XBAP – Windows Presentation Foundation in your Browser

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For me, XBAP‘s (which stand for XAML Browser Applications) are one of the more exciting ways to implement Windows Presentation Foundation. WPF gives you the ability to create some fantastic applications for the desktop but in some cases, the desktop deployment model isn’t ideal.

Which is where XBAPs come in. I’ve been trying to find out if people are using them and so far I haven’t had much luck. But today Karen Corby had a great post about what XBAPs get you. When I break down the Adobe/Microsoft technology competition, it goes something like this:

  • Apollo vs. Windows Presentation Foundation
  • Flash Player vs WPF/E
  • Flex vs XBAP

Now there is the very real issue of cross platform compatibility, but for someone locked into using Windows, I think XBAPs are a pretty compelling way to build an RIA. You get all of the richness of WPF but it runs in a browser just like other web applications. I’m stunned there hasn’t been more attention about this so Karen’s post is a welcome addition.

[tags]XBAP, Microsoft, WPF[/tags]

Related posts:

  1. Windows Presentation Foundation as Windows Live TV
  2. Apollo and Windows Presentation Foundation – Comments from the Blogosphere
  3. The Last of the Windows Operating Systems
  4. Windows Live Writer
  5. Macromedia joins Eclipse Foundation
  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    WPF is a framework, Apollo is a runtime. How can these be compared…?

    (Isn’t “XBAP” a deliverable file format, a packaging convention? Which part of the Adobe Flex technology family do you mean here?)

    tx, jd/adobe

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    It’s less a technical distinction and more of a solution distinction. WPF and Apollo both enable building desktop applications, Flex and XBAP both allow for rich browser-based experiences and WPF/E and Flash Player fall into the lightweight runtime category. One of the big links between the last two is the video delivery.

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    So you’re saying “Sometimes you’ll want to deliver to certain desktops, sometimes to anyone’s browser, sometimes just to certain people’s browsers”, maybe…?

    (I ask because I see lots of ways that “Apollo vs WPF” conversations would never make any sense… the conversation itself would confuse others who are trying to learn quickly in this area.)

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    No, no. For people who are targeting a windows only environment, sometimes you’ll want to deploy on the browser and sometimes you’ll want to deploy as a desktop application.

    XBAPs are still Windows and IE7 only, but are accessed in the browser via a URL.

  • http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd John Dowdell

    Well, then why are you going “Apollo vs WPF” then…?

    (I’m trying to understand the sense here, and am not succeeding… I don’t see the relevance of the second paragraph, and am unsure whether your second sentence implies people on Linux may not want choice of deployment in either browser or desktop….?)

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