(this note refers to the SharePoint 2007 and SilverLight 2.0 versions).
Mount Sharepoint based web sites have the direct benefit of saving much time in the effort to develop a custom platform and with the management and security features that are resolved in this product. In a short time can have a standard looking site, and relatively adaptable to different needs
However, we must not to forget the spirit of the product is of “collaboration” (collaborative sites), and as far as requiring incorporated business with relative complexity functions need to invest a no less effort to create controls and pages with oriented behavior customization to meet more specific needs.
You can use dedicated tools such as Sharepoint Designer, to create specialized pages, or also helper Visual Studio to create controls or web parts to meet these needs. But every product has its limit, in this case cannot use controls or common .aspx pages events since the same SharePoint undertakes to report that they are not available. This can be a major stumbling block to use common .net controls as grids (GridView) or commonly used in these customizations Update buttons.
In this sense, web parts based on Silverlight are an important, care representing an island on the page where you can do almost anything that comes to mind, without conflict with page events or refreshing, which are not already required while operates this control. Not only I mean animations, that of itself may help from an aesthetic point of view, but mainly to the possibility of insert grid, text, and exchange of data with a central system as forms do; all benefits that enhance of greatly exploitation of this set.
