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"M" Integration with Visual Studio 2010

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[This content is no longer valid. For the latest information on "M", "Quadrant", SQL Server Modeling Services, and the Repository, see the Model Citizen blog.]

The SQL Server Modeling CTP integrates with Visual Studio 2010 to provide support for Microsoft code name “M”. In addition to building “M” models in a familiar development environment, you can also deploy “M” models to a target database from Visual Studio 2010. For a complete walkthrough of these features, see Getting Started with SQL Server Modeling CTP and Visual Studio 2010.

Visual Studio 2010 Project Templates for "M"

There are three Visual C# project types that support “M” development.

Project template Description

Oslo Library

Supports the creation of “M” models without any additional application code. This project type cannot be run or debugged.

Oslo Web Application

Creates an ASP.NET Web application that supports “M”.

Oslo MVC 2.0 Web Application

Creates an MVC 2.0 Web application that supports “M”.

Building "M" Models

When you build a Visual Studio 2010 project that contains “M” code, an “M” image file and assembly are created in the project output directory. The image file (.mx) is the same output file that you can create with the M.exe command-line compiler. The assembly file contains all the image information, but the assembly can be externally referenced in other Visual Studio 2010 projects.

"M" Deployment

SQL Server Modeling CTP projects contain an “M” Deployment section in the project properties. The “M” Deployment settings specify a target SQL Server 2008 database for the “M” models. Visual Studio 2010 installs the models in the compiled image file into this target database during deployment.

To deploy the models, right-click the project in Solution Explorer and then click Deploy. This action is equivalent to using the Mx.exe tool to load an image file into a database.

See Also

Other Resources

Getting Started in "M"
Using "M" Tools for Data Modeling
Getting Started with SQL Server Modeling CTP and Visual Studio 2010