@banjopolka, We are simply adding a Service from ArcGIS server which in turn is already mapped to an MXD file. We store themes that can be made up of several of these layers so hard coding it in the XAML will not work (still think this is a rediculous way of doing it anyway?). If I move my code away from RIA services (which has to wait until the async retrieves the actual data) and somewhat hard code the values then the map loads fine. It's when the app is waiting for the Async to finish retrieving the URL, ImageType, etc. that it doesn't show the particular layer in the map. I'm examining Fiddler, etc. to see if I can figure it out and will post any findings. Would love to hear an official way of doing this from ESRI assuming it was ever intended to be used for these purposes. The more time I spend in the documentation and what not, the more I think ESRI assumes the user is hard coding values for a one-off application and not really open to dynamic development? Take the ASP.net controls for example, all of the binding of layers is done through the visual designer in Visual Studio, or at least that is how all of the documentation explains it?
