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Finally someone has given Matthew MacDonald some competition when it comes to Silverlight books. This book is a great read.

The book starts with an introduction to Silverlight and XAML and then digs into the application model and browser integration.

Below are the book's chapters-

Introducing Silverlight
Core XAML
The application model and the plug-in
Integrating with the browser
Integrating with the desktop
Rendering, layout, and transforming
Panels
Human input
Text
Controls and UserControls
Binding
Data controls: DataGrid and DataForm
Input validation
Networking and communications
Navigation and dialogs
Structuring and testing with the MVVM/ViewModel pattern
WCF RIA Services
Graphics and effects
Printing
Displaying and capturing media
Working with bitmap images
Animation and behaviors
Resources, styles, and control templates
Creating panels and controls
The install experience and preloaders

There are also an appendix on how to install the database used throughout the book's examples.

The book does a great job introducing MVVM, RIA Services, and inversion of control. The MVVM chapter is one of the best resources I have come across for someone to learn about the pattern.

The threading coverage using SynchronizationContext is great. It is the first book I have seen use it instead of the Dispatcher.

The author's style of writing is clear and the book is an enjoyable read. If the author detours to a sidebar story, it is done in such a way that it adds enjoyment to the reading and value to the topic at hand. I have read a ton of books lately where I find that not to be the case. The sidebar stories are distracting and tend to annoy me. An example in this book is the beginning of the MVVM chapter when the author tells about his experience teaching the pattern. It set the stage for the chapter's logical flow.

The accompanying code is very well organized and usable. The author really did a good job of breaking the code down per Listing allowing you to open the examples at different stages instead of just the end result.

The only thing I would have like to have seen more material on Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF).

A very cool thing is that you get with your purchase is a free ebook with your purchase. Not a 45 day trail to view it online, an actual downloadable ebook, which is great for finding all the places a given topic is covered, and fast.

All in all I highly recommend this book to anyone doing Silverlight development. It is a must have addition to any Silverlight developer's book shelf.

It's rare to find a technical book that succeeds in balancing depth with approachability. I've been using Silverlight since it was still called WPF/E so I'm no novice. But unlike many technical books, you have to make a choice between entertaining "beginner" books and dry "expert" books with the latter reading more like a textbook. I was very please to discover that Brown's book does cross that gap quite well. It certainly has content that a veteran like myself needs but it also takes a relative beginner (at least in the specific Silverlight technology) and helps them come up to a more useful speed.

As I said previously, the style is lighter than one typically finds in a technical book of this depth and length. This is a good thing. Brown has discovered the little applied truth that technical books don't have to read like an IBM manual, circa 1975. The tone is conversational when it's appropropriate but doesn't sacrifice content quality or substance in favor of that style.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good end-to-end guide to Silverlight version 4. It's broad, but has good depth. I can't recommend it enough.

Let me just say up front that Pete Brown has such an engaging style of writing, especially to an audience of nerds! The little references to Star Wars and so many other nerdy references makes the book feel more like a conversation instead of another dry book about technology. I have also not seen Silverlight covered as completely anywhere else. Pete covers many topics that are hard to explain and I think other authors just decide to stay away from. Even the way the book is laid out: Intro, application structure, "completing the experience". It just makes sense. I find myself reading a chapter, writing bits of code to reinforce what we covered, and then I'm ready to read some more! I follow Pete on Twitter and enjoy his comments and helpful tidbits there, but this book is the full explanation. Enjoy!

If you're like me, you've been waiting for this book for a while. It doesn't disappoint.

What's good about it?
* It's really clear. Rare is the technical book that reads this well.
* It's really complete. Rare is the technical book that covers this much material in style.
* It has tidbits. If you know of Pete Brown, you know he knows Silverlight inside and out. This books surfaces that knowledge in a really interesting and compelling way.

What's bad about it?
* It's not really a cookbook. If that's what you need, look elsewhere.
* Buying this book kills trees. (I'm trying here...)

Who should buy it?
*Anyone* who is interested in Silverlight. You want it on your bookshelf.

Other people have already covered the important ground so I'll just say that I've been through most of the main Silverlight books, Matthew MacDonald's Apress books are good (but stay away from the other Apress books), the PACKT book on Silverlight 4 Data and Services is surprisingly good, but Silverlight in Action is definitely the best. Thank you Pete Brown, and thank you Manning.

Excellent book - this is a must have if you are doing Silverlight 4 development.
It provides coverage of all the important Silverlight 4 topics.
The free PDF is a bonus and obviously very useful for searching.
Well done Pete.

Silverlight 4 in Action (Manning, Pete Brown) - this is second book, which I read about Silverlight. First was Pro Silverlight 3 in C# (Apress, Matthew MacDonald), which helped me when I was need to very quickly know more about Silverlight after WPF. After reading Silverlight 4 in Action I think that this is best book about Silverlight. But maybe I should compare this book with Pro Business Applications with Silverlight.

I think that most of Silverlight and WPF developers know book's author's blog Pete Brown. Since 2009 author is Microsoft employee, since 2007 Silverlight became the main technology of development for him. You can think that Silverlight 4 in Action is second edition, because Manning has also Silverlight 2 in Action, which I didn't read. But Silverlight 2 in Action has different authors than SL4 in Action. So talk about what's new in Silverlight 4 in Action is no good, it is different book, written by another author. Looks like this is first book of Pete Brown, and it is written very good.

After buying paper book you will get also free e-book version (pdf), which you can read with Kindle device for example (only in album rotation). The book has about 800 pages, has 3 parts and 25 chapters.

First what was strange for me it was order of chapters. Chapters about creating own panels, custom controls (not UserControls), and about styles and resources located at the end of the book (with comparing with Pro Silverlight 3). Maybe for beginners it will be a problem, but for me all was very consecutive. And I think it is very logical that stuff which you will use not really often showed at the end of the book, like: Writable Bitmap, making own panels and controls. Most of us are developing applications for enterprise, so for us making animation not is usual stuff. About own controls and panels, really I remember only a few cases for 2-3 years of my WPF/Silverlight developing career, when I was designing panels and controls for Silverlight or WPF. By the way, it was really cool that in book author design OrbitPanel instead of WrapPanel (this is first example in each book of creating own panels, like Hello World).

Nearly the end of the book I really liked example of creating own MediaStreanSource, which generate video and audio noise instead of video and audio streams at client side with Silverlight code. Most of examples are really useful, most of them are usual problems which you need solve when you are developing own application, like when author write about printing he show the example about creating reports from list with paging support. This is ready to use code, really.

And of course the book has chapter about which every book reader write: "Structuring and testing with the MVVM/ViewModel pattern". With chapter "WCF RIA Services", which going after MVVM chapter - they are on 100 pages in details show how to develop Silverlight business applications, architecture specifics, etc. I think this is the best topic explanation which I saw.

I recommend this book for developers, who want to or already design business applications on Silverlight, I think this is main auditory for who Pete Brown had wrote this book.

One thought which I can't understand, what is notice on 492 page:
"If you're really and truly bored and need a break from reading, check out [...] to add unicorns and rainbows to any web site or photo. Warning: 5th grade girls' Trapper Keeper graphics overload."
Humor? :)

Some weeks ago I received a review copy of Silverlight 4 in Action by Pete Brown. Reviewing this book took some time as it weighs in at a hefty 798 pages, who ever said that Silverlight was a small products? That is a lot of material but then the book doesn't assume any prior knowledge of Silverlight at all.

The book is divided into 25 chapters in 3 different sections.

The first part, consisting of 10 chapters, is titled "Introducing Silverlight". As the name suggests this covers the basics of Silverlight development. This section is mostly targeted at developers new to Silverlight and covers subjects like what XAML is, how the Silverlight plug-in works with the browser, basic layout and the Silverlight controls and how they work with things like templates.

The second part is titled "Structuring your application". This section is divided into 7 chapters and build on top of the first part. In this section there are chapters about data binding, input validation, communicating and even about subjects like MVVM and WCF RIA services. Some of these topics, like for example MVVM, are quite large to begin with and the definitive word hasn't been said about it. In these cases the book is a nice point to get started but no more than that and getting additional information on the Internet is pretty much a requirement. In most cases, like validation. Pete has a pretty solid coverage of the material the book will help you understand what you need to know.

The third part is titled "Completing the experience" and consist of a final 8 chapters. This section covers subjects like printing, working with media like smooth streaming or using the webcam and microphone.
There are also chapters on animations, using resources and creating custom controls.

So who is this book for?
With a book this big covering that many topics the book is really targeted at a wide range of developers. It does assume the reader is familiar with C# and the .NET framework but assumes no familiarity with Silverlight at all. So if you are an experienced .NET developer wanting to get into Silverlight this is a good book to start with using part 1. You you are already a Silverlight developer moving from Silverlight 3 to Silverlight 4 this book will also be quite helpful. You will find a lot of material you are already familiar with but also a lot of new material like web cam support and WCF RIA services or extended validation options. In that case this book would be a useful reference to keep handy and read specific chapters from par 2 or 3 when needed.

All in all I would recommend getting this book if you are serious about Silverlight 4 development!

I have been developping with Silverlight for years now but never buyed a book, learning everything from MSDN, blogs etc. I bought 'Silverlight 4 in Action' mainly to train my team here in Brazil, but after reading the book myself I'm impressed. I learned tons of new things and even before I got to the page 100 I already had a list of things I want to change or do better in current SL projects.
Pete Brown has a gift to give you the complete picture and usefull insights and details at the same time. But without getting lost in details. I strongly recommend the book even for the somewhat more advanced folks out there.

This is the book you wish could have come out the day that Silverlight 4 was released, but it was worth the wait. It covers the new features and covers some of the v3 features in more detail than any previous book did. It's a big and heavy book at 800 or so pages, but it's also the most thorough book on the subject.

Beyond being a catalog of features, the book also goes deep into technique and design patterns in a way that takes it well beyond the shallow cookbook style of a lot of programming books. The real gem here is the chapter on MVVM (model-view-view model). If you care about maintainability and testability, it's an important thing to learn about. Other core concepts that make Silverlight a joy to code for are well represented as well, including binding (by way of dependency properties, observable collections, and such) and RIA Services. Because Silverlight introduces some of its own paradigms, this kind of coverage is key to getting the most out of the platform. This book absolutely hits the mark.

If you are browsing around, looking for the best Silverlight 4 book then I suggest you stop now, because you've just found it. I've read through a bunch of technical books in the past and Silverlight 4 In Action is not only the best Silverlight resource I've read to date, it's one of the best technical books I've read to date.

Mr. Brown covers Silverlight 4 in great depth. You learn about 2D/3D rendering, WCF RIA services, MVVM, working with devices like webcams, printing, the list really goes on and on.

Pete has really hit the sweet-spot between readability and technical detail. This book is never boring. Pete's writing is funny, fresh and has a good rhythm. I really like how Pete can explain things so clearly. Pete doesn't dumb this book down for those of us who still need to learn about classes, variables and such - this book is for the experienced developer that wants to learn Silverlight 4. The very first project, a hello world application, hits Twitter via WebClient object and uses somewhat advanced features like binding a ListBox to a complex object, and even uses a lambda expression; certainly the coolest 'hello world' app I've run across thus far!

But there's more -
Not only is this a great book in all respects, you also get access to free downloads for .pdf, .mobi and .epub formats! I was excited when I heard this book came with the .pdf version, but I had no idea it came with such a feature-full .mobi version! Awesome! I own a Kindle so I am using the .mobi format and it's absolutely perfect. The .mobi format includes an active table of contents, chapter markers, text-to-speech - pretty much all the bells and whistles. Also, the formatting is perfect. I carry my Kindle everywhere, so I like to keep the hard copy at my work and dig through the .mobi version on my Kindle when I'm away. I really wish more books would do this.

I rarely give such high praise to books, but this book deserves all of it. This sets the bar. Pete Brown is an excellent author, and the bonus .mobi download is just plain awesome. Thank you Mr. Brown and Manning Publications, I very much look forward to reading more of your work!

From the first chapter i start learning from this book. In addition, I have learned many things beside Silverlight. The written language is very easy and the flow of ideas and explanations are very logic. highly recommended of you want to learn Silverlight. Thanks.

Sorry for the previous hasty review. After reading some chapters, I think it's a good book, though it's not my type. I like learning how to use something through examples and having the work done before going to details. But this book is just the type that is step-by-step with plenty of details. For me, it's just too many words and I still prefer the free video lessons from offical website.

I have purchased a number of books over my 26 years in IT and this is one excellent, well thought out, and well presented book on the material. I have a number of books on SL but this is THE one to have along with the Data and Services Cookbook. Those 2 books should get you through most anything along with the Csla Framework for developing n-tiered applications.

This is an excellent book! I discuss this book in addition to several others here: [...] I also offer some guidance that I hope will be helpful to readers coming from multiple disciplines :)
IMPORTANT NOTE: At the point that I had written my initial review, I had not yet read Silverlight 4 in Action, but you can find my thoughts on this book in the comments section. It is the second comment and final comment at the point of this writing although I hope more people share their opinions good or bad (I always appreciate constructive criticism and want to make sure I haven't overlooked any books).

I was very pleased with the writing style and thoroughness of the book. I would have liked to have seen more real-world examples of code, though.

I've been purchasing Silverlight books for every iteration of the technology (1.1, 2, 3) so far, so I am personally well versed on what I'd like to see in these books. I have also been following the development of this book in the publisher's early release program (MEAP) for a long time and was very interested in the MVVM chapter. As it turns out, the entire book is amazing - straight to the point with exactly the right amount of detail that needs to be there. Also contains chapters about using SL in the context that most people most likely use it - including RIA services. Also, for every explanation of material, there are examples coded up that actually work! Pete has really done all he needs here to create the only Silverlight 4 book that you would need to get up to speed. After this book, you are setup to go investigate things a little deeper and apply them to your projects. Can toss out all my other books now!

When I heard Pete's book was approaching 800 pages I immediately thought I would need to dig through the fluff to get to the meat of what I wanted to learn. NOT TRUE!! This book is filled with concise explanations, great examples and thorough details. As the leader of a Silverlight User Group, I get many requests for book recommendations. This one is at the top. Silverlight has become a very broad topic, so much so that very few have learned it all. This book can teach something new to even the most seasoned Silverlight developer, while still speaking at a level the new developer should be able to understand. Great book!

Excelent Book, it guides you step by step with all the necesary that you must know to develop Silverlight 4 Applications

Covers all of what you need to build Silverlight 4 applications. Clearly organized content and well thought out examples. Out of several Silverlight 4 titles on my bookshelf this is one of the best. It was well written, engaging and relevant. I've used Silverlight 4 In Action as a trusted reference. Outstanding coverage of RIA Services and LOB apps. The sample code works great and is applicable to real world scenarios. Can't wait for the Silverlight 5 version!!

I've been out of web programming the past few years, having taken a job that dealt mostly with com+ and extending windows applications. I have a solid background in asp.net (2.0 era), but have been blown away at the changes of the past couple of years. I had thought that, I was keeping up to date better, by reading articles and listening to many technology podcasts on a regular basis, but when I was suddenly thrust into doing a enterprise level silverlight project for the first time, it quickly became evident that I was WAY behind.
This book was challenging at times; I tend to type doing the code samples, and at times I wasn't sure what class I was supposed to be putting the code snippet in, but truth be told, that only helped me look closer at the code.
This book doesn't spoon feed you, it jumps right in and covers many scenarios, including a great into to MVVM.

Wish list for Silverlight 5

MVVM Light and Prism; at the end of both chapters, showing how to Change the View to WP7, WPF or JQuery (if possible)
Using Blend in combination with Visual Studio to complete a example app (as if there were a designer and a dev working on the same project)
A chapter on how to approach a new data driven project...Model first or code first and why, UX or Services first, etc, etc
As much MVVM as you can! :-)

Great Book Pete, Thanks.

The author clearly instills his passion for Silverlight in his writing. I've been reading the author's blog for a long time and he loves to take on a challenge and really conveys enthusiasm for code and especially for Silverlight.

I found this book a great reference to go back to when I hit a subject area that I hadn't worked with before. It is the only book I've found that does a good job of covering not only the basics but some advanced issues, gotchas, and workarounds as well.

The reason I bought this book is because I very much enjoyed n-tier programming and I wanted a good book about data. Pete Brown shows how data is created by showing presentation models and how you could apply that to wcf ria services or wcf data services. He then takes that to the next level and uses mvvm and applies that to silverlight. I very much enjoyed how pete brown challenges software developers to use class libraries and by creating our own navigation system
by using mvvm toolkits. I wished pete had spent more time on authentication/authorization and his chapters on data had been longer and more in depth. It would have been nice to see mef, mvvm and prism, unity, covered as well and I hope pete brown considers writing a complete book on those subjects.The best silverlight books on data are microsoft silverlight 4 data and services cookbook, silverlight in action 4, and pro business applications with silverlight.

When I bought this book I had some experience with WPF and a lot of experience with other .Net platforms. I needed a book that was both decent reference book and a good introduction to some of the parts of Silverlight I wasn't already familiar with (things like RIA services and Silverlight Out of Browser applications). This book has delivered on both fronts and it is now usually the first place I go if I need a big-picture understanding of a Silverlight topic. It's also the text I recommend for people who are just starting out in Silverlight development.

My only real complaint about the book is that it's very heavy. It weighs almost as much as my laptop and it's about 4 inches thick. Luckily for my shoulder, the good folks at Manning give you a PDF version of this book when you purchase the hard copy. Problem solved.

Bought 3 Silverlight books, returned one right away, the other was great but light, this one has everything I wanted.

More of a warning than a review I guess... I bought this book in a hurry to learn Silverlight and when I got it I realized that Silverlight 4 can only be developed with Visual Studio 2010 (or the free Visual Web Developer 2010). But I really need to use VS2008 for work, so I returned the book and got a Silverlight 3 book so I can do VS2008 development. I have read many books from this publisher and they are always top notch, so I guess I just got a little ahead of myself when I saw they had a Silverlight book.

I absolutely recommend this book. It makes a great introduction to Silverlight and the ultimate reference for experienced developers, all in one book.

The content of book really flows nicely from introductory material to some more advanced topics. There aren't many parts of the book I would consider optional for serious Silverlight developers. Sometimes when I am reading a tech book, I will feel compelled to skip a section or even an entire chapter because I don't feel it is relevant to my own practices. Here I think I skimmed a few pages in Chapter 19 - Printing, but that is about it.

the book flows pretty good. explains th topics really well. my only issue is that this book could have more real world example code for the topics.

I have more than one year programming experiences on WPF, it's still very helpful and detail information though. Hopefully, Pete will give us one sample of dependency injection on MEF later on.
BTW, it seems MS is downplaying SL in its priority and focus more resources on HTML5 support in the future because Steve Jobs doesn't like plug-in on his gadgets. So SL developers may balance your energy on SL and AJAX. Of course, you can be stick to SL if Windows Phone 7 gets huge success like iPhone. Let's see how MS figures out a way among iOS, Android and so on.

This book is very thorough, and will cover 80-90% of what you need to know for Silverlight Solutions

You will not be disappointed in buying this book!

Material is hit or miss. By the end of the book I was extremely bored and lost all interest in Silverlight.

Often refers to concepts not previously introduced or discussed. Uses terms without explanation from time to time; assumes you already know what he is referring to.

As you might expect, the author is a bit of a cheerleader for Silverlight but the hype is a little too much. I would have liked some objective insights.

Some editting error and typos.

Spends a great deal of time on renedering early in the book - just seems the wrong place for such depth.

Many example are simnplistic; I would have preferred seeing a real world example built up from the ground.

Like Silverlight? Want to learn Silverlight?


Then buy this book.