[Mono-dev] Silverlight/Moonlight questions

[Rolf Bjarne Kvinge]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Andrés G. Aragoneses [ knocte ]" [mailto:knocte at gmail.com]
> Sent: jueves, 18 de octubre de 2007 19:12
> To: Rolf Bjarne Kvinge
> Cc: mono-devel-list at lists.ximian.com
> Subject: Re: Silverlight/Moonlight questions
> 
> Hey Rolf thanks for replying!
> 
> Rolf Bjarne Kvinge escribió:
> > Hi,
> >
> >> - As you guys have managed to make widgets for the desktop using
> >> Moonlight, could this be done also with Silverlight?
> >
> > I think so yes.
> > There are Vista gadgets done with Silverlight somewhere.
> >
> >> If yes, how one
> >> could do that from a normal .NET application that could call a
> >> Silverlight widget?
> >
> > I have no idea how the Vista gadgets are made, but one idea is to use
> > the System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser to embed a browser inside a
> desktop app.
> 
> Hugh, but why launching whole browser core just to show a Silverlight
> widget? 

Maybe because there's no other way?

> I would bet current moonlight gadgets don't launch gecko at all.

Of course not :)

> 
> 
> >> Would this be cross-platform if you used on
> >> managed code? I ask this because here[1] you can see that
> Silverlight
> >> is only understood as a browser plugin, which I think it's
> incorrect,
> >> given the first assumption.
> >
> > In theory yes, but it's still a long way to go.
> >
> >> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Silverlight
> >>
> >> - Is the moonlight designer already usable (it's called lunareclipse
> >> right?).
> >
> > I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know :)
> >
> >> If yes, is there some page to download tarballs with it?
> >
> > No, you have to use SVN to get it.
> >
> >> BTW, in a similar way as previous bullet: can lunareclipse be run
> from the
> >> desktop without a browser?
> >
> > Yes (it is a desktop application)
> 
> Then, is it a Silverlight application that can save XAML files locally
> or is it a .NET application that launches the Silverlight lunareclupse
> widget and does the job of dealing with the OS also?
> 

It's a .NET application with moonlight embedded.

> >> If yes, can it be launched from Windows?
> >
> > No. It requires Moonlight, and Moonlight doesn't run on Windows.
> 
> But, shouldn't it be done in a way that in Windows could be launched
> using Silverlight instead of Moonlight?
> 

Lunareclipse uses pinvokes to call into moonlight, and that part isn't
portable.
 
> >> Or from a .NET application?
> >> I ask this because, as I understand, Silverlight CLR runs in a
> Sandbox and thus it should not allow to write/read from disk, so then how
> can anyone save the contents made by lunareclipse in the home directory
> or whenever on the local computer?
> >>
> >
> > It is a .NET application already.
> 
> Then, how this .NET application launches a Silverlight widget?
> 

Lunareclipse uses moonlight (which is just a native library) to draw the
xaml in a window. That's all there is to it actually.

Rolf

> Regards,
> 
> 	Andrés	[ knocte ]
> 
> --