05.16.08
Server side requirements for Silverlight
I though I’d share this little nugget of information with regards the “potential” requirements for a hoster to support Silverlight.
Initial thoughts were that Silverlight was a client thing, so anyone wanting to host / deliver sites using this content type would not need anything on their servers and would just be able to FTP the Silverlight code up for things to work.
That is essentially correct, but you could also get a blank page or server error if some specific MIME types do not exist on the server.
Extension MIME Type
.xaml application/xaml+xml
.xap application/x-silverlight-app
Options/workarounds:
-The service provider adds the MIME types for the entire server
-The site owner (if he is delegated the right) creates the MIME types at the site level
For .xaml files there is another alternative if these two options aren’t available. Rename the .xaml file to .xml file and it works, note however that this would have to be done for all files.
The good news for all of you cutting-edge hosters and web-geeks (like me) is that IIS7 on Windows Server 2008 has these MIME types set as part of the installation. So unless you’ve been playing around with the MIME type configuration, these workarounds will not be required.
- J.
