After a long wait, the Silverlight 3 or SL3 in short has been released earlier this month.  I was eager to check it out but my situations prevent me from trying it.  Finally, I got some time and checked on the new version.  I was shocked.

All the OOB applications that I developed using the beta simply refused to start!  So I decided to try out new one.  But to my dismay, I CANNOT CREATE ONE!  I was frustrated because, it was the most exciting feature for me, as I am a guy who was trying to develop a smart client.  I was wondering why MS had removed that.  I was damn sure that they won’t.  So I checked further and checked the application properties.  Then, the knots begin to loose.

In fact they had made it pretty easier now.  They had added it to the properties itself, so the developer doesn’t need to manipulate any xml file.  The thing is, they had introduced a new file called OutOfBrowserSettings.xml.  This file is created automatically when you edit the properties page.

The properties page will look like

Highlighted is the out of browser settings.

Once we click this, we will get something like,

Once we click ok, we are done and a new xml file is created in properties.

the file contents will look like,

<OutOfBrowserSettings ShortName="newOOB Application" EnableGPUAcceleration="False" ShowInstallMenuItem="True">
  <OutOfBrowserSettings.Blurb>newOOB Application on your desktop; at home, at work or on the go.</OutOfBrowserSettings.Blurb>
  <OutOfBrowserSettings.WindowSettings>
    <WindowSettings Title="newOOB Application" />
  </OutOfBrowserSettings.WindowSettings>
  <OutOfBrowserSettings.Icons />
</OutOfBrowserSettings>

So, finally, I am relaxed and happy!

Of all the features, the feature that I like most is the Out of browser capability of SL 3.  I am a guy who is more interested in Smart Clients rather than web clients or windows application.  SL 3 beta works like a smart client.  WE COULD DOWNLOAD THAT SL APPLICATION TO OUR SYSTEM AND WORK FROM THERE WITHOUT BROWSER!!!!

When we right click on an SL3 application in browser, we will get a window like the one below.

where as abc is my application name!

But this feature is disabled by default.  We need to do some modifications in AppManifest.xml file.Let me come to it later.  Before that, had you noticed the drop shadow effect of buttons?  Cool, isn’t it?

For making this application as a desktop one we need this small change in appManifest as I said before:

Ok, now I am going to save this to desktop.

Here I go, then it asks me whether to save it to desktop or start menu and I am done!!

here is the final look.

Cool, isn’t it? 

Another feature which I like most is the plane projection ability.  It gives you a 3D feel of things as in WPF. 

See this this is a normal button.  I am going to sett its plane projection value.

there is also a save dialog in SL3.  We were using roundabouts for this in SL2.  But now things had become easier!

This had become a rather big post.  So let me continue rest in other posts…

• We can sum the total of a column in Word tables just like we do in Excel.  All we need to do is to place the cursor in the last empty cell of the column, then click Table tools and then formulas.  You are done.  But please do remember that unlike Excel, the value won’t change, if any of the cell is changed
• We can edit a document in its print preview mode, if we turn off the the magnifier property.  Also, there is no need to close the preview to access something from the toolbars[like standard toolbar].  Just right click on the toolbar and select it from the list in word 2003.  In 2007, this is not a problem as you can do almost everything with a right click.
• Did you know that you can apply format painter to varios selections?  Yes, just double click it and voila! you are done.  Click it again to turn this off.

• If you are using Word 2007, start by clicking the Office button. Click on Word Options and then click Save. Click Browse next to the Default File Location box under Save Documents, and then navigate to the location you want to set as your default. Click on your new default folder to select it, and then click OK.  In earlier versions of Word, go to Options from the Tools menu. Go to the File Locations tab and click on Documents under File Types. Click the Modify button. In the Look In field, find the folder you want to set as your default. Click to select it, click OK a couple times and you are good to go.
• Another easy way is to create shortcuts for your frequently used folders in your “My documents” and select that in the dialog

Hope you find this useful…

I am always fascinated by events and use them a lot.  Being a lazy guy, following these many steps were real hurdles for me   Thank God, there is another short way in C#.

There is a standard Eventhandler in C#.  It is a delegate which takes the source as object type and an Eventhandler object.   So, I could create the events like

public event EventHandler myEvent;

And when I handle it, the function will look like,

void Window1_myEvent(object sender, EventArgs e){ }

 But what if we have to pass our our own data?

We could create our own EventArgs:)  I’ll paste an example below

public class myEventArgs : EventArgs

{

object myValue;

public object MyValue

{

get{return myValue;}

set{myValue=value;}

}

public myEventArgs()

{ }

}

Only thing that we have to notice is that our class should inherit from EventArgs. 

Fine, now we had created our EventArgs.  But how to use it?  It has answers for that too.  The Eventhandler declaration can take a type attribute too.  See below

public event EventHandler<myEventArgs> myEvent;

So here we say that our event will pass an object of type MyEventArgs.  So we can add our code.  Just like creating delegates and Eventhandler

So, enjoy with Events…