Microsoft LightSwitch: 15 Reasons Non-Programmers Should Try It Out

by Darryl K. Taft

As Dave Mendlen, senior director of Developer Marketing at Microsoft, says, “Using LightSwitch is almost as simple as flipping on a light switch.” LightSwitch is a standalone Visual Studio product that, via the use of templates, enables users to create apps in Visual Basic or C#.

Add a Data Source—choose from creating a new table for the data model, or retrieving data from SQL Server, SQL Azure, SharePoint or any data source with a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Rich Internet Application (RIA) Services wrapper.

Developers can design an entity model for local data, using business friendly data types such as EmailAddress and PhoneNumber.

Using LightSwitch, non-programmers can create screens for your data quickly with common shortcuts on the action bar.

Developers can choose from common screen templates, and match the screen to the appropriate data source.

An example of an Edit screen layout using a tree control.

LightSwitch applications use a familiar, professional look and feel—navigation to the left, data views on the right.

Screens automatically create input field for the entity model they are matched to.

Business data types enable additional validation and functionality with no code necessary.

Export to Microsoft Excel is included in all LightSwitch applications—with no coding necessary.

Look-up dialogs for known entity types provided automatically.

Easily pull data from SharePoint lists, and relate the list data to other entities in your application, without writing any code.

LightSwitch enables non-programmers to develop professional, quality business applications such as this example easily.

With LightSwitch, customizable templates enable new and creative user experiences.

LightSwitch features support for many devices—including touch-screen support—is built in.