Technical Class:

1. Integrating SharePoint
2010/2013 and Visual
Studio LightSwitch
Rob Windsor
rwindsor@portalsolutions.net
@robwindsor

2. About Me
• Senior SharePoint Architect with Portal Solutions
• Technical Contributor to the Pluralsight On-Demand Library
• Microsoft MVP, MCPD, MCT
• Founder and Past-President of the North Toronto .NET UG
• Co-author of Prof. Visual Basic 2012 and .NET 4.5 (Wrox)

3. What is Visual Studio LightSwitch?
The easiest way to create
modern business applications
for the enterprise
• Learn more at the LightSwitch Developer Center
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lightswitch/default.aspx

4. Motivation for LightSwitch
• LightSwitch is a development tool that
 Is designed to be used by business users
 In the same way they are using Excel and Access today
 Is designed to be used by developers
 Apps can be transitioned to devs if they grow beyond the workgroup
 Has built-in “plumbing” to handle common application requirements
 Uses the latest Microsoft technologies
 HTML5, JavaScript, Silverlight, Entity Framework, WCF, SQL Server
 Uses well-known architectural patters
 Builds scalable applications
 Is extensible
 Supports Wizard driven deployment

5. LightSwitch Simplifies Development
• Data
 Multiple sources / kinds (including SharePoint)
 Entity model
• Screens
 No markup solution
 Extensible controls
 Extensible layouts
• Rules and validation
 Write once, execute everywhere

6. LightSwitch 2011

7. LightSwitch 2012
OData OData

8. LightSwitch 2012 HTML Client Preview 2
OData OData
HTML5/JavaScript

9. The LightSwitch Development Experience

10. DEMO
Introduction to Visual Studio
LightSwitch

11. Entities
• Can be local (SQL Server Express) or attached (SQL
Server, SQL Azure, SharePoint, WCF RIA service)
• Can create relationships within and across data sources
• Custom business types
 Provide validation and formatting
• Calculated properties
 Write code to generate value
• Can validate at the entity or property level

12. Screens
• Variety of built in screens
 New, search, details, editable grid, list and details
• Can use auto-generated screens for adding/editing or
create your own
• Developers can modify screens at design-time and runtime
• Always based on queries
• Generated screens do not expose XAML
 You can use Silverlight controls you create yourself
 You can add UI elements packaged as extensions

13. Queries
• LightSwitch creates queries automatically
 Select * query is a collection, eg. CustomerCollection
 Select where query is a detail, eg. CustomerDetail
• You can edit existing queries
 Filter, sort, add parameters
• You can create new queries
• You can base queries on other queries

14. The LightSwitch Development Experience

15. DEMO
Entities, Screens, Queries,
and Code

16. Access Control
• Authentication
 LightSwitch supports Windows and Forms authentication
• Authorization
 Check if the user is allowed to do something
 Define permissions and check them in code at entity
and property level
 Permissions are granted through administration screens

17. Access Control
• Permissions are defined by the developer
• The application’s administrator(s) define(s) users and roles
• Permissions are assigned to roles
• Users are assigned to roles
• A user’s effective permissions are the combined
permissions assigned to their roles

18. Deployment Options
• 2-tier desktop application
 Application runs entirely on user’s computer
• 3-tier desktop application
 User interface runs on user’s computer
 Middle-tier components run on Internet Information
Services (IIS) or Windows Azure
• 3-tier web application
 User interface is browser based
 Middle-tier components run on IIS or Windows Azure

19. DEMO
Access control and
deployment

20. Thank You
• Big thanks to the organizers, sponsors and you for making
this event possible
• Please fill out your evaluation
• Please keep in touch
rwindsor@portalsolutions.net
@robwindsor
msmvps.com/blogs/windsor