As a Silverlight developer, I have mixed emotions when I find out there is a new version of Silverlight just around the corner. On one hand, I love playing with the new bits and seeing how the new features will make my life easier, but on the other hand, it also means I have a lot of work to do in order to update my current applications in order to take advantage of some of those new features. Well, Silverlight 4 is just around the corner. I have played around with the bits a little and have read my blog posts and articles on the new features. Some of the more exciting ones are:
String Formatting: This is a small thing, but it saves so much time! By using this new feature, I can get rid of about half of the value converters I am currently using.
Notification API - “Toast” feature seen in Windows.
Hosting HTML content – I haven’t played with this one yet, but this feature will help me get rid of several “hacks” in my code… Overlaying html on a Silverlight application can be a pain… especially if you want that html content to scroll. One MAJOR problem with this feature… it is only supported in out of browser mode. Note to Silverlight Team: “Please make this available in the browser!”
Webcam and microphone support… Yes!
ICommand support in Buttons
ViewBox Control – I use this control a lot in WPF when working with images. It’s great that it’s finally made it to Silverlight.
Printing
Drag-and-Drop Support
Right Click and Mouse Wheel Support
Clipboard Support
Here are just a few links that talk about some of the new sl 4 features.
http://wildermuth.com/2010/01/21/New_SL4_Feature_Commanding
http://wildermuth.com/2009/11/27/Silverlight_4_s_Printing_Support
http://wildermuth.com/2009/11/23/Taking_a_WebCam_Photo_with_Silverlight
http://wildermuth.com/2009/11/18/Data_Binding_Changes_in_Silverlight_4
http://www.silverlight.net/learn/videos/silverlight-4-beta-videos/datagrid-enhancements/
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