Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3: Silverlight for Windows Embedded

Hi folks,

Now that “Cashmere” has been officially announced to RTM on September 28th as Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 I can at last talk to you about the new features after playing around with the CTP (Community Technology Preview) for a month or so.

I guess the most anticipated new feature in Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 is Silverlight. But be aware: Silverlight is not Silverlight! Silverlight on your desktop is not the same as Silverlight on Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3. Let’s have a look at the key differences:

The first noticeable difference is the name; on Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 it is called “Silverlight for Windows Embedded” whereas on the desktop it is just called Silverlight.

Silverlight for Windows Embedded is used to develop user interfaces (UI) for shells and applications running on a Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 device, whereas Silverlight is used to develop interactive applications for the web running in a web browser.

Silverlight for Windows Embedded hosts the object tree (an entity that represents a Silverlight 2 XAML element tree (= visual tree)) in a visual host that has an underlying Win32 window, whereas Silverlight hosts the object tree in a plug-in for an internet browser window.

Silverlight for Windows Embedded supports native C++ only, while Silverlight is based on the .NET Framework and uses managed code written in Visual C# .NET, Visual Basic, IronPython and JavaScript.

The Silverlight for Windows Embedded API set is a completely new API set, separate from the Silverlight APIs, although much of the Silverlight 2 functionality is mirrored in Silverlight for Windows Embedded. NOTE: Silverlight 3 functionality is not yet supported in Silverlight for Windows Embedded.

Silverlight for Windows Embedded does NOT support Hyperlink controls or Databinding.

The following picture shows you an example of a shell based on Silverlight for Windows Embedded:


As you can see Silverlight for Windows Embedded and Silverlight are not exactly the same. For instance you can not install the Silverlight plug-in on your Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 device.

In the next post I am going to talk about how to use Silverlight for Windows Embedded on your Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 device – so stay tuned!

Have fun!