Last month I started posting a rollup of interesting community happenings, content, and sites popping up. Particularly last month we had an explosion of extensions and a great list of community sites to check out:
LightSwitch Community & Content Rollup–September
Here’s a rollup of October tricks and treats!
“LightSwitch Star” Contest
Do you have what it takes to be a LightSwitch Star? Show us your coolest, most productive, LightSwitch business application and you could win a Laptop and other great prizes!
Today The Code Project launched the “LightSwitch Star” contest! Just answer the questions on the submission template and either create a YouTube video or write an article for Code Project explaining your application or extension. They’re looking for apps that show off the most productivity in a business as well as apps that use extensions in a unique, innovative way.
Check out the contest page on The Code Project for details. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with. Good luck!
Sydney Lights it Up!
To kick off the LightSwitch launch in Australia, they lit up the Microsoft buildings on the waterfront with a cool light show that made the local news in Seattle! Watch the light show they did on YouTube: LightSwitch Launch on Sydney Waterfront
Notable Content this Month
Here’s some more of the fun things the team and community has released in October.
Extensions released in October (see all 62 of them here!):
- Because’s Azure Tables for LightSwitch
- Camera Image Control for LightSwitch
- CLASS Extensions
- LS2011 Simple Background Theme
- Metro Theme Updated!
- Minimal Shell
- Pixata custom controls for Lightswitch
- Spursoft LightSwitch Extensions
- Themes by Delordson (LightSwitchExtras.com)
Build your own extensions by visiting the LightSwitch Extensibility page on the LightSwitch Developer Center.
Books:
- New E-book published: Developing Real-world Applications with LightSwitch by @gillcleeren
- New Book: Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch Business Application Development (now on Kindle)
Team Articles:
- MSDN Magazine October Issue: Securing Access to LightSwitch Applications
- “I Command You!” – LightSwitch Screen Commands Tips & Tricks
- Advanced LightSwitch: Writing Queries in LightSwitch Code
- Customizing the LightSwitch Time Tracker Starter Kit
- How to Connect to and Diagram your SQL Express Database in Visual Studio LightSwitch
- How to Create a RIA Service Wrapper for an Editable OData Source
- Resources from Silicon Valley Code Camp LightSwitch Sessions
Community Articles:
- CLASS Extensions. Making of (the origins)
- Creating a Minimal LightSwitch Shell
- Databinding A Complex Multi-Table Silverlight Control In LightSwitch: ComponentOne Scheduler
- Hacking into the heart of a LightSwitch application
- LightSwitch: Change Default Database Instance
- Looking for a ServiceProxy.UserSettingsService alternative
- Using The Silverlight DataGrid With LightSwitch
- Skinning your LightSwitch application: intro
- Silverlight RichTextBox: Integrating A Control That Does Not Have a Dependency Property In LightSwitch
Videos & Podcasts:
- How Do I: Create Custom Search Screens in LightSwitch?
- How Do I: Handle Database Concurrency Issues?
- LightSwitch Tips & Tricks on dnrTV
- Shop Down Under: Episode 73 – Andrew Coates Lights it up with LightSwitch
- Start migrating an Access database to Visual Studio LightSwitch
Samples (see all of them here):
Events Coming Up
Here some conferences and events I know about coming up soon that have LightSwitch presence.
- DevConnections Las Vegas - 10/31- 11/3
- LightSwitch and Azure Around Australia – Perth 11/2, Sydney 11/10
- South Bay.NET User Group – 11/3
- LightSwitch Onramp – 11/10
- Louisville .NET Meetup – 11/17
- The Power of LightSwitch on Windows Azure – Wellington 11/16 , Auckland 11/17
LightSwitch Team Community Sites
And of course don’t forget the LightSwitch Developer Center!
This is your one-stop-shop to training content, samples, extensions, documentation, podcasts, a portal to the forums, community, and much more. All of the team content is aggregated onto this site, and we also aggregate all the community submitted extensions and samples. It’s the first place you should go if you’re just learning LightSwitch.
Also here are some other places you can find the LightSwitch team:
LightSwitch “How Do I” Videos
LightSwitch MSDN Forums
LightSwitch Team Blog
LightSwitch on Facebook
LightSwitch on Twitter (@VSLightSwitch, #VisualStudio #LightSwitch)
Join Us!
The community has been using the hash tag #LightSwitch on twitter when posting stuff so it’s easier for me to catch it. Join the conversation! And if I missed anything please add a comment to the bottom of this post and let us know!
Enjoy!
