Silverlight 3 support in Express Blend 3.0

You can create and modify Silverlight 3 applications in Expression Blend 3 Preview. If you open a Silverlight 2 project, Expression Blend 3 Preview will display a dialog box to ask if you want to update your project files from Silverlight 2 to Silverlight 3.

Web site support

Using sample data

When you create a new Silverlight project in Expression Blend 3 Preview, you now have an additional project type called Silverlight Application + Web Site. When you create a Silverlight application using this kind of project, you get both a Silverlight application and an associated website with a default HTML page that will load your Silverlight application.

Source file version control

TFS support

Expression Blend 3 Preview introduces support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server. You now have the ability to perform common source control–related tasks on solutions and projects such as checking in, checking out, merging, and more.

Animation

More properties available to animate

In a Silverlight project, you can now record keyframes for many more properties than before. To help with this, there is a new menu command, Record Current Value, on the Advanced property options menu that appears when you click the marker next to individual properties in the Properties panel.

Better support for easing in Silverlight

You can now apply predefined, named easing functions to individual keyframes by selecting a keyframe and then selecting an EasingFunction in the Properties panel.

Animating to resource values

You can now animate to/from some resources. For example, you can animate a color property from a static value to a color resource. To select the color resource, use the Advanced property options pop-up menu on the Editor tab in the Brushes category of the Properties panel.

Text

Improved embedding of fonts and subsets of fonts

With Expression Blend 3 Preview, you can easily embed and create subsets of fonts in Silverlight and WPF projects. The new Font Manager lets you select fonts installed on your computer and customize which subset of the characters to embed.

Extensibility

Extensible Asset Library

You can populate the contents of the Asset Library in Expression Blend 3 Preview by registering a directory that contains one or more assemblies. You can write your code to display custom icons and more. You can also instantiate controls stored in those known assemblies, and Expression Blend will then add the necessary assembly references to your project.

Artboard extensibility

Expression Blend 3 Preview introduces more refinements to the extensibility APIs for WPF and Silverlight. The extensibility points are compatible with the Microsoft Visual Studio designer, and you also have more flexibility to extend the artboard.

Extensible project templates

Expression Blend 3 Preview now supports extensible project templates, which provide customizable project and item stubs to improve project creation. These project templates, which are a subset of what Visual Studio supports, can be used to create complex solutions with inter-project dependencies and assembly references.

Workspace

Docking and workspace configuration

Expression Blend 3 Preview extends the workspace configuration features found in earlier releases by providing full docking support for all panels. You can customize the Expression Blend 3 Preview user interface to your liking and save this configuration as a preset.

Direct selection improvements

Expression Blend 3 Preview contains some significant changes to the selection model that will make it easier to change your selection and draw new objects on the artboard. The changes include extending the functionality of the Selection tool to behave similarly to the Direct Selection tool, and improving the creation and parenting behavior on the artboard with the help of visual indicators and gestures.

Marquee selection of points

When you use the Direct Selection tool, you can now select individual points on a path by using marquee selection. Just drag to define the area that contains the points you want to select.

Auto-scroll and zoom improvements

Now, when you move or resize an object, the Expression Blend 3 Preview artboard scrolls automatically. If you move the cursor past the artboard, the scrolling will stop. Another change is that rotating the mouse wheel now zooms the artboard by default.

Keyboard shortcuts and modifier keys

Expression Blend 3 Preview makes common tasks easier by introducing new keyboard shortcuts and modifier keys for actions such as direct selection, marquee selection, duplication of content, panning/zooming, and more.