The ORM Foundation

Hi,
  I see that Objects and Predicates have an IsExternal True/False property.  If this for reusing model segments in seperate ORM models?  I believe that was the term and feature in a Visio ORM tool beta I used years ago, and that allowed portions of a model defined in one ORM document to be reused in others.  Very nice feature, unless you enjoy reinventing the wheel.  I'm also guessing that the release notes (or other documentation), will cover multi-model usage, if that's working in this release.  BRN..

IsExternal was in the original metamodel and was thrown on as a property on ObjectType and FactType. There is nothing backing it at this point.

We had some in-depth discussions last quarter on cross-model referencing and it is definitely something we want to do in the near future, although it probably will not happen until Spring quarter (live absorption, formal datatype definitions, and the resulting rock-solid customizable DDL generation are top priority). I'd like to go all-out on these and allow the user to both reference and edit an external model (external editing would open another window, external objects would be locked locally). The advantage of this is the ability to do a master model/submodel approach. However, live editing of the referenced model is obviously more work than referencing a locked model.

Summary: external model referencing is definitely on the radar, but the current IsExternal property is just a placeholder. -Matt

Hi Matt,
  Thanks again for news from the front.  No grips with your priorities agenda - think that will bring a, somewhat limited, production-ready tool closer to completion sooner.  Thought it likely that IsExternal was a hook for later expansion, and that's fine. BTW, are you targeting MS SQL Server 2005 as for the first complete DDL - seems the logical choice?
  Likely that your plans to transplant forum to NU is a complication, but posting even a simple list of features useable in Dec CTP, and list of placeholds (like IsExternal), will help avoid trips down blind allyways.  BRN..