So, after my post on waiting for Silverlight for Devices, I spent last night and much of today finding a way to render XAML on a web server. You can see the result in the article Silverlight on Devices, and of course the code is also included.

As expected, there are a lot of the good stuff that you miss out on using this approach (interactivity, animations, etc), but it serves the purpose of moving the design elements of your application to the new user interface platform (XAML, WPF, etc). When the technology is available on the device, the work done can be migrated to the mobile application.

In the article's sample I only render static XAML on the server, as I couldn't get the data binding to work (anyone?), but in most situations this shouldn't be a problem as you do the rendering on the server anyway.

Ever since Mike Zintel's post WPF/e and the .NET Compact Framework on my 40th birthday more than two years ago, I have been waiting. I think he was right then, and I still think he is right. We need an implementation that focuses on the user interface and that allows for both online and offline. My only concern was why it was taking so long, and finally my hopes were out...

...and THEN, Robert Unoki made me green with envy when he posted on his cool work with Silverlight and Compact Framework. A bit later the video with Scott Holden appeared, and my hopes were on max again. But that was almost six months ago, and now I'm getting really inpatient. When you look at the great developer overview of the current Alpha build of Silverlight, Compact Framework isn't even on the "map" (neither is XBOX/XNA).

Even if I mostly build Enterprise applications, I want to build UXs like that (yes, Mike Zintel was right again on his theory that somewhere inside we all get into this business hoping to write video games )

So, what can I do while waiting? Well, I remember that when I didn't have GDI+ on the device, I would create on-the-fly charts on a Web server that download them directly to my WinForms apps on the device. It had its drawbacks, but served my purpose. What if I could do the same with XAML on the server? I'll take a look at that soon...