Silverlight 5 RTM

It took a while but Silverlight 5 is finally here: http://www.silverlight.net/downloads

 

New features

Building next-generation business applications

· PivotViewer -- now included in SDK. Adds support for dynamic client-based collections, XAML-based visuals, and customizability.

· ClickCount: Add support for multi-click to your application

· Listbox/ComboBox type-ahead text searching: Listboxes and ComboBoxes can now scroll based on text input

· Ancestor RelativeSource Binding: Bind to a property on a parent control

· Implicit DataTemplates: Allow DataTemplates to be defined implicitly

· DataContextChanged event

· Added PropertyChanged to the UpdateSourceTrigger enum

· Save File and Open File Dialog: Specify a default filename when you launch your SaveFileDialog and specify a default directory when you launch your OpenFileDialog

· Databinding Debugging: Set a breakpoint directly in XAML, examine locals, and debug your bindings

· Custom Markup Extensions: Execute custom code at XAML parse time

· Binding on Style Setters: You can now specify a binding within a style

Improved Text support

· Text Tracking & Leading: Exercise fine-grained control over the spacing between characters and lines in your text

· Linked Text Containers: Create linked RichTextBlocks that allow text to flow seamlessly from one to the next

· OpenType and Pixel Snapped Text : Improved text clarity

· Postscript vector printing: reduces the size of print jobs and improves rendering quality of text

· Performance improvements for Block Layout Engine.

Silverlight 5 performance improvements

· Parser Performance Improvements: Improved XAML parse times for UserControls & ResourceDictionaries

· Network Latency Improvements: Significant performance improvement in ClientHttpWebRequest scenarios

· H/W accelerated rendering in IE9 windowless mode: Silverlight now uses the new SurfacePresenter APIs for H/W accelerated rendering in IE9 windowless mode

· Multicore JIT: Shortens the start-up time for Silverlight apps

· 64-bit browser support

 

Graphics improvements

· Improved Graphics stack: The graphics stack has been re-architected to add features such as Independent Animations

· 3D: Use the XNA API on the Windows platform to gain low-level access to the GPU and draw vertex shaders and low-level 3D primitives. Includes Render targets, XNA built-in effects, surface composition settings for depth/stencil buffers and multi-sample anti-aliasing

 

Silverlight 5 extends features of the "Trusted Application" model

Silverlight 5 extends features of the ‘Trusted Application’ model to the browser for the first time. These features, when enabled via a group policy registry key and an application certificate, mean users won’t need to leave the browser to perform complex tasks:

· Multiple window support: Launch multiple top-level windows inside a SL OOB application

· Full-Trust in-browser: Using Group Policy, deploy signed in-browser applications that harness the full power of full-trust functionality

· In-browser HTML support: Host your WebOC within an in-browser SL application

· Unrestricted File System Access: Read from and write to any directory on your system, from a full-trust application

· P/Invoke support : Allows existing native code to be run directly from Silverlight

 

Tools improvements

• Visual Studio Team Test support.

Improved media support

· Low Latency Audio Playback: Use the SoundEffect API to trigger low-latency sound

· Variable Speed Playback: allows video to be played at different speeds and supports fast-forward and rewind. At up to twice the speed, audio pitch correction allows users to watch videos while preserving a normal audio pitch.

· H/W Decode of H.264 media: Significant performance improvements with H.264 media decoding of unprotected content

· DRM Key Rotation/LiveTV Playback: Long-running live TV playback protected through the use of rotating licenses

· Application-Restricted Media: Prevents playback of protected content in unauthorized applications