View Source Reflector tool for .NET Silverlight Sites

One of the nice advantages to Silverlight is that you can view the source of a site to see how things work, but with Silverlight 1.1 Alpha that process became more complex.  While you can still fish through the JavaScript and Xaml to find the .NET assembly(dll) that is doing all the logic it takes a lot more time.

Thus I decided to write a plugin for Lutz Roeder's Reflector that takes a URL to a Silverlight page and finds the assembly for that page.  It also loads up the JavaScript and root Xaml for the page.

Download

Here is all the source and assembly for the 0.2 Alpha of the Reflector Silverlight Browser.

Install

To install the plugin:

1. Put the "Reflector.SilverlightBrowser.dll" file in the same directory as you have Reflector installed. 
2. Launch Reflector
3. Choose "View->Add-ins"
4. Click Add
5. Choose the Reflector.SilverlightBrowser.dll file.
6. To test the plugin try the chess game sample from Silverlight.net

Using the Plugin

Once it is installed hit "CRTL+U" or "File->Open Silverlight URL". 

Paste a link to your favorite Silverlight site into the textbox and hit go.

 

Protecting Your Code

So the feedback I get when I tell people about this plugin is how can protect the IP in my code from being seen by other people. I have two pieces of advice on that subject.  First option is to keep the code you want to keep protected on your server and then make webservice calls from your client to that code.

The second option is to use Obfuscation.  What is Obfuscation you say? "In the context of software, obfuscation is the process of scrambling the symbols, code, and data of a program to prevent reverse engineering." - CLR and .NET Security blog.

If you would like to learn more about Obfuscation check out this great post.

Bugs and Features

First off I wrote this in a matter of a day or two with some great guidance from Lutz Roeder so a big thank you to Lutz. Thus there are inevitably going to be a number of bugs in the code.  You have code so feel free to improve it and use it as you like.

The major issue I am going to hear about is that some particular site doesn't work correctly, if you find a site that doesn't work that you would like to have work please send me the link.

Second what features are missing that you would like to see?

Third I would love to hear any other feedback you might have to offer.

Enjoy!

Comments

• Anonymous
  May 18, 2007
  Oggi,navigando fra i vari feeds sottoscritti,ho inciampato in un interessantissimo plugin

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  Ernie has created a Silverlight plug-in for Lutz Roeder’s Reflector . Reflector can already be used to

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  Ernie Booth has wrote plugin for Lutz Roeder’s Reflector that takes a URL to a Silverlight host page

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  Much of my HTML, Javascript and CSS learning came by way of the View Source context menu option in Netscape

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  Ernie has started to build a plugin for Lutz Roeder's Reflector .The plug in will enable to View Source

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2007
  Just found a nice Silverlight tool by Ernie Booth to aid in my learning process. A plug in for Reflector

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  Another week has shot by. Didn't have any time to look at Silverlight although I have managed to download

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  Ernie Booth acaba de publicar un addin para Reflector , que nos permite navegar en aplicaciones Silverlight

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  Ernie Booth acaba de publicar un addin para Reflector , que nos permite navegar en aplicaciones Silverlight

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  喜欢 Lutz Roeder's Reflector 的朋友注意了， Ernie Booth 在他的博客上发布了 Reflector Silverlight Browser 0.1 alpha ，从 这里

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  May 20, 2007
  Silverlight news - May 21, 2007

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2007
  Curios about Silverlight application's source code? Ernie Booth has created great Silverlight plug-in

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2007

1. Ernie Booth的Reflector Silverlight Browser View Source Reflector tool for .NET Silverlight Sites http

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2007
  Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser , cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation

• Anonymous
  May 21, 2007
  转自思归的bloghttp://blog.joycode.com/saucer/archive/2007/05/22/103008.aspx1.ErnieBooth的ReflectorSilv...

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  Silverlight Add-In for Reflector

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007

1. Ernie Booth的Reflector Silverlight Browser View Source Reflector tool for .NET Silverlight Sites http://blogs.msdn.com/ebooth/archive/2007/05/19/view-source-reflector-tool-for-net-silverlight-sites.aspx

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  One of the things I'm going to try and start doing is to do a weekly post of useful links on .NET related

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  One of the things I'm going to try and start doing is a weekly blog post of useful/interesting links

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  All this talk of Silverlight has got me stoked .... the problem is two-fold, firstly I aint a web developer

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  I've been offline for a little while so I did a bit of blog catching up yesterday and this is the set...

• Anonymous
  May 22, 2007
  Just downloaded the Silverlight Reflector plug-in. That's a really neat bit of kit, I pointed at my video...

• Anonymous
  May 23, 2007
  I've kept away from Silverlight for a bit since it was a bit too new for me. Now that I've had more time

• Anonymous
  May 24, 2007
  Last week Ernie Booth announced a SilverlightBrowser plugin for Reflector . The plugin allows you to

• Anonymous
  May 25, 2007
  I was trying to catch up on what Silverlight is all about the other night and spent some time seeing

• Anonymous
  June 03, 2007
  During the weekend I spent some minutes to collect some of the greatest Silverlight examples. Most of

• Anonymous
  June 19, 2007
  I've noticed Wynapse.com has linked back to this blog on a number of occasions, and me being the curious

• Anonymous
  July 07, 2007
  It's great to see so many Silverlight-based widgets, samples, demos and applications appearing out there.

• Anonymous
  July 07, 2007
  It's great to see so many Silverlight-based widgets, samples, demos and applications appearing out

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  The number of Silverlight-based widgets, samples, demos and applications is rapidly increasing. Thanks

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  The number of Silverlight-based widgets, samples, demos and applications is rapidly increasing. Thanks

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  Tim Sneath summarized a list of 50 Silverlight Apps. Here is the list. 2D Physics Simulation Grand Piano

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  Tim Sneath summarized a list of 50 Silverlight Apps. Here is the list. 2D Physics Simulation Grand Piano

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  I will be in the Atlanta, GA area this week, and dropping by Monday night to do a quick Silverlight Overview.

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  50个Silverlight应用程序.

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  tims收集了50个Silverlight应用/示例：(某些demo需要安装Silverlight 1.1 alpha版本 Windows install / Mac install 。1.1 alpha已经包含了1.0

• Anonymous
  July 08, 2007
  tims收集了50个Silverlight应用/示例：(某些demo需要安装Silverlight 1.1 alpha版本 Windows install / Mac install 。1.1 alpha已经包含了1

• Anonymous
  July 11, 2007
  2D Physics Simulation Grand Piano Silverlight Mind Map 3D Teapot Demo Infragistics Controls Demo Silverlight

• Anonymous
  July 19, 2007
  分享几个国外的silverlight例子和blog GreatVisualStudioQuickStarts

• Anonymous
  July 19, 2007
  tims收集了50个Silverlight应用/示例：(某些demo需要安装Silverlight 1.1 alpha版本 Windows install / Mac install 。1.1 alpha已经包含了1

• Anonymous
  July 21, 2007
  2D Physics Simulation Grand Piano Silverlight Mind Map 3D Teapot Demo Infragistics Controls Demo Silverlight

• Anonymous
  July 22, 2007
  SilverLightadd-insforReflector详细介绍：http://blogs.msdn.com/ebooth/archive/2007/05/19/view-source-re...

• Anonymous
  July 25, 2007
  Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2007/07/07/from-a-to-z-50-silverlight-applications.aspxFrom...

• Anonymous
  August 08, 2007
  Now that the API-complete RC releases of Silverlight have been out for a couple of weeks, most developers

• Anonymous
  August 08, 2007
  tims: 2D Physics Engine , Amazon Search Visualization , Ant Attack , AOL Social Mail Gadget , Beatboxing

• Anonymous
  August 08, 2007
  Here is a list of 50 apps that have been run on Silverlight RC: 2D Physics Engine , Amazon Search Visualization

• Anonymous
  August 08, 2007
  Here is a list of 50 apps that have been run on Silverlight RC: 2D Physics Engine , Amazon Search Visualization

• Anonymous
  August 08, 2007
  tims: 2D Physics Engine , Amazon Search Visualization , Ant Attack , AOL Social Mail Gadget , Beatboxing

• Anonymous
  August 15, 2007
  Silverlight Airlines Demo Silverlight Mind Map Grand Piano 3D Teapot Demo Infragistics Controls Demo

• Anonymous
  August 25, 2007
  Jetzt wo die API von Silverlight 1.0 mit dem RC fest ist, spriessen immer mehr Anwendungen aus dem Boden

• Anonymous
  August 28, 2007
  Wenn man Silverlight Installiert hat findet man auf der MSDN Seite, eine Vorschau der Channel9 Videos. Auf der Seite von Tim Sneath hab ich eine Liste mit Silverlight Samples gefunden. Quelle: Tim Sneath : Updated Silverlight Samples and

• Anonymous
  September 13, 2007
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  September 27, 2007
  Já pensou em usar o Silverlight? Nunca ouviu falar? Aprenda mais sobre ele aqui: http://www.linhadecodigo

• Anonymous
  September 27, 2007
  Já pensou em usar o Silverlight? Nunca ouviu falar? Aprenda mais sobre ele aqui: http://www.linhadecodigo

• Anonymous
  October 12, 2007
  Den här är inte ny - men jag har inte lekt med den förrän nu och tänkte jag skulle tipsa ifall du har