LightSwitch Community & Content Rollup–April 2013

Last year I started posting a rollup of interesting community happenings, content, samples and extensions popping up around Visual Studio LightSwitch. If you missed those rollups you can check them all out here: LightSwitch Community & Content Rollups.

This month was FULL OF AWESOMENESS as we finally released the 3rd version of LightSwitch!

WE DID IT! WHOOOHOOO! You can now build HTML5 and JavaScript-based clients that are optimized for touch-oriented, modern mobile devices. LightSwitch also supports publishing your apps to SharePoint 2013 & Office 365, so you can also build SharePoint 2013 apps with LightSwitch. There’s been a TON of activity in the community this month (this is probably my biggest rollup to date) so read on…

LightSwitch HTML Client Released in Visual Studio 2012 Update 2!

It’s been an exciting, challenging journey and I congratulate the team on this important milestone of one of the most exciting products I have been fortunate to be a part of. Thank you to the community, the team, and my family for supporting me and LightSwitch for the last couple years!

We’re seeing a lot of new faces in the forums, twitter, Facebook, our blog, email, etc. asking questions and congratulating us on this release. Our Developer Center has almost doubled in traffic! It’s very exciting (and sometimes overwhelming) to see the community growing – and I know we’re just getting started.

Check out the LightSwitch HTML and SharePoint resources and get started building HTML5 business apps today!

LightSwitch in Visual Studio 2012 Update 2

LightSwitch Developer Center Freshness

We made a bunch of updates to the LightSwitch Developer Center for this release so if you haven’t visited lately, I encourage you to do so. The Dev Center is your one-stop-shop for all the best LightSwitch resources, documentation and tutorials. Make sure to bookmark http://msdn.com/lightswitch and check back often.

Some of the goodies we’ve added are new “How Do I…?” videos that will help you get started with the new HTML client.

• How Do I: Get Started with the LightSwitch HTML Client?
• How Do I: View Data in a List with the LightSwitch HTML Client?
• How Do I: Add and Edit Data with the LightSwitch HTML Client?
• How Do I: Create Master-Details Screens with the LightSwitch HTML Client?
• How Do I: Filter Data on a Screen with the LightSwitch HTML Client?

We also have a new architecture page that explains the application architecture and hosting options of a LightSwitch application, including the new HTML5 client and SharePoint 2013 support. See: Exploring LightSwitch Architecture

We also updated our tutorials so if you haven’t checked them out lately I encourage you to do so. You can access them and get the download from the new HTML client page.

JavaScript Samples for LightSwitch Developers

We also released the first set of JavaScript snippets that you will find useful in your LightSwitch apps. Then Michael Washington of the LightSwitchHelpWebsite.com wrote up a “full color” companion article to got with it so check it out!

Walk-thru Examples of Common Visual Studio LightSwitch JavaScript

Sneak Peak: ComponentOne HTML Controls for LightSwitch!

Michael Washington also posted a sneak peak at the coveted, soon to be released, ComponentOne controls for the LightSwitch HTML client! I can’t wait to get my hands on these! If they’re anything like their other world-class LightSwitch controls for Silverlight, then we’re really in for a treat with the HTML client controls.

Sneak Peek: Wijmo Creates Custom JavaScript In LightSwitch HTML Client

Xpert360 LightSwitch Screencasts on Dynamics CRM & Salesforce Data

Xpert360 released a couple great screencasts that show you how to build LightSwitch clients for your Dynamics CRM and Salesforce data without writing code. Check them out!

• Visual Studio LightSwitch - Dynamics CRM
• Visual Studio LightSwitch - HTML5 Dynamics CRM Contacts Browser
• Visual Studio LightSwitch – Salesforce

Check out their free Lightning Adapters here. Thanks guys!

New LightSwitch E-Book!

Alessandro Del Sole has released another awesome book – check it out!

Hidden Visual Studio LightSwitch: Secrets from the Real World for Creating Great Apps
This eBook offers practical tips and tricks as well as useful guidance on how to implement common features in LightSwitch, such as those for working with documents, business analysis, screen customization, optimal server configuration, usage with databases other than SQL Server, and so on.

LightSwitch Events

We got a couple new events to add to the list from last month and more details on TechEd! Try and make one of these great events and come say “HI”.

VSLive! Chicago May 13-16
Michael Washington of the famed LightSwitchHelpWebsite.com is speaking in Chicago in May. Check out the sessions here. Also, don’t miss Michael’s interview here: The Visual Studio Live! interview

DevTeach Toronto May 25 – 31
I have a couple LightSwitch sessions and an all-day training on May 25th at the 10-year anniversary of this awesome community run conference in Canada. I’ve been speaking here every year except the first, even before I joined Microsoft, so I’m honored to have been invited to this special event.

TechEd North America June 3 – 6 New Orleans, LA &
TechEd Europe June 25-28 Madrid, Spain 
I’ll be speaking at TechEd in New Orleans and Heinrich will be speaking in Madrid this year. We’ve got a couple great LightSwitch sessions and Hands-on-Labs! Hope to see you there.

FalafelCon 2013 June 10th – 11th Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus, Mountain View, CA
I’ll also be speaking at the conference put on by Falafel Software, Telerik & Microsoft. It’s here in my neck of the woods and it should be a great event with a lot of very well known speakers.

//build/ June 25 – 28 San Francisco, CA
Details soon!

That Conference Wisconsin Dells, WI August 12th – 14th
I’ll be talking about LightSwitch HTML goodness at this “summer camp for geeks”. It’ll be my first time at this event so I’m really looking forward to it!

Team Blogs In Your Face!

The team has really been cranking out the content on the LightSwitch Team blog. Our goal is to teach you the tips and tricks needed to build fantastic business apps. Check out these latest articles on a variety of topics. If you’re new to the LightSwitch HTML Client, I recommend starting with the “Signed-In” series that Andy wrote up that shows you how to build a modern, touch-oriented sign in sheet application.

HTML How-Tos

• Building a LightSwitch HTML Client: eBay Daily Deals (Andy Kung)
• Many-To-How-Many - HTML Edition (Heinrich Wendel)  
• Master-Detail Screens with the LightSwitch HTML Client (Beth Massi)
• Signed-In Part 1 – Introduction (Andy Kung)
• Signed-In Part 2 – Upcoming Events Screen (Andy Kung)
• Signed-In Part 3 – Guest List Screen (Andy Kung)
• Signed-In Part 4 – Authentication and Branding (Andy Kung)
• Signed-In Part 5 – Search Screen and Dynamic UI (Andy Kung)  

SharePoint apps

• A quick & easy LightSwitch app for SharePoint (Brian Moore)
• Publishing LightSwitch apps for SharePoint to the Catalog (Brian Moore)
• SharePoint Hosting & Authentication Options for LightSwitch (Brian Moore)
• Using SharePoint Lists as LightSwitch Entities and with CSOM (Chris Rummel)

UX

• A New User Experience (Heinrich Wendel)
• Designing for Multiple Form Factors (Heinrich Wendel)

Architecture & APIs

• A New API for LightSwitch Server Interaction: The ServerApplicationContext (Joe Binder)
• New LightSwitch HTML Client APIs (Stephen Provine)
• Using the LightSwitch ServerApplicationContext API (Matt Evans)
• Using LightSwitch ServerApplicationContext and WebAPI to Get User Permission (Beth Massi)

UI Customization

• Enhancing LightSwitch Controls with jQuery Mobile (Michael Zlatkovsky)
• Custom Controls and Data Binding in the LightSwitch HTML Client (Joe Binder)
• Adding a Signature Control to the LightSwitch HTML Client (Beth Massi)
• Visualizing List Data using a Map Control (Heinrich Wendel)

Reporting Dashboards

• Create Dashboard Reports with LightSwitch, WebAPI and ServerApplicationContext (Steve Lasker)
• Dashboard Reports with LightSwitch, WebAPI and ServerApplicationContext– Part Deux (Steve Lasker)

For more, head to the LightSwitch Developer Center.

More Notable Content this Month

Extensions released this month (see over 100 of them here!): Xpert360 is releasing themes like crazy! Check out these new ones.

• Xpert360 Lightning - Office Theme Pack
• Xpert360 Lightning - Mint Choc Chip Theme
• Xpert360 Lightning - Chocolate Theme Pack
• Xpert360 Lightning - Spring Flowers Theme [V2,V3,SL]

Samples (see over 100 of them here!): Lots of samples this month!

• Adding a Signature Control to the LightSwitch HTML Client 
• LightSwitch AmazingPie Sample Database
• The LightSwitch Contoso Moving App in C#
• LightSwitch HTML Picture Manager Using WCF RIA Services
• Using LightSwitch ServerApplicationContext and WebAPI to Get User Permissions

Presentations:

Check out Robert MacLean’s LightSwitch presentation he did at TechEd Africa:
TechEd Africa 2013: What's new in LightSwitch 2013?

Community Articles:

Holy blog posts, Batman! Paul van Bladel– you’re on fire this month with 12 posts! Chris Finlan, you win for the longest article titles I’ve ever seen. ;) Also -- welcome to our new blogger Matt Ireland! Kudos to all that provided content this month.

• Action Jackson or Using SAP Netweaver Gateway, SQL Azure and LightSwitch to create “actionable BI” Apps for Sharepoint on Office 365, an end-to-end walkthrough, part deux minus one
• Activating multi selection with checkboxes in a LightSwitch grid with a one-liner
• Avoiding magic strings in LightSwitch (part 1)
• Avoiding magic strings in LightSwitch (part 2): Getting strongly typed access to the LightSwitch choice lists
• Computed Properties With the LightSwitch HTML Client
• Decently protecting entity fields which may be only updated by server side processing.
• Deleting Data In The Visual Studio LightSwitch HTML Client
• Flexible CSV exports over web-api with server side MEF. (part 1)
• HTML Editor in Lightswitch
• LightSwitch HTML Picture Manager Using WCF RIA Services
• Rolodex index style filter for Lightswitch
• Server Side Search using the LightSwitch HTML Client
• State driven security (part1) in LightSwitch
• State driven security in LightSwitch (part2): the big picture
• State driven security in LightSwitch (part 3): server side state transition security
• State driven security in LightSwitch (part 4): client side state transition convenience.
• State driven security in LightSwitch (part 5): let the state dictate what you can update
• State driven security in LightSwitch (part 6): client side CanUpdate handling
• The Van der Haegen Conundrum or Using Power View, LightSwitch and oData to make yourself look smarter than you really are (Part 1 of Part 3 of the – oh, never mind)
• Validation warnings with an on screen confirmation box
• Wrapping Tabs

Did I miss any good articles? Drop me a comment below!

LightSwitch Team Community Sites

Become a fan of Visual Studio LightSwitch on Facebook. Have fun and interact with us on our wall. Check out the cool stories and resources. Here are some other places you can find the LightSwitch team:

LightSwitch MSDN Forums
LightSwitch Developer Center
LightSwitch Team Blog
LightSwitch on Twitter (@VSLightSwitch, #VS2012 #LightSwitch)

Final Personal Note

Personally it’s been an amazing month – the most amazing in my life actually. Not just because of the LightSwitch release but also because I got engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. Nick, I love you! Here’s to many amazing years together.

Enjoy!