Embedding IronPython in Silverlight

IronPython code is evaluated and executed at runtime. This opens up all sorts of possibilities for user scripting of Silverlight applications.

The IronPython 2 API has been written to make it easy to embed in .NET applications. The basic code looks like:

using IronPython.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Scripting;
using Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting;

...

string code = "lambda x: x.upper()";
Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting.ScriptEngine pe = PythonEngine.CurrentEngine;
Microsoft.Scripting.IScriptScope scope = pe.CreateScope();
Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting.SourceUnit source = pe.CreateScriptSourceFromString(code, "id");
Function<string, string> func = pe.Execute<Function<string, string>>(scope, source);

string result = func(x);

The full C# code, for Page.xaml.cs,

is below. You can also download it as a Visual Studio 2008 project: EmbeddedWithCodeBehind Project

using System;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using IronPython.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Scripting;
using Microsoft.Scripting.Utils;

namespace EmbeddedIronpython
{
    public partial class Page : UserControl
    {
        public Page()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            string code = "lambda x: x.upper()";

            Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting.ScriptEngine pe = PythonEngine.CurrentEngine;
            Microsoft.Scripting.IScriptScope scope = pe.CreateScope();
            Microsoft.Scripting.Hosting.SourceUnit source = pe.CreateScriptSourceFromString(code, "id");
            Function<string, string> func = pe.Execute<Function<string, string>>(scope, source);

            string x = "i'm talking loudly";
            string result = func(x);
            textblock.Text = result;
        }
    }
}

There are some other (perhaps more useful) ideas for embedding IronPython 2 in C# applications (using IronPython 2 Beta 1 - the same version used by Dynamic Silverlight) in DLR Hosting: Embedding IronPython.

For examples of other ways to use the IronPython 2 API, check out the IronPython Cookbook.

The final article in this series is about using Silverlight to put an interactive Python interpreter in the browser:

• A Silverlight Interactive Interpreter