Chapter 4
Customizing LightSwitch Applications
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER
- Changing table and field names
- Customizing the data structure by creating a relationship between tables
- Creating a new search screen and changing its layout from a grid to a list
- Creating an editable grid and using a drop-down list
- Writing code to set up the default value of an entity
- Setting the startup screen of your LightSwitch application
In Chapter 3, you learned that LightSwitch provides you with a framework based on the three-tier application architecture pattern. This pattern separates the data, logic, and Presentation tiers. LightSwitch also utilizes preselected technologies to implement these tiers, and provides the plumbing that binds communicating components to ensure the right information flow among application tiers.
These architectural and technological constraints may seem too rigid. However, they actually help you to be productive, because the template-driven framework enables you to focus on your solutions, rather than the underlying design pattern. In addition, LightSwitch provides a great set of customization features, so you aren’t limited by the templates offered.
This chapter provides a brief overview of those features. You will learn about several customization features through examples. What you find here is intended to be an appetizer, enabling you to taste only a small variety of the rich set of customizations available in LightSwitch.
Later, in Part II of this book ...
