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December CTP of “WPF/E” is public available

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On December 4th, 2006 Microsoft announced the public availability of the December CTP of "WPF/E" (Codename). First announced at Microsoft's Professional Developer's Conference (PDC) in late 2005, "WPF/E" is a cross platform presentation technology for rich web applications, that uses a subset of the XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language). It enables the creation of rich, visually stunning interactive web content running on multiple browsers, and operating systems (Windows and Mac), and beyond.

Key benefits for content providers delivering content with "WPF/E" will include:

  • Rich, interactive media support including interactive 2D animation, vector graphics, & font support with video, downloaded or streamed.
  • Enhanced Web audio/video playback with industry-leading Windows Media including support for interactive video overlays and ad insertion.
  • Cross-platform, cross-browser presentation for Windows and Mac, IE, Firefox, Safari and beyond.
  • ASP.NET AJAX + "WPF/E" means developers can use web-standards friendly tools to create experiences that are more discoverable by major search engines than compiled, "black box" solutions.
  • Friction free client install with a lightweight browser plug-in (CTP release for Windows is ~1MB).
  • Lower-cost deployment and distribution of streamed audio and video when compared to other comparable solutions (up to 50% today reported by CDNs).
  • Broad tools support for designers, developers, and video professionals, that tap into Web standards and a breadth of Microsoft application platform features:
    • For designers, Expression Blend, for visually creating Web-based controls, components, and
    • For developers, Visual Studio-based editing with IntelliSense, and support for ASP.NET AJAX.
    • For both, Expression Web, for Web-standards-based development with HTML, XML, XSLT, and more.
    • Expression Media Encoder, a feature of Expression Media for import, enhancement, and publishing of "WPF/E" optimized video.

This being our first CTP for "WPF/E" we have a lot of information to share with you. Below are the key links to "WPF/e" content:

MSDN: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/asp.net/bb187358.aspx

Channel9: https://channel9.msdn.com/playground/wpfe/

SDK Download: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2B01EC7E-C3B8-47CC-B12A-67C30191C3AA&displaylang=en

Samples Download: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8AEEBE39-6699-4F4F-9732-CA732E57AE21&displaylang=en

"WPF/E" (codename) CTP (December 2006) SDK Samples

Page Turn Media

The Page Turn sample shows how "WPF/E" uses XAML to create a compelling presentation of images. It also shows an additional navigation element that allows users to quickly jump to a specific image.

Media Library

This example uses a real world scenario of a video site. The sample is rendering a progressive download video feed from Channel 9 and uses ASP.NET AJAX to improve the interaction parameters of this sample (watch how back button works). Notice how resize works as the underlying presentation player (XAML) is vector-based.

Sprawl Game

"WPF/E" is perfect for creating casual games. This sample shows a typical casual game. All the elements of this game were created using the Microsoft Expression suite.

Simple Video Playback

The simple video playback samples provide the essentials you need for showing video playback on your site. The minimalist control uses an efficient design that hides the control when it is not needed using subtle animations.

Film Strip Slideshow

Learn the value proposition of "WPF/E" while viewing a "WPF/E" sample. This example uses animation to implement a slide show style presentation.

Cheers

Daniel