Plaveb Corporation

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Microsoft Silverlight both can be used to develop rich internet applications based on XAML and .NET Framework. However, depending upon how you want your project to shape up, you need to choose between the two or integrate them.

An overview

WPF has provided developers a unified programming model that has a new graphical user interface (GUI) framework replacing the old “Windows Forms” and Win32 API. Its vector based and graphics processing unit (GPU) enabled drawing framework (DirectX) has the ability to create richer UIs with media and documents than does the Windows Forms. Using a declarative-based language XAML specifying vector-based graphics able to scale and take advantage of hardware acceleration, WPF can render a new level of user experience. One gets a consistent programming model for application building with a clear separation between the business logic and the user interface.

Microsoft Silverlight, a cross-browser and cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework, is a small and lightweight hosting technology delivering next-gen rich interactive media and content over the web and developing browser-hosted rich internet applications (RIAs) that could integrate data and services from several sources. It also builds applications enhancing the typical end-user experience fairly significantly if you compare them with the custom web application development.

How they differ

While WPF leverages the full .NET Framework and executes on the common language runtime (CLR), Silverlight is based only on a subset of XAML and the full .NET Framework executing on a browser-hosted version of the CLR. Hence, a lot of basic approaches building WPF applications fail in Silverlight. It supports little of the WPF component primitives and provides only one type of layout. So, if an existing WPF application is to be ported to Silverlight, it would mean rewriting of the whole UI-related code.

WPF applications run as standalone desktop programs or can be hosted in a website as an embedded object (on Windows only). However, browsers-based WPF applications (running only on Internet Explorer and Firefox on Windows) lose access to some functions and that does not happen with desktop applications. On the contrary, deployment of Silverlight applications can be done on more platforms (Windows, OS X, and Linux) and more browsers. Small and lightweight applications, they consume less infrastructure.

Conclusion

Though built on peaks of different run-time stacks, WPF and Silverlight share many common capabilities and features. Silverlight embeds WPF to provide web controls with more focus on a UI object model and less on animation. Alone, it misses many 3D functions and lacks widgets. Out of many such missing elements in Silverlight is the GUI. Many missing WPF and .NET Framework features in Silverlight give rise to subtle differences that have to be carefully considered when moving an application between Silverlight and WPF or when building an application that targets both WPF and Silverlight.

ASP.NET enhances the development of websites and web applications highly impressively and is more feasible for developing large-scale applications, thus has striking custom web development capabilities. With high-efficiency performance tools such as just-in-time (JIT) compilation, native optimization, and caching services, ASP.NET promises much better performance.

This is how ASP.NET development is rewarding:

•    Greatly enhanced performance by running compiled code and caching application functions.

•    Has integrated security, supports form based user authentication, cookie management, and automatic redirecting of unauthorized logins

•    Better language support. Supports any of the conforming .NET languages, including C#(C sharp), VB.NET, and C++.

•    A large new set of programmable controls

•    XML-based components

•    Supports event-driven programming

•    Better scalability with greatly enhanced server-to-server communication, an application can be scaled over several servers

•    Easier configuration and deployment

Any business, whether small or large, with custom website application development with ASP.NET can reliably process huge amounts of data containing valuable information about its customers, operations, products, and employees. The ASP.NET framework helps you greatly to enhance the online presence of your business.

Hassle-free ASP.NET development services can allow the companies to focus on their core competencies. A professional state-of-the-art web development company employing ASP.NET expertise can really bring a positive difference in your business.

Your decision of having a website for your business development should follow the search for a professional web design company, as an attractive and useful website can get you a lot of business and hence produce great results.

This, however, will need you to first determine the aim and purpose behind the imminent website so that you exactly figure out who will be the most apt and reliable people to approach to for your website development.

Take the following steps then:

•    Checking the reputation: A simple survey or taking reviews from the local as well as online community can help you to know if there are any negative comments or feedback about the web design company. This would really be helpful for selection making. In addition to that, how aged the web design company is should be taken into consideration to get an idea of its experience and reliability.

•    Checking the work: Seeing the web design company’s portfolio or some samples of websites that the web design company has made will give you a qualitative preview of the end product the company is able to produce.

•    Evaluating the web design company for the work you want: Having experience in developing the type of website that you want is absolutely necessary; then only the web design company would be able to understand the aim of your website and provide a design to suit your needs.

Here, keeping in mind the criterion that “cheaper is better” is dangerous as you have to be ready to pay in accordance with the quality of work you want.