This book is about OData and Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch. The purpose of this book is to demonstrate the use of OData, and explain its importance. OData is a protocol used to expose and consume data over the web. It uses a common REST-like (representational state transfer) interface to communicate, rather than the usual pre-defined application specific interfaces used by traditional web services. Visual Studio LightSwitch is a development tool that provides the easiest and fastest way to create 'forms over data, line of business applications'. It allows you to build applications for the desktop and the cloud. It does this by allowing you to quickly and easily define and connect to your data, program your security and business rules, and expose this via OData to practically any 'client' such as mobile devices and web pages. This book will show you how to publish and consume OData services. A standard order entry LightSwitch application is used to demonstrate real world scenarios where you will need to expose your application to web pages, tablets, and other mobile devices. Technologies covered include jQuery Mobile, Windows Phone, datajs and Knockout.