Expression Blends

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What's new in Expression Blend 2?

Microsoft Expression Blend 2 lets you create Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications as well as Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 websites. If you have Service Pack 1 installed, you can also create Silverlight 2 applications.

You can export content from Microsoft Expression Design 2 in a format that you can use in Silverlight 1.0 applications. You may also find Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 to be helpful when you are working with video, Silverlight, and Expression Blend 2.
Silverlight 1 support

Expression Blend 2 supports Silverlight 1.0 website projects. When a Silverlight 1.0 project is open, the Expression Blend 2 user interface shows only Silverlight 1.0-applicable controls and properties; WPF controls and properties that are not supported in Silverlight 1.0 are not displayed.

Expression Blend 2 includes a JavaScript text editor so that you can edit your Silverlight 1.0 code-behind files.

For information about how to use Silverlight in Expression Blend 2, see the topics under Quick start with Silverlight 1.0.


Silverlight 2 support (Service Pack 1 only)

With the addition of Service Pack 1, you can now create and modify Silverlight 2 projects in which you can design rich user interface applications for the web. A Silverlight 2 project produces .xap files (and other supporting application files) that you can add to a website. If you have the Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 installed, you can also modify your project in Visual Studio 2008, seamlessly opening code-behind files by double-clicking them in Expression Blend.

Silverlight 2 supports many features that are in common with WPF that Silverlight 1.0 did not support. When a Silverlight 2 project is open, the Expression Blend 2 user interface shows only Silverlight 2-applicable controls and properties.