Longhorn, Another New Possibility - XAML
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Microsoft said that the Application class will be used when your applications are not complex and neither needs the navigation system nor State Management. If your applications are complex, you can inherent from the Application class and add support for them. You can think of Longhorn applications as a collection of markup pages including Managed Code. The markup language that will be used with Longhorn is a new language called XAML -- Extensible Application Markup Language --. You’ll then write Managed Code in either C#, VB.NET, etc.
Using XAML you can control the layout of the pages including text layout, controls layout, as well as new features that will make developing applications more fun and much easier. We currently use HTML to layout static Web pages; however, XAML will be used to layout applications in Longhorn. So you can use XAML to write a simple Longhorn application that can be hosted by a window or a browser. Even better is that you have the choice of using Managed Code to write Longhorn applications or using XAML with Managed Code to write Longhorn applications. You will find that some functionality you perform can be done using XAML or can be developed using Managed Code. In the end it will be your decision on which to use.
The trick that Microsoft designed in Longhorn is that you will not need to modify (or create a separate project) your Windows application to make Web applications. You’ll simply change one property that has values for Windows applications or Web applications. I hope that you understand the power of this ultimate victory feature for Microsoft and its customers.
The Application Object
As I said before, the Application object is the root of Longhorn applications and it provides the basic functionality for your applications. The Application object is a key element in the Longhorn application structure. Longhorn applications are typically a collection of XAML pages which contain Managed Code, where the application’s root object is derived from the Application object. In fact, you need the Managed Code with XAML pages in order to create complex applications. The combination of .NET with the simplicity of XAML is what will give you faster performance and more security over your applications.
You derive your application's root object from the Application class because the Application class is the Longhorn monitor over your application. What I mean is that the Application object gives you all the features you need to develop the best applications ever. It's responsible for the security of your application, memory management and for managing resources of your application, as well as being responsible for the user-navigation mechanism according to the application design.
In Longhorn applications users will navigate from one page to another; however, the navigation mechanism will appear as replacing the current page with the next one. Do not worry, as you’ll still have the ability to open new pages (ex: pop-up windows). These pages will be created using XAML with, or without, Managed Code.
As much as Microsoft solved the problem of classic ASP’s inline-code with ASP.NET’s code-behind classes, Microsoft designed Longhorn pages using XAML to use inline or code-behind Managed Code classes. So you can write your XAML page and your Managed Code will be in a code-behind class.
This was just a very simple introduction to Longhorn. I promise you that in my next article I will begin with an introduction to XAML, as well as demonstrating how to write XAML pages!
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