Chapter 8
Using Existing SQL Server Data
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS CHAPTER
- Using the Server Explorer tool to connect to LightSwitch databases and to explore external databases
- Understanding how external SQL Server databases are accessed from LightSwitch applications
- Learning how to use external databases
- Using LightSwitch to customize external tables
- Creating relationships between LightSwitch tables and external tables
When you develop line-of-business (LOB) applications, you often must access and use data stored in existing back-end systems. Even if an application’s functionality is new and requires new data structures, the information stored in existing databases might be very valuable, and also allows you to reuse information you already created. In many cases, you create applications that work with already existing data. For example, you might need to implement an application that enables administering dictionary tables of a large banking system.
Visual Studio LightSwitch has been designed with this functionality in mind. As you have learned, the LightSwitch IDE offers you two options for performing tasks right after creating a new project: creating a new table or connecting to an existing database.
Out-of-the-box, LightSwitch provides access to three kinds of data sources:
- SQL Server 2008 — This is data stored in SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 databases. Most database editions are supported, including SQL Server Express, Standard, Developer, Enterprise, and even SQL Server ...
