Is Lightswitch Shell analogous to Visual Studio Shell?

Question

Is Lightswitch Shell analogous to Visual Studio Shell?  Does it allow you to create a redistributable editor that you can customize for a specific domain?

If so, does it still have the same limitations as VSS, such as the inability to use certain parts of the application?  Specifically, I'm interested in whether or not a LS Shell application would still be able to edit WF4 and WPF files* using the built-in designers?  With Visual Studio Shell, you could not use the WPF editor package, which prevented me from using it as the basis of a designer.

Any relevant links will also be appreciated.

* I'm reading and downloading at a furious pace; I'm not sure if WF4 is supported in LS, or if it is SL only

Answer 1

Hey WillSullivan,

welcome to the forums.

"Is Lightswitch Shell analogous to Visual Studio Shell?  Does it allow you to create a redistributable editor that you can customize for a specific domain?"

Your question is a bit ambigue at first (there is a LightSwitch "shell", which refers to one of the 6 LightSwitch extensibility points that developers can write extensions for, but maybe you are actually referring to the LightSwitch IDE).

If you were referring to the extension:

No, the LS shell is nothing like the Visual Studio shell.  You won't be able to edit anything (except your data), and since it's built completely in a SilverLight assembly, there's no way you'll be able to edit WF or WPF files, as they are SL incompatible by default.

If you were referring to the IDE:

As for VS2010:  the LightSwitch shell IS the Visual Studio Shell.  If you had VS 2010 pro/premium installed before installing LightSwitch (stand-alone), then it is the same shell (some assemblies are updated).  

As for VS11: I'm not sure LightSwitch is even available as a seperate download at this point (I installed VSS 11 beta and LightSwitch comes as a first-class citizen).  Either way, it IS the VSS shell.

That being said, the same limitations are certainly to apply.

Perhaps you should be more clear of your intent, give us a scenario which you are dreaming about, and we can help make it happen - or make you face reality :-)

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