Tutorial Introduction

During this tutorial you will write methods (in class definitions) that use many of the features of ObjectScript. You'll use Visual Studio Code (VS Code) as the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The InterSystems ObjectScript and Language Server extensions allow you to connect VS Code to an IRIS server and use it to edit, compile, and debug ObjectScript. This tutorial uses VS Code - ObjectScript to refer to VS Code with the extensions installed. Learn more by reading VS Code - ObjectScriptOpens in a new tab documentation. You can also do the exercises using the older IDE, Studio (Windows only), but the tutorial assumes you're using VS Code - ObjectScript.

There will also be examples of using commands and functions shown using the ObjectScript Shell. You should freely experiment with these examples, coming up with variations of your own.

The best way to learn ObjectScript is to do the hands-on exercises that are included throughout this tutorial. In the first few exercises, you'll write code to collect, validate, and store basic data for persons. In later exercises, you'll write code for looking up persons and editing or deleting their data. There are also step-by-step solutions to each exercise, available when you click this picture on an exercise page.

All of the classes used in examples and exercises are available on GitHub in the Samples-ObjectScriptOpens in a new tab repository. You can connect VS Code to the repository, or download the repository and add the classes to your VS Code workspace. Read Downloading Samples for Use with InterSystems IRIS for general information about samples on GitHub.