Photo: Matt McKinley, Technical Architect at Silverline, describes auradocs. Available in each lightning-enabled org, auradocs allow developers to view information about components in the org.

Do you love hacking? Then we have some exciting news for you! Silverline along with a group of Salesforce Developers have mobilized to form a new series of ad-hoc, mini hackathons to explore new developer features. If the community is up for the challenge we may delve into, a few older, uncommon features as well.

The first event, which was all about Saleforce Lightning components, was held earlier this month at the Silverline office. Lightning components are self contained, reusable components that represent a section of the DOM (Document Object Model). The components are similar to those of Google’s Polymer, but their tight integration with Salesforce is what makes them so exciting. Fun fact: lightning components were used to build the Salesforce1 mobile app.

We kicked-off the meeting with Lighting components tips from Silverline’s team (Matt McKinley presented; here’s a link to the github repo for the Lightning component he demoed). Then we broke into groups and started the hackathon. The teams were challenged to create two Lightning components and then build an app from their component. One team chose to extend the Chatter Feed component and the other team created a Euro to USD converter. Following the build, we regrouped to compare strategies and learn about each team’s experience.  It was an excellent opportunity for fun and growth for all who attended.

Interested in learning more about Lightning? In honor of the Salesforce1 Lightning Developer Week, Silverline along with the Salesforce Developer Community will be hosting an event on March 12th where we will explore the Process Builder, Lightning Components, and Lightning Connect. Click here to RSVP.