The Role of the Microsoft Expression Products
When you are building a Silverlight application, you will (typically) make use of XAML to describe the look
and feel of the plug-in. Using XAML, you can declaratively define animations, graphical renderings, UI
controls, data binding operations and a slew of additional functionality. While this is very powerful, authoring
XAML by hand is extremely tedious and error prone. While Visual Studio does offer a few XAML-
completion tools, VS08 is really dedicated to tweaking existing XAML (and authoring code, of course).
It is also important to point out that a production level Silverlight application will most likely require the
services of a professional graphical designer. This is due to the fact that Silverlight apps (and WPF apps for
that matter) are so graphically intensive. As you may agree, most .NET programmers are not the best of
graphical artists.
Rather than forcing graphical artists to use VS08 to author XAML descriptions, Microsoft has created a suite
of dedicated tools which fall under the Expression product lineup. Two of the more common Expression tools
are Blend and Design. Both of these tools will generate the underlying XAML in the background. Expression
Blend is a tool which allows designers to build rich UIs for Silverlight apps (as well as WPF apps).
Expression Design allows these same designers to render complex images using vector graphics.
Expression Blend uses the exact same project format as Visual Studio 2008. Therefore, a graphically minded
person can use Blend to build the look and feel of your Silverlight application. Programmers can load the same
project into Visual Studio to add code. If you wish, you can begin a new Silverlight application using Blend,
rather than Visual Studio.
You will have a chance to experiment with Blend during your lab time. Remember! Blend is not a tool used to
author code! Although a Blend project will show you any related code files, if you attempt to open them,
Visual Studio will load automatically.
Expression Design is a tool which allows you to generate complex graphical images, and export the data in a
XAML format. The exported XAML can be incorporated into a Blend / VS08 project. You can also export
image data into formats other than XAML (Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop, TIF, JPEG, PNG, etc). This tool
also allows you to import a large number of graphical file formats (Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop, TIF, JPEG,
PNG, etc). We will not be using Design in this class.
You can download evaluation versions for each member of the Microsoft Expression family. Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/expression. Click the Products tab to examine each member of the Expression
family.
When you are building a Silverlight application, you will (typically) make use of XAML to describe the look
and feel of the plug-in. Using XAML, you can declaratively define animations, graphical renderings, UI
controls, data binding operations and a slew of additional functionality. While this is very powerful, authoring
XAML by hand is extremely tedious and error prone. While Visual Studio does offer a few XAML-
completion tools, VS08 is really dedicated to tweaking existing XAML (and authoring code, of course).
It is also important to point out that a production level Silverlight application will most likely require the
services of a professional graphical designer. This is due to the fact that Silverlight apps (and WPF apps for
that matter) are so graphically intensive. As you may agree, most .NET programmers are not the best of
graphical artists.
Rather than forcing graphical artists to use VS08 to author XAML descriptions, Microsoft has created a suite
of dedicated tools which fall under the Expression product lineup. Two of the more common Expression tools
are Blend and Design. Both of these tools will generate the underlying XAML in the background. Expression
Blend is a tool which allows designers to build rich UIs for Silverlight apps (as well as WPF apps).
Expression Design allows these same designers to render complex images using vector graphics.
Expression Blend uses the exact same project format as Visual Studio 2008. Therefore, a graphically minded
person can use Blend to build the look and feel of your Silverlight application. Programmers can load the same
project into Visual Studio to add code. If you wish, you can begin a new Silverlight application using Blend,
rather than Visual Studio.
You will have a chance to experiment with Blend during your lab time. Remember! Blend is not a tool used to
author code! Although a Blend project will show you any related code files, if you attempt to open them,
Visual Studio will load automatically.
Expression Design is a tool which allows you to generate complex graphical images, and export the data in a
XAML format. The exported XAML can be incorporated into a Blend / VS08 project. You can also export
image data into formats other than XAML (Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop, TIF, JPEG, PNG, etc). This tool
also allows you to import a large number of graphical file formats (Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop, TIF, JPEG,
PNG, etc). We will not be using Design in this class.
You can download evaluation versions for each member of the Microsoft Expression family. Go to
http://www.microsoft.com/expression. Click the Products tab to examine each member of the Expression
family.
The Role of the Microsoft Expression Products
Table of Contents
Copyright (c) 2008. Intertech, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This information is to be used exclusively as an
online learning aid. Any attempts to copy, reproduce, or use for training is strictly prohibited.
online learning aid. Any attempts to copy, reproduce, or use for training is strictly prohibited.
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