---
title: "What is LightSwitch?"  
description: "Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch is the simplest way for developers of all skill levels to develop business applications for the desktop and cloud."  
author: "Amit Singh"  
published: 2012-01-23  
updated: 2014-09-18  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/blog/278/what-is-lightswitch  
category: ".net"  
tags: [".net"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# What is LightSwitch?

Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch is the simplest way for developers of all skill levels to develop [business applications](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/105190/what-are-the-best-practices-for-mobile-security-in-business-applications) for the desktop and cloud.\
LightSwitch is a [development environment](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/34043/setting-up-a-development-environment-in-knockout) designed to simplify and provide simplicity to develop data application for business. Ultimately we can say that LightSwitch enables you to quickly create professional-quality business applications without writing a line of code.\
In most business applications, developers spend a large amount of time:\
• Writing code to interact with a data source\
• Creating a [user interface](https://www.mindstick.com/interview/22909/user-interface-objects-in-cocoa)\
• Writing code to specify the [business logic](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/30543/what-is-business-logic)\
With LightSwitch, [your application](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/34702/please-tell-me-what-is-cross-site-scripting-and-how-is-it-harmful-for-your-application) can point to an existing data source—or databases that are automatically created—without the need to write code. For the user interface, LightSwitch provides screens that are based on predefined templates. They allow you to display data automatically by simply specifying which elements you want to show.\
For the business logic, LightSwitch allows you to do simple validation such as [required fields](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/160242/how-to-use-data-annotation-to-validate-required-fields) and minimum numeric values. But LightSwitch also gives developers the ability to write more [complex business](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/161972/is-sql-more-vital-for-solving-complex-business-problems-or-power-bi-tableau-for-insights) logic code for such scenarios as saving changes to a data source or performing authorization operations.\
LightSwitch applications are built on classic three-tier architecture, on top of existing .NET technologies. In LightSwitch presentation tier are a SilverLight, WCF RIA services client, office automation application. In LightSwitch Logic tier exposes an ASP.NET 4.0, WCF RIA DomainServices, [entity framework](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/1566/crud-operations-using-entity-framework-code-first-approach) etc.\
The logic tier process can be hosted locally (on the user’s machine), on an IIS server, or in Window Azure. A LightSwitch application’s primary application storage uses SQL Server or SQL Azure and can consume data from existing SharePoint 2010 lists, databases accessible via an Entity Framework provider, and custom build WCF RIA DomainServices. The LightSwitch presentation tier is a SilverLight application. It can run as a Windows [desktop application](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/23041/i-want-to-devlop-a-desktop-application-in-dot-net-like-aura-reader-for-astrologer) or hosted in a browser.\

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Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/blog/278/what-is-lightswitch

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