Lately there’s been quite a bit of buzz about SilverX, an application that claims to convert Flash files to Silverlight. The SilverX website does a good job of outlining the features and benefits of the application but there was little information on how it handles Actionscript.
Is this the Holy Grail for Flash developers looking to use the Adobe IDE to build Silverlight applications? We decided to put it through the paces to see what it’s all about.
Install
Installing SilverX is straightforward and it provides an uninstaller in the application folder if you decide to remove it. One thing I didn’t expect was that it inserted a splash page to Expression Blend. A nice touch, and useful as I wouldn’t have immediately known that it added items to my ‘File’ menu.
Converting a Flash file to Silverlight
For the first test I decided to load a fairly complicated Flash application that I had built as a prototype for a touch screen picture frame. The reason I chose this file was because it had no externally loaded assets, it was built as one fat .SWF with embedded images.
The Flash to Silverlight conversion process only took a few seconds
Oops, a warning that Actionscript was not supported. Not surprising.
Having a look at the output, it created a folder with 3 areas that were very well organized.
Preview containing the original .swf, the .xap Silverlight app and supporting HTML/JS
Resources containing all the placed assets in the .swf
Solution containing the .sln and Silverlight project files
Running the application
Upon launching the application I found that none of the Actionscript was implemented, but all of the artwork came over nicely. Below is a preview of both the original .SWF and the .XAP outputs.
Note that this is a large file (2.7mb) with no preloader as it was originally indented to be run locally.
Another test
I knew that converting such a complicated app was a lot to ask, so I ran another test with something much more basic. This is a timeline based animation of a crane unfolding that I had used for the 1000CranesOfHope.com website.
As you can see from the examples the conversion of the animation was flawless. The only thing it missed was some Actionscript that sets the visibility of my guide asset to false and a stop action at the end of the timeline.
Conclusion
Considering that I was running version 1.2 of the application I’d say it’s very solid. Is it the Holy Grail for flash developers who are looking to build Silverlight applications with the Adobe IDE? No. But SilverX never said it was. Maybe in future releases we’ll see support for Actionscript conversion, but I imagine that is a huge undertaking and in the end may not be all that useful.
The strength of SilverX is in its ability to quickly and cleanly extract assets, vector graphics and timeline based animations from .swf files. If you’re a Flash developer that needs a jump start on a Flash to Silverlight project SilverX is a must have in your application toolbox.
Microsoft Semblio is an SDK for developing interactive instructional material in WPF. Content creators can quickly assemble lessons that include various file formats and data from XAML, Office and Flash. The added quiz creation tools make it easy to test a student’s progress.
Visit the Semblio website to view demos and download the SDK.
Sothink Quicker for Silverlight is a very Adobe Flash like application for creating animations that can be output to Silverlight. I have no idea what the output looks like but they do have some demos on their website.
They offer a free version and a full version for $39.95.
For me, one of the most difficult aspects of making the jump from Flash to Silverlight/WPF was finding simple, to the point, tutorials to work from.
There are a few great resources out there now but at the time there was little information available, and what was out there assumed you already know a good deal about C# and .NET.
This made it very frustrating to get going because although I was proficient in AS2, I never really made the transition to AS3 before I dove into WPF and C#. Things that I could code up in AS2 in a matter of minutes became stumbling blocks along the way.
If you’re new to WPF, or a Flash Developer making the difficult transition from ActionScript to XAML/C# this book will give you a great head start. Unlike some other books on the subject this one assumes little about your knowledge of WPF and C# and has a lot of simple tutorials that walk you through projects from end to end.
It seems like a lot books in this space are either written for developers or designers. This one hits that sweet spot in the middle and appeals to the technical designer, which is where a lot of Flash developers fall.
If I had found this when I was getting started it would have saved me a lot of time getting up to speed.
It’s a little tough to make a direct comparison with the rather generic product names Adobe is using, but it does hint at the momentum that Silverlight (shown in blue) is seeing at the moment.
Electric Rain has released Harmonyâ„¢, a Flash SWF-to-XAML Converter.
Electric Rain claims Harmony will convert SWF files to WPF and Silverlight based XAML. Sound to good to be true? Give it a try and let us know how it works.
