LightSwitch and VS 2010 Ultimate

Question

If I want to use LightSwitch's prebuilt silverlight forms is there a way for me to do it within VS2010 (i have ultimate)? It is slightly annoying to have to load a slimmed down VS just to have some templates in place. I'm downloading LightSwitch now to see if I can copy the prebuilt forms into a VS2010 silverlight app.

Answer 1

The information I have is that it will be a stand-alone VS SKU, but it will definitely be available for VS Professional and above. The real trick with using LightSwitch Silverlight forms is to figure out how to use LightSwitch in conjunction with other projects, services, and assemblies. It is not possible to use LightSwitch as a generator for Silverlight forms for use in other applications: the XAML within LightSwitch is generated on the fly from meta data.

Answer 2

If you don't have a version of VS 2010 (Pro, Premium, or Ultimate) when you install LS, you'll get a LightSwitch IDE (a cut-down VS IDE for LS projects only).

If you do have a version of VS 2010 already installed, LS will appear as a set of extra templates (VB/C#) & you have the full power of VS to create additional controls/projects.

When LS RTM's, it will exist as a separate SKU between the Express versions of VS (which are free), & VS 2010 Professional (which of course is not free). The price for the LS SKU has not yet been advised, except that it will be somewhere between the two previously mentioned SKU's.