Tutorial: Migration from Silverlight application to OpenSilver

In this tutorial we are going to migrate an example of Silverlight application to OpenSilver. The C#.NET source code can be found here.
It is assumed that the steps described in the Environment Setup page have already been done.

The migration steps described below will help us avoid duplicating source files and let us share them between separate .sln and .csproj or .vbproj files.
The general idea is to create a separate OpenSilver project with the same name and directory structure as the Silverlight's, then rename the solution and the project names. After that, we can simply copy the files in the actual Silverlight project's location and use them without manual modifications.

About the Silverlight application

CustomerApp is a simple Silverlight application which shows basic customer information in a Data Grid View and allows to filter the information by customer name or by membership.

Here is how it looks like.

The OpenSilver Application

The directory structure of the Silverlight application looks like this.

Silverlight App Directory Structure

It is a simple Silverlight application with a reference to an additional Silverlight Class Library (CustomerData)

Migration Steps for the C#.NET Silverlight App

1. Create a new OpenSilver project (Visual Studio 2022)

In this step we are going to create a separate OpenSilver project with the same name as the Silverlight application's, but in a different location.

  • Go to File -> New -> Project, then choose OpenSilver Application.

New OpenSilver Application

  • Type CustomerApp as a Project name
  • Check Place solution and project in the same directory and click Create

Application Name

2. Add a new OpenSilver Class Library

We need to recreate the original project's structure in our new OpenSilver project. Since the original has a Silverlight Class Library, we need to create a new OpenSilver Class Library with the same name.

  • In Solution Explorer, right-click on Solution -> Add -> New project...
  • Choose OpenSilver Class Library and click Next
  • Make sure the end location is CustomerApp
  • Type CustomerData as Project name and click Create

Library Name

3. Add CustomerData as a Project Reference

  • In Solution Explorer, right-click on the Dependencies of CustomerApp project -> Add Project Reference...
  • Choose CustomerData as a reference project and click OK

Project Reference

4. Rename the OpenSilver projects

We cannot copy the files as they are, because they would overwrite the original Silverlight ones. We therefore need to rename them. To do so, we will rename the projects in Visual Studio:

  • Rename CustomerApp to CustomerApp.OpenSilver
  • Rename CustomerData to CustomerData.OpenSilver
  • Rename CustomerApp Solution to CustomerApp.OpenSilver

Rename

Now we can close Visual Studio 2022.

5. Copy files and directories from the OpenSilver project to the Silverlight project

  • Copy the CustomerApp.Browser, CustomerApp.Simulator folders and the CustomerApp.OpenSilver.sln file to Silverlight's root directory
  • Copy the CustomerData.OpenSilver.csproj and CustomerApp.OpenSilver.csproj files to Silverlight's corresponding projects directories

Directory Structure

6. Compile the migrated project with Visual Studio 2022

  • Open CustomerApp.OpenSilver.sln located in the Silverlight's project with Visual Studio 2022
  • For C# code, in Solution Explorer find AssemblyInfo.cs for both projetcs CustomerApp and CustomerData, and exclude it as shown below.

Exclude From Project

  • Make CustomerApp.Browser the Startup Project.

Set Startup Project

  • Rebuild the solution and run it

The result should look like this

Result

And if we check the 'Show Members' checkbox we will see the filtered result

Result With Filter

Please note that in the example we didn't change a single line of Silverlight's code and we didn't fix any compilation errors. In real and much bigger projects however some errors are expected to happen.

Migration Steps for VB.NET Silverlight App

This follows the same steps as C#.NET Silverlight App Migration. Please refer to the corresponding section for detailed instructions.

1. Create a new OpenSilver project (Visual Studio 2022)

2. Add a new OpenSilver Class Library

3. Add CustomerData as a Project Reference

4. Rename the OpenSilver projects

5. Copy files and directories from the OpenSilver project to the Silverlight project

  • Copy CustomerApp.Browser, CustomerApp.Simulator folders and CustomerApp.OpenSilver.sln file to Silverlight's root directory
  • Copy CustomerData.OpenSilver.vbproj and CustomerApp.OpenSilver.vbproj files to Silverlight's according projects directory

6. Compile migrated project with Visual Studio 2022

  • Open CustomerApp.OpenSilver.sln located in Silverlight's project with Visual Studio 2022
  • For C# code, in the Solution Explorer find the AssemblyInfo.vb file for both projects CustomerApp and CustomerData, and exclude it
  • Make CustomerApp.Browser the Startup Project
  • Rebuild the solution and run it