Question

I’m not sure what is recommended for using xap files in an ASP.NET web application, but it seems like a bad idea to stuff all of ones silverlight user controls into a single project in order to produce a single xap file. The XAP file could become large in size and if I only want a single user control I wouldn’t want to load all of the user controls. So, how is it possible to create a xap file per user control? Is there a better way than this or
this?
Thanks!

Answer 1

When a XAP becomes a very large download it might be wise to split it up and download other XAPs (or DLLs) when needed. This would speed up the initial download and start up.

One way of splitting the application is by defining multiple areas of the application that will used by different users/roles. that way a user will only download those parts that the user will use.

Another way of partitioning is by defining areas that most users will use and packaging all other areas separately. This way most users will be able to use all general/frequently used parts of the application without downloading too much, while special functionality will come with a (tiny?) penalty.

What scheme will fit your application and users depends on the application.

Prism is a framework that could help you to set up the structure of the application and could take care of most of the plumbing to get this working.

Have a look at Prism and modules here