The ORM Foundation

Hello Ken

Big NORMA fan here!

I've just installed Visual Studio 2012 and the latest version of NORMA.

I've followed the tutorial instructions for generating DDL, i.e.

- created an .orm file, containing two entities
- generated the Relational Model
- created a Visual Studio Project, with Create Directory option unchecked
- added the .orm file to the Project
- selected the .orm file and expanded ORMGeneratorSettings
- selected SQL Server (actually I've tried various other options too)
- clicked Save Changes

Nothing happens. No expand icon appears against the .orm file in the Solution Explorer.

 Hi Rowena,

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble.
I don't have VS 2012 but this is what happens in VS 2010:

Please confirm that you can see the "ORM Generator Settings" dialog box that I have shown in the top diagram.

Hello Rowena,

Some of my students occasionally have had problems when trying to follow the PowerPoint tutorials so I have been developing some videos to help them.

So to help you to check the procedure, I have uploaded a prototype video of how to generate DDL with NORMA.

You can view it by clicking on "download" adjacent to the file in the new Library section "Norma - Video Tutorials"  

Let me know if it helps.

Ken

Hi Rowena,

I'm not sure what you mean by a 'Visual Studio Project'. Project types are generally associated with a language (usually VB or C#). If this is a VB project, then you need to toggle the 'Show All Files' setting on the Solution Explorer toolbar to see the expanded files. This setting has different behavior and defaults for VB vs C# projects. C# considers files hidden if they are in the directory structure but not in the project. VB also adds treats dependent files (those inside an expandable file in the Solution Explorer) as 'hidden', so you need to toggle this switch to see them.

Check this first, then look in your directory structure. If there are no generated files there then something else is going on.

-Matt

HI Ken

I found the Powerpoint tutorials very clear actually as long as you follow them carefully.

 regards

Rowena

Hi Matt

 Thanks a lot - it is a VB project and toggling the Show All Files setting fixed the problem.

 Appreciate the quick and accurate diagnosis very much - NORMA rules! 

regards

Rowena