Getting Started with Oslo Using 'M'

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A community technology preview was released for Microsoft project code named "Oslo" in January and now there are some great places to learn about how to get started using it. The whole idea of modeling helps you describe the problem you are solving closer to the world that your users need, rather than in code constructs.

”Oslo” is the codename for Microsoft’s forthcoming modeling platform that helps you build your own models. Modeling is used across a wide range of domains and allows more people to participate in application design and allows developers to write applications at a much higher level of abstraction. “Oslo” consists of:

  • A tool that helps people define and interact with models in a rich and visual manner
  • A language that helps people create and use textual domain-specific languages and data models
  • A relational repository that makes models available to both tools and platform components

The goal of "Oslo" is to provide a 10x productivity gain across the application lifecycle (design, development, and management).

One of the scenarios that M makes easier is describing your data and storing it in SQL Server.

To get started, you need the latest version of Olso itself. You get it from Microsoft "Oslo" SDK - January 2009 CTP. You'll get the SDK that contains documentation, samples, copies of the “Oslo” models written in "M", and tools designed to help you write your own models in "M", including the code name “Intellipad” tool for code name “Oslo”.  You'll need Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 to use the repository.

You can get a good overview of what the pieces are and how they fit together in a good example from Getting Started with Oslo – Introducing “M” from Bart De Smet's on-line blog.

MSDN provides a base page for Oslo and M development at the "Oslo" Development Center. You can find links to videos and webcasts that will walk you through development using Oslo. The Getting Started section there will take you to the MSDN documentation on Oslo that walks you through step-by-step. 

The ship date for Oslo has not been announced. And you can provide feedback to the product team on the Oslo Connect site.