Creating Silverlight 1.1 Applications for SharePoint with VS2008

Development Environment

• ✅ Visual Studio 2008 running on Windows Vista
• ✅ Microsoft Silverlight 1.1 Tools Alpha for Visual Studio 2008 - adds Silverlight project templates
• ✅ SharePoint 2007 in Virtual PC connected to host machine

Recommended Reading

• • silverlight.net - Official Silverlight documentation and getting started
• • Coding4Fun Silverlight 8-Ball Example - Great introduction showing game development with Silverlight

Step 1: Configure SharePoint _LAYOUTS Directory

Create two folders under the SharePoint _LAYOUTS directory:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\
  web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\
    ├── ClientBin\      ← Silverlight client DLLs
    └── Silverlight\    ← XAML pages

Step 2: Configure ClientBin Folder Permissions

In IIS Manager, configure the ClientBin folder:

MIME Types: Add the following to allow Silverlight assemblies to be downloaded:

.dll  →  application/octet-stream
.pdb  →  application/octet-stream  (for debugging)

Step 3: Configure Silverlight Folder for XAML

Configure the Silverlight folder to support XAML files:

.xaml  →  application/xaml+xml

This MIME type tells browsers to handle XAML files correctly for Silverlight rendering.

Step 4: Create Silverlight 1.1 Project in VS2008

In Visual Studio 2008:

1. 1. File → New → Project
2. 2. Select Silverlight Project template (added by Silverlight 1.1 Tools)
3. 3. Create your Silverlight application with XAML UI and C# code-behind
4. 4. Build the project - ClientBin folder is automatically populated

Step 5: Create SharePoint Web Part Host

Create a custom Web Part that embeds the Silverlight application. This keeps all Silverlight-specific code outside of SharePoint's core files:

public class SilverlightWebPart : WebPart
{
    protected override void RenderContents(HtmlTextWriter writer)
    {
        // Render Silverlight object tag
        writer.Write("<div id='silverlightHost'>");
        writer.Write("<object ... >");
        writer.Write("<param name='source' ");
        writer.Write("value='/_layouts/Silverlight/App.xaml'/>");
        writer.Write("</object>");
        writer.Write("</div>");
    }
}

Step 6: Deploy Files

Copy compiled output to SharePoint:

• • Copy XAML files → _LAYOUTS/Silverlight/
• • Copy DLLs from ClientBin → _LAYOUTS/ClientBin/
• • Deploy Web Part to SharePoint GAC or bin directory
• • Add Web Part to SharePoint page