New features in Silverlight 4 Beta: Navigation Page Loading Extensibility & Data Binding Changes

Today I’ll show two new Silverlight 4 features: custom navigation and data binding enhancements.

Navigation Page Loading Extensibility

Now you can extend the navigation system by setting a new ContentLoader property of the Frame class to a custom INavigationContentLoader implementation. The default ContentLoader property value is an instance of the PageResourceContentLoader class.

 

Useful links

• http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/P09-11 
• http://scorbs.com/2009/11/19/pdc-session-silverlight-4-beta-overview/
• http://mtaulty.com/CommunityServer/blogs/mike_taultys_blog/archive/2009/11/18/silverlight-4-rough-notes-taking-control-of-navigation.aspx
• http://www.davidpoll.com/2009/11/30/opening-up-silverlight-4-navigation-introduction-to-inavigationcontentloader/
• http://www.davidpoll.com/2009/12/07/opening-up-silverlight-4-navigation-event-based-and-error-handling-inavigationcontentloaders/
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc838245(VS.96).aspx#extending_the_navigation_system
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.navigation.pageresourcecontentloader(VS.96).aspx

 

Data binding changes

I have made two sample applications to demonstrate new data binding features.

Data Binding Sample One

• Validation with IDataErrorInfo interface (ValidatesOnDataErrors)
• String formatting, Null and Fallback values (StringFormat, TargetNull, FallbackValue)
• Databinding support for dependency objects
• Grouping on CollectionViewSource

Data Binding Sample Two

• Synchronous and asynchronous validation with INotifyDataErrorInfo interface (ValidatesOnNotifyDataErrors)
• Command property on ButtonBase and Hyperlink (in the sample: Button)
• Binding to string indexers
• SelectedValue and SelectedValuePath on the Selector (in the sample: ComboBox)

Other data binding  improvements

• ObservableCollection<T> constructor that takes IEnumerable or IList
• IEditableCollectionView (for example PagedCollectionView)

Useful links

• http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/P09-11 
• http://scorbs.com/2009/11/19/pdc-session-silverlight-4-beta-overview/
• http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/CL19
• http://www.davidpoll.com/2009/11/19/silverlight-4-and-building-business-applications-pdc09-cl19/
• http://silverlight.net/learn/videos/all/asynchronous-data-validation/
• http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/Silverlight4/EmployeeManager/EmployeeManager/
• http://www.silverlightshow.net/items/Developing-applications-gets-easy-with-improved-DataBinding-in-Silverlight-4.aspx
• http://wildermuth.com/2009/11/18/Data_Binding_Changes_in_Silverlight_4
• http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/Silverlight4/Overview/Overview/
• http://mtaulty.com/CommunityServer/blogs/mike_taultys_blog/archive/2009/11/18/silverlight-4-rough-notes-selectedvalue.aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc278072(VS.96).aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc189022(VS.96).aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645024(VS.96).aspx