Start

This topic starts you on a path to developing a DevForce application. We suggest some resources to explore first. We talk about what is installed with DevForce.

Get started

1. Watch the video. (Silverlight) (WPF)
2. Take the tour. (Silverlight) (WPF)
3. Explore the DevForce Resource Center.
   
   

Learn by example

The DevForce Resource Center (DRC) offers a variety of code samples, step-by-step tutorials, and videos. If you've never programmed with DevForce before, you might look at some of these resources first.

As you progress, you'll turn to the following resources for more depth and detail:

Learn some Entity Framework

The Entity Framework (EF) is a core technology in most DevForce Applications. You will probably define your Entity Data Model with EF's design tool and rely on EF to query and save data. We'll show you how to use the EF designer to define DevForce entities in the Model topic but EF itself is too rich a subject for us to cover and we won't try to teach you everything about you need to know. Here are some external resources that can get up to speed and keep you going.

Learn some LINQ

You write most queries in LINQ, the "Language Integrated Query" facility introduced in .NET 3.5. DevForce client applications use LINQ-to-Entities to query both the remote database and the local entity cache. You need to know some LINQ basics to write a DevForce app and it's a skill you want to acquire as a .NET professional. We assume you know some LINQ. We recommend these external resources for learning LINQ.

What next?

Browse the other topics in this "Start" section for an essential orientation to developing with DevForce.