As I expected this morning, Scott Guthrie announced the final version of Silverlight 2 will release early, tomorrow, October 14th, 2008. This means its time to update your beta 2 sources out there, as Beta 2 is not compatible with the final release and users will automatically be updated. The official press release can be read here. So anything new?

• Visual Studio 2008 has extended its support to the express editions!!! Designers and non-owners of Visual Studio can now use the free express editions to build Silverlight 2 which means designers won't have to purchase the VS.
• Adoption to the plugin is growing. All previous versions will auto update to the latest version.
• There is an open source control pack available on codeplex for a series of new controls, check it out at http://www.codeplex.com. I dont have the exact link just yet.
  • Controls available: DockPanel, WrapPanel, ViewBox, Label, HeaderedContentControl, Expander, TreeView, NumericUpDown, AutoComplete and Accordion are available
• The fact sheet for Silverlight 2 can be found here.
• The actual recording of the press release can be found here.

Today Microsoft announces the first release candidate of Silverlight 2 for developers who need to prepare their beta 2 applications and make sure they are ready to go when Silverlight 2 releases to the world. No dates have been promised for Silverlight 2 just yet, but they are sticking with "sometime before the end of the year". Check out a detail post at Tim Heuer's website., he gives the lowdown, something I want to point out is... "Silverlight 2 Beta 2 applications will not work with the final release". So check out the breaking change document.

If you didn't read Tim Heuer's notes, then let me restate this: NOTE: DO NOT PUBLISH THIS TO PUBLIC!!!
Its meant to prepare not to be published just yet.

So what do you need to update to RC0?

• Silverlight 2 Visual Studio Tools
• Expression Blend 2 SP 1
• Change Document

So 3 new controls were promised with this release: Progress Bar, Password Box, and the most requested Combo Box aka drop down list box.

 *Additionally* I have had several people ask the same common question what is Expression Blend 2 SP1. SP1 is the service pack for the released version of Expression Blend 2, and it replaces the need for the old June Preview of Expression 2.5 used to make Silverlight 2 applications in beta. This does mean, if you have been using the preview version and never actually purchased Expression 2 products, in order to create Silverlight 2 applications after release, you WILL need to pick up atleast Expression Blend 2.

This is part 2 of the drag and drop videos, this is where I show a different method than the one provided by silverlight.net. Basically I found the concept of capture mouse technique to be too limiting in my applications and this method was how I was able to do drag and drop in my application where during dragging of an object I needed to interact with other items. Hope this helps, and more videos are coming.

Source: Blogger.Demo.DragAndDrop2of2.zip (538.02 kb)

I have started to do more videos, this is a two part series on drag and drop. This first part is very basic drag and drop scenario, its built around the concept that when you click the object it will capture the mouse and when you release the mouse it will release the capture of the mouse. The problems I had with this method was when doing drag and drop in scenarios where you need to interact with other objects the capture method just was sufficient. So part 2 is all about how to do drag and drop without using the capture mouse technique.

Source: Blogger.Demo.DragAndDrop1of2.zip (535.05 kb)

Adam Kinney just announced to a small group today that Project Rosetta went live with a new initiative towards bringing articles, discussions, and more to those with histories in other platforms like Flash. So, designers and developers can check it out and learn to build off of their existing experiences to learn and understand silverlight. There are great articles already posted which is a good sign of what you can expect from the site. Check out Project Rosetta at http://www.projectrosetta.com.