Standalone WPF Application VS XBAP

Here are few important differences between standalone and XBAP

Standalone WPF Application	XAML Browser Applications
Installed via MSI or ClickOnce	Not installed on the client’s computer
Available like other windows program in Start Menu & Add/Remove program	Do not appear in the in Start Menu or Add/Remove Programs
Run in Full Trust unless modified by Administrator	Are automatically deployed via ClickOnce
Runs in its own standard OS window	Run in Internet Zone (sandbox)
Can be use as occasionally   connected application	Security exception thrown if attempt made to access unauthorized areas
Auto update available throw ClickOnce deployment process	Hosted in browser process , Only run in IE browsers and User must be online to use application

How to build XBAP

Windows Presentation Foundation is a new programming model to build rich windows smart client, media and document application . WPF support both Windows and Web based application .In this demo I am trying to build a web based  WPF application called  XBAP ( pronounced “ex-bap”) .XBAP stands for  XAML browser application the most interesting point about XBAP is the application is hosted inside your web browser ,XBAP is the aggregation of  web based and windows application . Initially I too got confuse between a standalone WPF application and a XBAP .In my next session I will cover the major differences between this two programming model  , in this demo I am trying to navigate between two XBAP pages programmatically   , I am using the NavigationService class to switch between two pages , here is the code snippet

 

 

        private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

        {

            Uri uri = new Uri(“Page2.xaml”, UriKind.Relative);

            this.NavigationService.Navigate(uri);

        }

  

The output of the application is a exe  , yes compiler generates exe output .Now lets see what are the files are in debug/release folder

 

 

• An executable file. This contains the compiled code and has an .exe extension.
• An application manifest. This contains metadata associated with the application and has a .manifest extension.
• A deployment manifest. This file contains the information that ClickOnce uses to deploy the application and has an .xbap extension.

 To access the application  you need to You publish XBAPs to a Web server (Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) or later). You do not need to install .NET Framework on the Web server, but you do need to register the WPF Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types and file extensions such as

Manifest	application/manifest
.xaml	application/xaml+xml
.application	application/x-ms-application
.xbap	application/x-ms-xbap
.deploy	application/octet-stream
.xps	application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument

 To prepare your XBAP for deployment, copy the .exe and the associated manifests to your Web server. Create a hyperlink on a Web page to navigate to the deployment manifest. When the user clicks the link and navigates to the .xbap file, ClickOnce automatically handles the mechanics of downloading and launching the application.

Click Here for sample code

 

Cheers

Anand

WPF WPF WPF WPF…..

Recently I have gone throw the WPF technology, I will share few of my experience on this .Keep watching my new posts on WPF….
 
 
Cheers
Anand