Preloader in Silverlight (Part II)

In my previous post I showed you how to create simple preloader. Let’s take it to the next level and create a circular preloader. Circular preloaders are very common and can be seen everywhere. You can Download Source Code here and use it as a usercontrol in your project or add it as a new project. Now keep your users busy watching your animation while you are busy fetching data! Keep watching this space for more such preloaders.

Slide Show in Silverlight

When my friends come and ask me how to start with Silverlight, I always point them to http://silverlight.net/ But when they ask me to give them some kind of a task so that they can have hands on, then I always tell them to make a simple slide show. Slide show is a thing which is very easy and which can be made equally complex. I find that from the making of this simple show to its conversion to a complex carousel, we get to learn Silverlight and in turn gain confidence over it.


For a beginner it’s always good to start with some static images put in some layout element, when we explore further to see what will be the best container for a stack of images we in turn explore different layouts. Then to make things look better and to add a Silverlight touch to it, I tell them to add little animations on mouse over and out events. Then I tell them to add few buttons and control the slide show using them. By now they ask me how they can do the entire thing dynamically. Then a series of events and changes are done on the same old slide show and in the end a wonderful carousel is made. If you are a beginner in Silverlight then I would suggest you to start learning it by making a slide show. People have made thousands of slide shows but each has a different touch. Here is my version for you to start with.


In this I am locally maintaining an XML that has links to images of some cute dogs. I am reading this xml and then displaying them in the age old filmstrip fashion. To read the xml I have used Linq. The slide show is controlled by a pair of forward and backward buttons.

So, now when everything is all set, why don’t you Download Source Code and get started!

Preloader in Silverlight

Preloaders are those special and small animations which makes the user still stay at your page, when data is retrieved and when there is nothing to be displayed. These small packets of animation can be simple and at the same time can be very creative. Preloaders can actually show how creative or how funny or how professional your website or application is.They actually does add lots of XP's to your app.

You can check this site for some really funny and creative Flash based preloders . Here is one such simple and very common preloader. You may add this as a seperate xap in your project or just copy the xaml into your project. Keep watching this space for more such preloaders.
 Download source code here.