Microsoft Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 enables you to create content that targets Microsoft Silverlight 4 Beta and .NET 4 Beta 2. This Preview is compatible with the Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2.

Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 enables customers to use Expression Blend to test the latest Beta platform releases from Microsoft.

Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 creates and modifies Silverlight 4 Beta and .NET 4 Beta 2 based applications. Please note that Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 does not include support for Silverlight 3, .NET 3.5 or SketchFlow, please continue using Microsoft Expression Blend 3 to target these platforms.

We are pleased to present our next preview of Expression Blend 2 (formerly known as Expression Interactive Designer), that targets Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0. We are very excited to receive your feedback on the new user experience this Beta provides compared to our previous CTP releases.

Your input is essential during our development cycle to help us make a better product. Please send your feedback to us via our discussion forum or our product feedback center as you encounter bugs or usability issues, or if you simply want to request a feature. Have fun designing, and we look forward to your continued feedback!

If you are new to Expression Blend and are building user experiences for .NET 3.0 applications on the Windows platform, this is a great place to start. The betas are a great way to experiment and begin familiarizing yourself with the tool. We hope you will try the innovative features in Expression Blend, such as rich 2D and 3D graphics, animation, dynamic layout, data binding, style and template editing, and resource management.

We also recommend that you explore the included documentation and sample projects. Additionally, some knowledge of .NET 3.0 programming may help you when working with the beta. For more information about the .NET Framework 3.0, see the .NET Framework 3.0 Development section of the Windows Software Development Kit. Please also refer to 3rd-party books that are good resources for learning WPF.

In order to edit code, you will also need a free copy of a Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Express edition from the Visual Studio Express Web site (choose either the Visual Basic or C# edition).

Installation Instructions

Installing on Windows Vista:
· Install a version of Silverlight

Installing on Windows XP SP2:
· Install .NET Framework 3.0 first before attempting to install Expression Blend 2
· Install a version of Silverlight
· Install Expression Blend 2 August Preview

Requirements:

Recommended system:
· Intel Pentium or AMD processor, 2 GHz with MMX or equivalent
· 1GB of RAM
· Microsoft DirectX 9.0�capable video card with 128 MB or more of memory-for example, ATI Radeon X300 or NVIDIA GeForce 5600 class equivalent or better
· 1280 x 1024 or greater monitor resolution with 32-bit color

Graphics requirements:
In Windows XP
· Click Display in Control Panel.
· Click the Settings tab and then under Color quality, make sure Highest (32 bit) is selected.
· Next, click the Advanced button, and then on the Adapter tab, click the Properties button.
· Click the Driver tab and look next to the Driver Date to see if the date is more recent than 11/1/2004. If it is not, then video and hardware acceleration will not work properly on your system unless you upgrade your video drivers.

In Windows Vista
· Under Appearance and Personalization in Control Panel, click Adjust screen resolution.
· Under Colors, make sure Highest (32 bit) is selected.
· Next, click the Advanced Settings button, and then on the Adapter tab, click the Properties button.
· Click the Driver tab and look next to the Driver Date to see if the date is more recent than 11/1/2004. If it is not, then video and hardware acceleration will not work properly on your system unless you upgrade your video drivers.


Limitations:

· 30 days trial

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Windows Presentation Foundation 4 Beta2 and Silverlight 4 Beta platforms supported exclusively
· Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 supports projects targeting Windows Presentation Foundation 4 Beta2 and Silverlight 4 Beta only. Please continue to use Expression Blend 3 to target Windows Presentation Foundation 3.5 and Silverlight 3.

· Projects created in Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 are compatible with Visual Studio 2010 Beta2 exclusively
· Projects created in Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4 can be opened in Visual Studio 2010 Beta2 only.

· SketchFlow projects are not supported
· SketchFlow projects cannot be created with Expression Blend Preview for .NET 4, and the opening and further editing of SketchFlow projects is not a supported scenario with this release. Please continue to use Expression Blend 3 for SketchFlow projects.

· Upgrading Silverlight 3 projects to Silverlight 4 Beta
· When you attempt to open a Silverlight 3 project, Expression Blend Preview for .NET...