Silverlight : Make Your Application Run out of the Browser

When is a web application not a web application? When it’s been enabled to run straight from the desktop. First, add a small (say, 48×48 pixels) PNG image file to your solution and set its Build Action to Content. In the Silverlight tab of your project’s settings, there is a check box to enable running the application outside of the browser, in addition to a button that opens a dialog box enabling you to specify additional settings (such as the icon). Enabling this setting creates the file OutOfBrowserSettings.xml in the Properties folder of your project. It looks something like the following:

<OutOfBrowserSettings ShortName="VideoPlayer Application"
                    EnableGPUAcceleration="True"
                    ShowInstallMenuItem="True">
  <OutOfBrowserSettings.Blurb>
VideoPlayer Application on your desktop; at home, at work or on the go.
</OutOfBrowserSettings.Blurb>
  <OutOfBrowserSettings.WindowSettings>
    <WindowSettings Title="VideoPlayer Application" />
  </OutOfBrowserSettings.WindowSettings>
  <OutOfBrowserSettings.Icons>
    <Icon Size="48,48">VideoPlayerIcon.png</Icon>
  </OutOfBrowserSettings.Icons>
</OutOfBrowserSettings>

When you right-click the application, you get an option to install it locally, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. It’s easy to make your Silverlight application available offline with some simple configuration settings.

Once the app is installed, right-clicking it gives you the option to remove it from the local machine.