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Silverlight RC0 and Beta 2 Side by Side: Question of the Day

A question I've been getting a lot since we released RC0 is this:

'When Microsoft does the RTW release, there will be a period of time where *some* of my users have Beta 2 and *some* of them have RTW. How do I ensure that each of them will get an unbroken experience?'

I'm assuming you already have a Beta 2 site and you want to migrate it. So, consider the following:

1. Your Beta2 application is called 'MyB2App.xap'

2. Your RTW application is called 'MyRTWApp.xap'

Then you can use code like this in the first few days after we RTW (where most of your users will likely have B2)

         <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2-b2," type="application/x-silverlight-2-b2" width="100%" height="100%">
             <param name="source" value="MyB2App.xap"/>
             <param name="onerror" value="onSilverlightError" />
             <param name="background" value="white" />
         
             <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%">
                 <param name="source" value="MyRTWApp.xap"/>
                 <param name="onerror" value="onSilverlightError" />
                 <param name="background" value="white" />
             
                 <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=115261" style="text-decoration: none;">
                      <img src="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108181" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style: none"/>
                 </a>
             </object>
         </object>

 

Note that the 'outside' object tag is for Beta 2 (the type ends with -b2, and the XAP is your B2 based one), and the 'inside' object tag is for RTW. The fallback install experience is for B2.

Then, after some time has passed, and your clients are moving to RTW, you can flip it around, like this:

 

Then you can use code like this in the first few days after we RTW (where most of your users will likely have B2)

         <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2," type="application/x-silverlight-2" width="100%" height="100%">
             <param name="source" value="MyRTWApp.xap"/>
             <param name="onerror" value="onSilverlightError" />
             <param name="background" value="white" />
         
             <object data="data:application/x-silverlight-2-b2," type="application/x-silverlight-2-b2" width="100%" height="100%">
                 <param name="source" value="MyB2App.xap"/>
                 <param name="onerror" value="onSilverlightError" />
                 <param name="background" value="white" />
  
      <!-- Note that this is the simplest possible install UX. You should follow MS Guidance for a good UX instead -->       
                 <a href=https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=<RTW LINK> style="text-decoration: none;">
                      <img src="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=108181" alt="Get Microsoft Silverlight" style="border-style: none"/>
                 </a>
             </object>
         </object>
  

Here, the 'outside' tag is RTW, the 'inside' tag is B2, and the fallback is the RTW install...thus you can go side by side and ensure a smooth migration.

Please do note that the fallback in this code will give you a simple install 'badge', but there are some great guidelines for how you should manage the install here: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F487DF43-1AFB-4F76-82C8-BB5ACBFFBA1B&displaylang=en

These guidelines are a little older, so be sure to update them for RTW. Also note that a new set is being worked on...watch this space.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 08, 2008
    PingBack from http://blog.a-foton.ru/index.php/2008/10/08/silverlight-rc0-and-beta-2-side-by-side-question-of-the-day/

  • Anonymous
    October 08, 2008
    I have installed RC0 on my dev machine but cannot now use my beta SL application as both FF and IE keep asking me to install SL (when I browse to my live beta 2 site) - but of course when I try it says I have a newer version Any advice ? Mike

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2008
    That's a great question, and I've been getting it from a few places, so I've done a posting answering it: http://blogs.msdn.com/webnext/archive/2008/10/09/why-don-t-beta-2-sites-work-on-rc0-question-of-the-day.aspx

  • Anonymous
    October 09, 2008
    In this issue: Andrea Boschin, Jeff Handley, Mike Snow, Laurence Moroney, Terence Tsang, and Jesse Liberty

  • Anonymous
    October 10, 2008
    &#160; Я уже писал о выходе RC0 и о хорошей возможности подготовиться к выходу финальной версии Silverlight

  • Anonymous
    October 12, 2008
    For those of you who have been working on the Silverlight RC0 bits getting yourself ready for the release

  • Anonymous
    October 13, 2008
    del.icio.us Tags: Silverlight Technorati Tags: Silverlight So, you may have seen that we’ve finally wrapped

  • Anonymous
    October 13, 2008
    The wait is over, the release to the Web (RTW) of Silverlight 2 was announced on Monday, and by the time

  • Anonymous
    October 13, 2008
    Nu Silverlight 2 uit is, is het goed te weten hoe het met de transitie zit. De auto-update van Silverlight

  • Anonymous
    October 13, 2008
    Heute ist es soweit. Soeben wurde offiziell die Release Version von Silverlight 2 freigegeben. Es gibt

  • Anonymous
    October 16, 2008
    Heute ist es soweit. Soeben wurde offiziell die Release Version von Silverlight 2 freigegeben. Es gibt

  • Anonymous
    October 16, 2008
    I use Silverlight 2 beta 2 in sharepoint 2007, How to change B2 tag to RC0 in SharePoint 2007?

  • Anonymous
    November 30, 2008
    &#160; Я уже писал о выходе RC0 и о хорошей возможности подготовиться к выходу финальной версии Silverlight - т.н. Ready to Web (RTW). То есть релиз.

  • Anonymous
    December 16, 2008
    For those of you who have been working on the Silverlight RC0 bits getting yourself ready for the release

  • Anonymous
    January 06, 2009
    For those of you who have been working on the Silverlight RC0 bits getting yourself ready for the release