Silverlight has come a long way. The first RTW (Release to Web) version was introduced by Microsoft in the year 2007 (on Sept 4 to be precise).
Although Silverlight 1.1 was to be released in 2007, Microsoft renamed it to Silverlight 2.0. In Sept 2008, Microsoft shipped the version 2 of Silverlight which came loaded with a lot of new features and enhancements. With each new version, it seemed that this product was getting better and better.
And now in July 2009, Microsoft has shipped version 3 of Silverlight.
Some of the features that were present right from the first version, Silverlight 1.0, are:
Cross-Platform, JavaScript Support, 2D Vector Animation/Graphics, AJAX Support, Cross-Browser (Firefox, IE, and Safari), HTML DOM Integration, HTTP Networking, Canvas Layout Support, Media โ Audio/Video Support, Media โ Image Support (JPEG, PNG), Silverlight ASP.NET Controls such as asp:media and asp:xaml, and XAML Parser.
The table below lists the feature-wise comparison of the three versions.
Silverlight 1, 2, and 3 Feature Comparison
| Features |
Silverlight 1.0 |
Silverlight 2 |
Silverlight 3 |
| .NET Framework Languages (Visual Basic, Visual C#, IronRuby, and so forth) |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Isolated Storage |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Cross Domain Network Access |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| LINQ to Objects |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| StackPanel, Grid, and Panel Layout Support |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Managed Control Framework |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Full set of controls (TextBox, RadioButton, Slider, Calendar, DatePicker, DataGrid, ListBox, and others) |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Deep Zoom Technology |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Security Enforcement |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| Type Safety Verification |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| XMLReader/Writer |
Not Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
| 3-D Effects (Perspective Transforms) |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Bitmap Effects and Pixel Shaders |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| WriteableBitmap |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Bitmap Caching |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| New Media Supported (Raw Video/Audio and H.264) |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Changing Styles at Run Time |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| BasedOn Styles |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Out-of-Browser Support |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Communication Between Local Silverlight-Based Applications (Local Messaging) |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Application Library Caching |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Application Extension Services |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Data Binding Improvements |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Browser Zoom Support |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Navigation |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| Networking |
Not Supported |
Not Supported |
Supported |
| System.Web.Silverlight.dll |
Supported |
Supported |
Not Supported (Removed) |
Some of the breaking changes since Silverlight 2 are listed below:
- ComboBox and ContentControl now display strings rather than numbers when their ItemsSource is set to enum with a typeconverter
- ContentPresenter.Content = "string" no longer changes the ContentTemplate property
- ComboBox without any selected item takes an extra keystroke to select second item
- Using Tab key inside a ListBox now moves focus to next control rather than next ListBox Item
- DataBinding now requires property setter to be public
- HorizontalScrollBarVisibility and VerticalScrollBarVisibility can now be set within a style for ComboBox and ListBox
Conclusion: This article compared the three version of Silverlight and highlighted the new features in Silverlight 3.