automation enables access to devices and other system capabilities by calling into application components; for instance to access a USB security card reader.
- Offline DRM, extending the existing Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady technology to work offline. Protected content can be delivered with a persistent license so that users can go offline immediately and start enjoying their content.
- Enhanced databinding support increases flexibility and productivity through data grouping/editing and string formatting within bindings.
- Exclusive tooling support for Silverlight, new in Visual Studio 2010. Including a full editable design surface, drag & drop data-binding, automatically bound controls, datasource selection, integration with Expression Blend styling resources, Silverlight project support and full IntelliSense.

# Business Application Development

Silverlight 4 consolidates its position as the natural choice for building business applications on the Web:

* New Features for Application Developers

- Comprehensive printing support enabling hardcopy reports and documents as well as a virtual print view, independent of screen content.
- A full set of forms controls with over 60 customizable, styleable components. New controls include RichTextbox with hyperlinks, images and editing and Masked textbox for complex field validation. Enhanced controls include DataGrid with sortable/resizeable columns and copy/paste rows.
- WCF RIA Services introduces enterprise class networking and data access for building n-tier applications including transactions, paging of data, WCF and HTTP enhancements.
- Localization enhancements with Bi-Directional text, Right-to-Left support and complex scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew and 31 new languages including Vietnamese and Indic support.
- The .NET Common Runtime (CLR) now enables the same compiled code to be run on the desktop and Silverlight without change.
- Enhanced databinding support increases flexibility and productivity through data grouping/editing and string formatting within bindings.
- Managed Extensibility Framework supports building large composite applications.
- Exclusive tooling support for Silverlight, new in Visual Studio 2010. Including a full editable design surface, drag & drop data-binding, automatically bound controls, datasource selection, integration with Expression Blend styling resources, Silverlight project support and full IntelliSense.

* Developer tools

- Fully editable design surface for drawing out controls and layouts.
- Rich property grid and new editors for values
- Drag and drop support for databinding and automatically creating bound controls such as listbox, datagrid. New datasources window and picker.
- Easy to pick styles and resources to make a good looking application based on designer resources built in Expression Blend.
- Built in project support for Silverlight applications
- Editor with full intellisense for XAML and C# and VB languages.

* Empowering richer, more interactive experiences

Silverlight is already in use as a comprehensive platform for building rich experiences both for application and pure media scenarios including HD quality, interactive video through Smooth Streaming. Silverlight 4 introduces additional capabilities to enable creation of ever more rich, appealing high-performance interactive experiences and innovative media experiences:

- Fluid interface enhancements advance application usability through animation effects.
- Webcam and microphone to allow sharing of video and audio for instance for chat or customer service applications.
- Audio and video local recording capabilities capture RAW video without requiring server interaction, enabling a wide range of end-user interaction and communication scenarios for example video conferencing.
- Bring data in to your application with features such as copy and paste or drag and drop.
- Long lists can now be scrolled effortlessly with the mouse wheel.
- Support conventional desktop interaction models through new features such as right-click context menu.
- Support for Google’s Chrome browser.
- Performance optimizations mean Silverlight 4 applications start quicker and run 200% faster than the equivalent Silverlight 3 application.
- Multi-touch support enables a range of gestures and touch interactions to be integrated into user experiences.
- Multicast networking, enabling Enterprises to lower the cost of streaming broadcast events such as company meetings and training, interoperating seamlessly with existing Windows Media Server streaming infrastructure.
- Content protection for H.264 media through Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady.
- Output protection for audio/video streams allowing content owners or distributors to ensure protected content is only viewed through a secure video connection.

# Move beyond the browser

Silverlight 3 pioneered the delivery of a new class of Rich Internet Applications to work on the desktop without additional code or runtimes. Silverlight 4 extends this capability:

* For Sandboxed applications

- Place HTML within your application enabling much tighter integration with content from web servers such as email, help and reports.
- Provide support for ‘toast’ notification windows, allowing applications to communicate status or change information while the user is working on another application through a popup window on the taskbar.
- Offline DRM, extending the existing Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady technology to work offline. Protected content can be delivered with a persistent license so that users can go offline immediately and start enjoying their content.
- Control over aspects of UI include window settings such as start position, size and chrome.

* For Trusted applications

- Read and write files to the user’s MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyPictures and MyVideos folder (or equivalent for non-windows platforms) for example storage of media files and taking local copies of reports.
- Run other desktop programs such as Office, for example requesting Outlook to send an email, send a report to Word or data to Excel.
- COM automation enables access to devices and other system capabilities by calling into application components; for instance to access a USB security card reader.
- A new user interface for requesting application privileges access outside the standard Silverlight sandbox.
- Group policy objects allow organizations to tailor which applications may have elevated trust.
- Full keyboard support in fullscreen mode richer kiosk and media applications.
- Enhancements to networking allow cross-domain access without a security policy file.
- Custom Window ‘chrome’ to provide a highly branded experience

* Silverlight now properly handles graphics driver error conditions which prevent proper rendering
* Performance and CPU utililization improvements in specific DeepZoom scenarios
* Fixes crashing issue related to download errors

Business Application Development

Silverlight 4 consolidates its position as the natural choice for building business applications on the Web:
New Features for Application Developers

* Comprehensive printing support enabling hardcopy reports and documents as well as a virtual print view, independent of screen content.
* A full set of forms controls with over 60 customizable, styleable components. New controls include RichTextbox with hyperlinks, images and editing and Masked textbox for complex field validation. Enhanced controls include DataGrid with sortable/resizeable columns and copy/paste rows.
* WCF RIA Services introduces enterprise class networking and data access for building n-tier applications including transactions, paging of data, WCF and HTTP enhancements.
* Localization enhancements with Bi-Directional text, Right-to-Left support and complex scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew and Thai and 30 new languages.
* The .NET Common Runtime (CLR) now enables the same compiled code to be run on the desktop and Silverlight without change.
* Enhanced databinding support increases flexibility and productivity through data grouping/editing and string formatting within bindings.
* Managed Extensibility Framework supports building large composite applications.
* Exclusive tooling support for Silverlight, new in Visual Studio 2010. Including a full editable design surface, drag & drop data-binding, automatically bound controls, datasource selection, integration with Expression Blend styling resources, Silverlight project support and full IntelliSense.

Developer tools

* Fully editable design surface for drawing out controls and layouts.
* Rich property grid and new editors for values
* Drag and drop support for databinding and automatically creating bound controls such as listbox, datagrid. New datasources window and picker.
* Easy to pick styles and resources to make a good looking application based on designer resources built in Expression Blend.
* Built in project support for Silverlight applications
* Editor with full intellisense for XAML and C# and VB languages.

Empowering richer, more interactive experiences

Silverlight is already in use as a comprehensive platform for building rich experiences both for application and pure media scenarios including HD quality, interactive video through Smooth Streaming. Silverlight 4 introduces additional capabilities to enable creation of ever more rich, appealing high-performance interactive experiences and innovative media experiences:

* Fluid interface enhancements advance application usability through animation effects.
* Webcam and microphone to allow sharing of video and audio for instance for chat or customer service applications.
* Audio and video local recording capabilities capture RAW video without requiring server interaction, enabling a wide range of end-user interaction and communication scenarios for example video conferencing.
* Bring data in to your application with features such as copy and paste or drag and drop.
* Long lists can now be scrolled effortlessly with the mouse wheel.
* Support conventional desktop interaction models through new features such as right-click context menu.
* Support for Google’s Chrome browser.
* Performance optimizations mean Silverlight 4 applications start quicker and run 200% faster than the equivalent Silverlight 3 application.
* Deep Zoom enhancements include hardware acceleration to support larger datasets and faster animation.
* Multi-touch support enables a range of gestures and touch interactions to be integrated into user experiences.
* Multicast networking, enabling Enterprises to lower the cost of streaming broadcast events such as company meetings and training, interoperating seamlessly with existing Windows Media Server streaming infrastructure.
* Content protection for H.264 media through Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady.
* Output protection for audio/video streams allowing content owners or distributors to ensure protected content is only viewed through a secure video connection.

Move beyond the browser

Silverlight 3 pioneered the delivery of a new class of Rich Internet Applications to work on the desktop without additional code or runtimes. Silverlight 4 extends this capability:
For Sandboxed applications

* Place HTML within your application enabling much tighter integration with content from web servers such as email, help and reports.
* Provide support for ‘toast’ notification windows, allowing applications to communicate status or change information while the user is working on another application through a popup window on the taskbar.
* Offline DRM, extending the existing Silverlight DRM powered by PlayReady technology to work offline. Protected content can be delivered with an embedded license so that users can go offline immediately and start enjoying their content.
* Control over aspects of UI include window settings such as start position, size and chrome.

For Trusted applications

* Read and write files to the user’s MyDocuments, MyMusic, MyPictures and MyVideos folder (or equivalent for non-windows platforms) for example storage of media files and taking local copies of reports.
* Run other desktop programs such as Office, for example requesting Outlook to send an email, send a report to Word or data to Excel.
* COM automation enables access to devices and other system capabilities by calling into application components; for instance to access a USB security card reader.
* A new user interface for requesting application privileges access outside the standard Silverlight sandbox.
* Group policy objects allow organizations to tailor which applications may have elevated trust.
* Full keyboard support in fullscreen mode richer kiosk and media applications.
* Enhancements to networking allow cross-domain access without a security policy file.

* Silverlight now properly handles graphics driver error conditions which prevent proper rendering
* Performance and CPU utililization improvements in specific DeepZoom scenarios
* Fixes crashing issue related to download errors

* Fixes a problem with too much buffering during media playback

What’s New in Silverlight 3?

Fully supported by Visual Studio and Expression Blend, highlights of new features and functionality of Silverlight 3 include: major media enhancements, out of browser support allowing Web applications to work on the desktop; significant graphics improvements including 3D graphics support, GPU acceleration and H.264 video support; and many features to improve RIA development productivity. Also, in order to fully integrate all the .NET developer tools, Visual Studio 2010 will support a fully editable and interactive designer for Silverlight. New features in Silverlight 3 include:

* Support for Higher Quality Video & Audio. With support for native H.264/Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) Audio, live and on-demand IIS7 Smooth Streaming, full HD (720p+) playback, and an extensible decoder pipeline, Silverlight 3 brings rich, full-screen, stutter-free media experiences to the desktop. New and enhanced media features in Silverlight 3 include:
o Live and on-demand true HD (720p+) Smooth Streaming. IIS Media Services (formerly IIS Media Pack), an integrated HTTP media delivery platform, features Smooth Streaming which dynamically detects and seamlessly switches, in real time, the video quality of a media file delivered to Silverlight based on local bandwidth and CPU conditions.
o More format choice. In addition to native support for VC-1/WMA, Silverlight 3 now offers users native support for MPEG-4-based H.264/AAC Audio, enabling content distributors to deliver high-quality content to a wide variety of computers and devices.
o True HD playback in full-screen. Leveraging graphics processor unit (GPU) hardware acceleration, Silverlight experiences can now be delivered in true full-screen HD (720p+).
o Extensible media format support. With the new Raw AV pipeline, Silverlight can easily support a wide variety of third-party codecs. Audio and video can be decoded outside the runtime and rendered in Silverlight, extending format support beyond the native codecs.
o Industry leading content protection. Silverlight DRM, Powered by PlayReady Content Protection enables protected in-browser experiences using AES encryption or Windows Media DRM.
* Empowering Richer Experiences. Silverlight 3 contains new 3D graphics, animation features, hardware accelerated effects and text improvements that enable designers and developers to create next generation Web visuals. Additional features include:
o Perspective 3D Graphics. Silverlight 3 allows developers and designers to apply content to a 3D plane. Users can rotate or scale live content in space without writing any additional code. Other effects include creating a queue in 3D and transitions.
o Pixel Shader effects. These software based effects include blur and drop shadow. In addition, you can also write your own effect. Effects can be applied to any graphical content. An example would be to make a button appear depressed on rollover you could use a drop shadow effect on the pressed visual state.
o Bitmap Caching. Silverlight 3 dramatically improves the rendering performance of applications by allowing users to cache vector content, text and controls into bitmaps. This feature is useful for background content and for content which needs to scale without making changes to its internal appearance.
o New Bitmap API. With Silverlight 3, developers can now write pixels to a bitmap. Thus, they can build a photo editor to do red eye correction, perform edits on scanned documents or create specials effects for cached bitmaps from elements on the screen.
o Themed application support. Developers can now theme applications by applying styles to their Silverlight 3 applications and changing them at runtime. Additionally, developers can cascade styles by basing them on each other.
o Animation Effects. Silverlight 3 provides new effects such as spring and bounce. These make animation more natural. Developers can also now develop their own mathematical functions to describe an animation.
o Enhanced control skinning. Silverlight 3 provides easier skinning capabilities by keeping a common set of controls external from an application. This allows the sharing of styles and control skins between different applications.
o Improved text rendering & font support. Silverlight 3 allows far more efficient rendering and rapid animation of text. Applications also load faster by enabling the use of local fonts.
* Improving Rich Internet Application Productivity. New features include:
o 60+ controls with source code : Silverlight 3 is packed with over 60 high-quality, fully skinnable and customizable out-of-the-box controls such as charting and media, new layout containers such as dock and viewbox, and controls such as autocomplete, treeview and datagrid. The controls come with nine professional designed themes and the source code can be modified/recompiled or utilized as-is. Other additions include multiple selection in listbox controls, file save dialog making it easier to write files, and support for multiple page applications with navigation.
o Deep Linking. Silverlight 3 includes support for deep linking, which enables bookmarking a page within a RIA.
o Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Silverlight 3 enables users to solve the SEO-related challenges posed by RIAs. By utilizing business objects on the server, together with ASP.NET controls and site maps, users can automatically mirror database-driven RIA content into HTML that is easily indexed by the leading search engines.
o Enhanced Data Support Silverlight 3 delivers:
+ Element to Element binding : UI designers use binding between two UI properties to create compelling UI experiences. Silverlight now enables property binding to CLR objects and other UI components via XAML, for instance binding a slider value to the volume control of a media player.
+ Data Forms. The Data Form control provides support for layout of fields, validation, updating and paging through data.
+ New features for data validation which automatically catch incorrect input and warn the user with built-in validation controls.
+ Support for business objects on both client and server with n-Tier data support. Easily load, sort, filter and page data with added support for working with data. Includes a new built-in CollectionView to perform a set of complex operations against server side data. A new set of .NET RIA services supports these features on the server.
o Improved performance, through:
+ Application library caching, which reduces the size of applications by caching framework on the client in order to improve rendering performance.
+ Enhanced Deep Zoom, allows users to fluidly navigate through larger image collections by zooming.
+ Binary XML allows communication with the server to be compressed, greatly increasing the speed at which data can be exchanged.
+ Local Connection This feature allows communication between two Silverlight applications on the client-side without incurring a server roundtrip: for instance a chart in one control can communicate with a datagrid in another.
* Advanced Accessibility Features. Silverlight 3 is the first browser plug-in to provide access to all system colors, allowing partially-sighted people to make changes such as high contrast color schemes for ease of readability by using familiar operating system controls.
* Out of Browser Capabilities. The new out of browser experience in Silverlight 3 enables users to place their favorite Silverlight applications directly onto their PC and Mac, with links on the desktop and start menu—all without the need to download an additional runtime or browser plug-in. Further, the new experience enables Silverlight applications to work whether the computer is connected to the Internet or not—a radical improvement to the traditional Web experience. Features include:
o Life outside the browser. Silverlight applications can now be installed to and run from the desktop as lightweight web companions. Thus, users can take their favorite Web applications with them, regardless of whether they are connected to the Internet or not.
o Desktop shortcuts and start menu support. Silverlight applications can be stored on any PC or Mac computer’s desktop with links in the start menu and applications folder, and so are available with one-click access.
o Safe and secure. Leveraging the security features of the .NET Framework, Silverlight applications run inside a secure sandbox with persistent isolated storage. These applications have most of the same security restrictions as traditional web apps and so can be trusted without security warnings or prompts, minimizing user interruptions.
o Smooth installation. Because Silverlight applications are stored in a local cache and do not require extra privileges to run, the installation process is quick and efficient.
o Auto-update. Upon launch, Silverlight applications can check for new versions on the server, and automatically update if one is found.
o Internet connectivity detection. Silverlight applications can now detect whether they have Internet connectivity and can react intelligently including caching a users’ data until their connection is restored.

New Features in Expression Blend 3: The designer-developer workflow took another major step forward today with major innovations in Expression Blend 3 including: SketchFlow, a rapid prototyping capability that makes it easy to communicate design intent to stakeholders; design time sample data that enables the design and testing of applications without access to live data; direct import of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files; behaviors, extensible and reusable components that add interactivity to applications without writing code; a full code editor supporting C#, VB and XAML; and many more features that support an improved design and development experience. Features include:

* SketchFlow. SketchFlow introduces a new set of features designed to make it easier for you to experiment with dynamic user experiences and create compelling prototypes. SketchFlow also helps communicate design ideas to other stakeholders, and makes it easier to collect in-context annotated feedback. SketchFlow enables the navigation and composition of an application to be modeled in a very visual manner from a simple prototype that uses a series of sketches, to something much more evolved. A prototype can be made as real and interactive as it needs to be to communicate design intent and SketchFlow can leverage all the existing features of Expression Blend.
* Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator import. The powerful importers for both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator enable smooth integration with workflows the designer already has in place. The designer has freedom to view and import Photoshop files layer by layer. Layers can be easily regrouped and elements retain their original formats; layers, layer positions, editable text and vectors remain available for editing within Expression Blend.
* Behaviors. Add interactivity to your application, without having to write code. Behaviors can encapsulate complex design interactions into reusable components which can be directly applied to a user interface element in the application. Developers have access to a rich API that they can use to write their own triggers, actions, and behaviors for use in their Silverlight and WPF projects.
* Sample data. Design time sample data makes it easy to build data-connected applications without access to live data. You can generate sample data or import sample data from an XML file and is available to controls on the artboard at design-time. You can extensively customize your sample data details, and you can easily switch between using sample data and using live data at run-time.
* Improved design and development experience. Expression Blend 3 includes many features that improve the overall design experience including a brand new design surface making Blend more accessible to visual designers. Team Foundation Server support allows easier integration of the Blend user into Team System. Improved animation and easing functions, 3D transforms, visual effects and an improved visual state manager enable a great tooling experience.

# Fixes problems that were caused by Silverlight and McAfee scanning tools interactions
# UI automation stability fixes, including:
* graceful failures when attempting to use features that require .Net Framework 3.0 or 3.5 on machines that do not have either framework installed
* improved Tablet support
# Fixes an issue that arises when Mac users customize their environment by removing Arial and Verdana fonts
# Fixes a known issue with Isolated Storage IncreaseQuotaTo method

The Silverlight 2 Beta 2 runtime introduces support for.NET languages such as Visual Basic and Visual C#.

The next generation of Silverlight 2 adds Charts, Image Sliders and more. You will be able to create apps having:

* Richly compelling experiences.
* Real relevance for business.
* Interop with ASP.NET and AJAX.

* New installer to enable offline installation and upgrade support via Microsoft Update
* Integration with Windows Media Servers: Improved Audio only stream log information to WMS. The supported logging fields by Silverlight are documented in the Silverlight 1 SDK.