Extensions made easy: Create extensions inside a LightSwitch application (with Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch (standalone))

Posted on September 5, 2011 by janvanderhaegen

I created an example on how you can create a theme INSIDE a LightSwitch application (30 minutes), and uploaded it to the MSDN sample site (90 minutes… bah!).

This SHOULD mean that you can now use the ExtensionsMadeEasy extension to create themes for a LightSwitch application, without the need of MS Visual Studio premium / professional / … (But since I have VS Premium installed, I can’t check for sure, and it would be nice if someone could confirm).

I will go over the code in the sample in detail as soon as I have time, but feel free to dig into the sample yourself in the meantime…

Download the ExtensionsMadeEasy extension.
Download this sample, unzip, and open in MS VS LightSwitch.
Run the sample.
Mess around with the MyTheme.xaml resource dictionary, and run the sample again.

Have fun, and let me know how it went!

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8 thoughts on “Extensions made easy: Create extensions inside a LightSwitch application (with Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch (standalone))”

Bill Mason on September 5, 2011 at 4:19 am said:

Hi Jan,

So far… I assume you meant MyTheme.xaml, not MyStyle.xaml.

I also got an error when trying to open it in VS2010 but I was able to open it in Expression Blend.
I did a screen shot of the error but it basically said that there was an problem loading because of document errors. It looks ok in Blend with no errors so far. I’ll keep you updated.

Bill

Reply ↓
- janvanderhaegen on September 5, 2011 at 8:53 am said:
  
  Thanks, corrected it!
  
  Reply ↓
Bill Mason on September 5, 2011 at 4:29 am said:

Never mind the error. It was just trying to open the file in design view. Once I closed the split screen and left it only xaml everything is ok.

Reply ↓
- janvanderhaegen on September 5, 2011 at 8:52 am said:
  
  Goody,
  
  hope it is of any use to you!
  Kind regards
  
  Jan
  
  Reply ↓
Dennis on September 9, 2011 at 8:11 pm said:

Beste Jan,
Je made easy extension is erg goed. Ik vroeg me eigenlijk af of je ook een voorbeeld met een shell erbij hebt? Wil deze graag comibneren. Ben ook in LightSwitch gedoken en tot nu toe ben ik wel behoorlijk onder de indruk. Het mooitste is natuurlijk dat je alles ook nog kunt customizen.
In afwachting op een antwoor….

Mvg, Dennis

Reply ↓
- janvanderhaegen on September 11, 2011 at 11:18 am said:
  
  Hey Dennis,
  er zat een foutje in de 1.1 versie van ExtensionsMadeEasy. In de 1.2 werkt alles terug goed. Ik heb ook een blog postje gemaakt voor je waar ik het hele process nog eens gedetailleerd uitleg! (http://wp.me/p1J0PO-4r)
  
  Veel plezier!
  
  Jan
  
  Reply ↓
Paul on November 29, 2011 at 4:33 pm said:

Hi Jan
Excellent extension. Very interested in all the MEF stuff. Would love to know the whole picture of what you can do with the full knowledge of the Lightswitch framework.

Reply ↓
- janvanderhaegen on December 24, 2011 at 12:00 pm said:
  
  Hey Paul,
  thanks for commenting! I created another post “LightSwitch and the MEF story”, which explains how LS approaches MEF a bit deeper. Let us know if there’s anything specific you still would love to read about!
  Keep rocking LS!
  
  Reply ↓

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