WPF on website?

[brett]

Using MS Expressions Interactive, if I design a site that uses WPF
functionality, (I have .NET 3.0 on my developer machine) how does it
work once uploaded onto an ASP.NET 2.0 server that doesn't have the
..NET 3.0 framework installed.

This question may not apply depending on the above answer. Many
developers are using a hosting service for their sites. It's likely
the majority don't have .NET 3.0 installed. Does this mean it will be
a while before we see WPF enabled sites?

If the server does have .NET 3.0 installed, how does a user running IE6
and XP with no .NET framework installation view a WPF site?

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Laurent Bugnion]

Hi,

Using MS Expressions Interactive, if I design a site that uses WPF
functionality, (I have .NET 3.0 on my developer machine) how does it
work once uploaded onto an ASP.NET 2.0 server that doesn't have the
.NET 3.0 framework installed.

ASP.NET and .NET 3.0 are very different animals. The main difference is
that ASP.NET runs on the server, but .NET 3.0 runs on the client.

This question may not apply depending on the above answer. Many
developers are using a hosting service for their sites. It's likely
the majority don't have .NET 3.0 installed. Does this mean it will be
a while before we see WPF enabled sites?

The web server only serves the XBAP and other .NET 3.0 files to the
client. They are not executed on the server. The server does *not* need
to have .NET 3.0 installed. The only thing you must do to make it work
is register 4 MIME types:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms752346.aspx

My host allows me to do that myself (discountasp.net), maybe other hosts
don't, and in this case you must go through their suport. Once the MIME
types are registered, your server is good to go. Actually, it doesn't
have to be an ASP.NET server, can be anything.

If the server does have .NET 3.0 installed, how does a user running IE6
and XP with no .NET framework installation view a WPF site?

For the server, see above.

For the client: If your user uses IE6 and XP, he must install the .NET
3.0 runtime himself. You can configure your XBAP application (when you
publish it) to make this a prerequisite. However, AFAIK, IE6 is not able
to kick the download automatically.

With IE7, it's better in the sense that if a prerequisiste is missing,
the download will automatically be proposed to the user. If the user
agrees, the runtime will be installed on the client.

HTH,
Laurent