Microsoft had planned on releasing a version of Silverlight 2 for Windows Mobile this year, presumably with the Windows Mobile 6.5 release – in fact on the Silverlight website it still says as much (at time of writing):

I know Microsoft had a working internal beta of Silverlight for Mobile (which I nearly got my hands on) and then had a change of heart and pulled it.  They had apparently had a “change of direction.”  Whilst a bit disappointed, at the time I didn’t think anything more on it.  Then the other day when I was showing the Sky Sports Centre app on my iPhone to a Windows Mobile owning friend, he exclaimed “it’s all so slick isn’t it” – almost in desperation at how clunky most Windows Mobile applications are.  This struck a chord.

Even though Windows Mobile 6.5 is largely regarded as a facelift release, Microsoft have openly stated that with it they hope to appeal more to the non-business users, an area dominated by the iPhone.  I presume with Windows Mobile 7 they intend to continue this focus, with the consensus being the OS will get a huge overhaul.

The question is – how big a role will Silverlight play in that overhaul?

Windows Mobile 7 will have a slick, tactile interface – it has to.  It must allow developers to easily develop applications for the OS that are also slick and tactile.  So what Microsoft technology allows developers to easily create lovely looking/feeling applications?  Silverlight does (and WPF).  Wouldn’t it make perfect sense to put Silverlight centre stage?  Not just “make Silverlight run on Windows Mobile 7” but make it an integral part of Windows Mobile application development?  We shall see.

I’ve just started looking at how we can leverage Jeff Wilcox’s Silverlight Unit Testing Framework in the current Silverlight project I’m working on.  There are some pretty long (and good) posts on Jeff’s blog about the framework that contain all the information I’m about to tell you, but if you want to get going quickly with the latest version – here’s what you need to know.

If this is your first look at the framework, then Jeff’s post from March is a really good introduction to the top level benefits offered.  That post was written for the SL Beta 2 release (which contains 3 binaries and VS templates).  The RC0 release only contains 2 binaries and some breaking changes – Jeff has detailed the changes, but the headlines you care about for getting started are as follows:

• There are now only 2 assemblies (Microsoft.Silverlight.Testing & Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTesting.Silverlight).  This is all you need.
• The Project/Item templates from the Beta 2 release, don't add that much value and are aligned with pre-RC0 changes, so are best avoided at this point in time.
• In your test project’s App.xaml cs Application_Startup() you no longer need to pass CreateTestPage() a reference to the application.
  • Example: this.RootVisual = UnitTestSystem.CreateTestPage();
    [ Previously you would have called CreateTestPage(this) ]
• UI Tests, should now inherit from PresentationTest (not SilverlightTest)
• Within UI Tests, TestSurface has been renamed to TestPanel
• If you're writing anything that you want to be able to test, it cannot be private.  In Silverlight, you cannot use reflection to access private types and members [details].  To overcome this, you need to make methods you want to test (such as event handlers) internal, and add an InternalsVisibleTo attribute to the AssemblyInfo.cs in your target project, to allow the test project access.
  • Example: [assembly: InternalsVisibleTo("MyApp.Test")]

If this is your first look at the framework, then the “headlines” above may not appear to simplify much, but I promise they do.  If you’re still sceptical, here’s a 3 point plan:

1. Read the post from March
2. Download the RC0 release
3. Where something from the post in March doesn’t make sense/fit with the code in front of you, refer to the list above.

So far, in my limited explorations, the RC0 release works without complaint against Silverlight RTW.

Originally posted on my EMC Consulting Blog