WPF

Overview

WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) is a framework (first introduced in .NET3.0) for building rich dynamic GUI. Any C# script utilizing the WPF classes can be executed by CS-Script as any other scripts. It is possible because from the CLR point of view WPF classes are just ordinary CLR classes.

That is it WPF is nothing else but a collection of CLR classes.

WPF is directly related to XAML - another part of .NET3.0+.

XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) is a language for describing GUI layout and it's relationships with the business objects. XAML primarily used in conjunction with WPF. Usually it is used in a compiled form for initialization GUI layout at runtime and as such it does require it's own compiler.

It is important to note that XAML has nothing to do with CLR. This is the reason why scripts which are utilizing XAML has to be handled by the script engine in a special way.
WPF script which are not using XAML do not require any special treatment and can be executed normally.

Starting from version 1.9.0 CS-Script includes special edition of the C# compiler capable of processing XMAL files. The following code sample demonstrates how WPF script can use XAML:

Samples\WPF\Hello.cs

//css_inc Hello.xaml;
//css_ref WindowsBase;
//css_ref PresentationCore;
//css_ref PresentationFramework;
using System;
using System.Windows;

public partial class MainWindow : System.Windows.Window
{
    public MainWindow()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }
    void OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("Hello World!");
    }

    [STAThread]
    public static void Main()
    {
        MainWindow wnd = new MainWindow();
        wnd.ShowDialog();
    }
}

Samples\WPF\Hello.xaml

<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Hello World Application" Height="117" Width="280">
  <Grid>
    <Button Margin="108,27,109,34" Name="button1" Click="OnClick" >Say Hello</Button>
  </Grid>
</Window>

The code above is a WPF multi-file "Hello World" script (Hello.cs + Hello.xaml) from CS-Script samples library (Script Library). Xaml file can be included in the primary script as any other secondary script file: with directive //css_import or //css_include (in short form //css_imp or //css_inc).

Limitations

Unfortunately MS did not provide XAML compiler as a stand-alone application. Instead MS has merged XAML compiler with MSBuild.exe and in this form it is used by CS-Script custom compiler CSSCodeProvider.dll.
Such approach is inconsistent with the way how C# code is usually processed by CS-Script. And that is why implementation of the XAML support may change in future depending on MS decision to ship stand-alone version of XAML compiler.

You may also notice that WPF scripts and executables produces from the scripts sometimes demonstrates slight startup-delay. This is a .NET bag, which was already reported to MS (https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=273495&SiteID=212).

Silverlight

Silverlight is a subset of WPF and as such does not require any special technique to be executed as a script: you just need to reference appropriate assemblies and include code-behind and XAML files (this can change in the future). However CS-Script offers an interesting technique for viewing Silverlight content without a browser: Silverlight Player script (<cs-script>\Lib\silverlight.cs).

Execute the following command in command to playback XAP file (e.g. myApp.xap):

cscs silverlight myApp.xap

Silverlight Player is a viewer for XAP (compressed Silverlight content) files. Silverlight Player is capable not only rendering Silverlight content but also generating self-sufficient executable from XAP file.

Thus you can convert XAP file into WinForm executable which can be executed on any Windows PC having Silverlight runtime installed. It does not require any other files to be distributed or even temporary created on target PC at runtime as it hosts it's own built-in Web server, IE Web browser and contains XAP file as embedded resource.

Execute the following command in command prompt to convert XAP file into self-sufficient executable (e.g. myApp.xap -> myApp.exe):

cscs silverlight /exe myApp.xap

To allow using Silverlight Player by right clicking XAP files in Windows Explorer the "View" and "Convert to EXE" shell extensions have been made available. They can be installed by executing corresponding batch files from <cs-script>\Samples\Silverlight directory.

Silverlight Player script was inspired by Tamir Khason effort described here: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/tamir/archive/2008/05/02/stand-alone-multiplatform-silverlight-application.aspx.

Silverlight content sample (BookPages.xap) is taken from SOTC: programming and development tutorial blog.

WPF/XAML

Overview

Silverlight

See Also