Silverlight development tool installation checklist

(Last update: Nov 24, 2007 - Updated stuff has a star * at the beginning of the line...)

* VS2008 has shipped, however, Scott Gu warns that if you're doing Silverlight 1.1 development, you should hold off on uninstalling VS2008 Beta 2 (Orcas) and installing the release of VS2008, as the new Silverlight bits aren't available for it yet, but will be "in the next two weeks."

This is an ordered list (what would an "unordered list" look like?) of items you'll need/want to install if you need/want to do Silverlight development. This list covers Silverlight 1.0 and 1.1, and presumes when doing an SL 1.0 solution you don't want your end users to need the .NET Framework 3.5. Good luck! *weep*

This list is actually courtesy of Pluralsight's Fritz Onion (whose picture makes him look rough and rugged, like a cast member from Prison Break), who created the list -- I just added checkboxes and links since I'm really lazy, forgetful, and generally thick...

IIS5.1 (XP) / IIS6 (Server 2003) / IIS7 (Vista) -- Needed if you want to test access/viewing of your handywork form a "real" website, otherwise you can just rely on the Cassini debug server that's built-in to Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2005

Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005

Vista update for VS2005 -- Only if you're running Vista...

* Visual Studio 2008, Beta 2 (again, the release version of VS2008 is out, but does not yet support the Silverlight 1.1 bits)
   (You can also use the VS2008 Express Edition for free, if you wish.)

Windows Update -- Ensure you have all the latest patches...

AJAX Policy Update -- This ensures that when you build AJAX-based stuff in VS2005 the resulting assemblies will not have any VS2008/.NET 3.5 dependencies.

Silverlight 1.0 runtime, official release -- Obviously, your clients will need this, too.

Silverlight 1.0 SDK -- Be sure to install the optional Visual Studio 2005 project template, as well.

Silverlight 1.1 Alpha Refresh runtime -- Obviously, you'll also need this on any client machines where you'd like to show off your SL 1.1 goodies.

Silverlight 1.1 Alpha Refresh SDK -- September 2007 refresh

Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2

.NET 3.0 SDK -- Not strictly needed, but you really do want this... Includes headers, libraries, tools, samples and docs for .NET 3.0 development, including the key tool for Silverlight quickie prototyping: XamlPad.

Expression Blend 2 September Refresh -- Not strictly needed, but a handy and fun tool to use for designing Silverlight content. Ignore that the URL contains "maypreview"...

ASP.NET Ajax Extensions 1.0 -- You'll need this if you want to do AJAX/Javascript async support, which many Silverlight examples do and so should you...

ASP.NET Futures -- A set of ASP.NET based controls for Silverlight

That's all it takes! After a mere 7.6 hours of downloading, you'll be good to go. In the meantime, while things are downloading, you can get better at Vista Ultimate's Hold 'Em game.

Other things you might need/want:
Expression Media Encoder -- Encodes just about any video to a Silverlight-streamable format.
Silverlight Quickstarts -- A great page full of links to samples and tutorials.
* ASP.NET AJAX Controls -- An excellent collection of ASP.NET AJAX controls to get you kick-started.
* PowerShell vs2008 Defines -- For PowerShell users, this is Brad Wilson's VS2008 "vsvars" script to make your VS2008 stuff build from PowerShell.
Windows Server 2008 RC0 SDK -- Latest SDK for .NET 3.5 "Beta 2" (note: the .NET 3.5 SDK is also installed by the full release version of VS2008...)
www.Tafiti.com -- Visit this site to become depressed at how simple and ugly your own Silverlight work is.

Feel free to post additions, subtractions, multiplications or divisions in the comments, and I'll update this, accordingly.