Silverlight 2 development using just Visual Studio?

Question

OK, so see questions like this one and this one and the question I have is - does one have to use Expression Blend to do Silverlight development or can any of it be done with just Visual Studio? (2008, in this case)

I haven't gotten started using Silverlight yet and through my workplace's MSDN I can get Expression Blend without any issues, but for my side work, do I have to drop the $499 for Expression Blend 2? (I know there's a trial but I'm thinking beyond that)

Obviously I'm concerned that in order to get into Silverlight development there's a huge financial investment involved and I already own Visual Studio 2008 - is it possible to do development without Expression Blend or would that just be impossible?

Answer 1

It quite is possible. If you don't care too much about the eye candy. Blend is more of a designer's tool than a development tool.

You could try the Microsoft Action Pack Special edition for Web Solutions if you are at least a Microsoft Registered Partner.

Answer 2

You can do everything in Visual Studio. But then again you can do everything in Notepad as well... it all depends on how much the given tool will help you along in the process. Having Blend will be a great asset from a design point of view but wont really do much for you in terms of programming the application. Download the trial and see how it works... if it adds value and saves time then it's well worth the purchase.

Answer 3

I've heard rumours that since there is no Expression Blend Express or Expression Blend Light that there will at least for a while always be a version of Blend in a "Preview" state and the next one will come out before the previous one expires.

That being said, it would be hard to bet your business on something like that. There are third party tools like Kaxaml that can do some of the things Blend can do and I wouldn't be surprised to see more to fill this niche.

Answer 4

And now you can even use Eclipse. :)

Answer 5

You can do it in Visual Studio 2008 and it will work. The issues that I have come across in trying to only do Visual Studio is that I find I can do things a lot quicker in Blend than I can in Visual Studio. The visual designers are different enough that, depending on what you are going to do, you may find yourself using both environments.

If you are doing just small projects, and not a lot of UI components, then you can get away with just Visual Studio. However if you are doing a lot of design work and UI is important to you, then I would recommend geting the entire expression studio as you will find yourself using Blend and Designer.