How does RTC eclipse client calculates the number of loaded content in the sandbox, when users loaded using load-rules?

Scenario: The term "loaded" refers to "share roots" and when using load rule file, the possible "share roots" are folders and files.

The Package Explorer will show the 'share roots' which are loaded and not the number of components, normally folders are loaded and become a share root (meaning anything inside them is automatically tracked, and changes there will appear as an unresolved pending local change). It is also possible to have files individually loaded (in which they are technically a 'share root' all in themselves); this usually doesn't happen when using the Load Wizard (where users normally load projects/folders), but this can happen when using load rules, since users are free to pick and choose what they want to load.

-The 'itemLoadRule' element in a load rule file will identify a single file, folder or symbolic link that is to be loaded as a 'share root'. The Package Explorer would count this as 1 for the number of 'things' loaded.

Below is the example : Assume that the folder "H1" and the file ".jazzignore" under comp2 are the ones that are considered as "share-root"s ? Which add up to the count of 2 loaded against comp2 ?

    ALM-SCM_HC_Test_601_Features_RWS_A
        comp1
            comp2
                H1
                    .settings
                        org.eclipse.jdt.core.prefs
                    src
                        f1
                            a.txt
                    .classpath
                    .project
               .jazzignore

1.  Loaded refers to anything that is loaded as a share-root.  This anything here is one of File, Folder or Symbolic Link.

2.  Any File/Folder/Symbolic Link pointed to by an itemLoadRule will be loaded as a share-root
3.  Children of anything pointed to by a parentLoadRule would also be loaded as share-roots
4.  Loaded count gets aggregated over the hierarchy
5.  To see what is being loaded as a share root, remove the filter on *.resources in the Package Explorer and each of the share roots would be decorated.

A query consists of one or more conditions that must be met by each work item in the result set. Each condition references a work item attribute, an operator and one or more values.

Till date, Queries can only be shared among members of same Project Area, Team Area or with individual users. There is no feature to share the Queries across different IBM Rational team Concert(RTC) Project Area's.

There is an existing Enhancement Request 318474 raised for the same:

Share queries between project areas

As a workaround, you can create a Master-Child Project Inheritance which will allow the sharing of the Process configuration with other Project Area's.

Steps:

1) Create a Master Project Area and create the Work-Item Queries.

2. Under Overview Tab, Allow this Project Area process sharing with other Project Area's.

3. Create a Unconfigured Project Area( Child project Area) and select the process sharing option to use the Master Project Area.

Currently, this only way to share queries across different Project Area's , as different project Area's might have different level of customization (ex: different custom attributes), which might make a query incompatible across different Projects.

References:

https://jazz.net/help-dev/clm/index.jsp?re=1&topic=/com.ibm.jazz.platform.doc/topics/c_sharing_project_area_process.html&scope=null

As a Jazz Administrator, it's important to know the count of active work-items in IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC).

This feature is not available Out-Of-The-Box, you will need to search for the internal dependent service for the IBM Change and Configuration Management (CCM) application.

Steps you need to follow to find the location and work-items count:

1) Login to the ccm/admin web page.

2) Change the Public URL as below:
https://<<hostname:port>>/ccm/service/com.ibm.team.repository.service.ITeamServerStatusContentService/

3) A service page will open, search for 'IDBTableSizeHttpService' and click on it.

4) URL will change to below:
https://<<hostname:port>>/ccm/service/com.ibm.team.repository.migration.internal.stats.IDBTableSizeHttpService/

Search for 'workitem' and it will show you the exact count of the active

Note: Even though the work-item is deleted, the counter still increases. Using the above service, you will get the accurate count of active work-items( excluding the deleted one's).

Example: You have 10 work-items. You create a work-item and save it, it will show 11. Next, delete the work-item 11 and create new work-item and it will show 12. So the count is the total of active plus deleted work-items.

Similar steps have been tested for the Quality Manager (qm) application and works fine( replace the 'ccm' to 'qm' application name).

HAPPY LEAP YEAR DAY!!!

Before you move on to the main topic of this post (new videos) I thought I'd share some links to a few interesting articles about Leap Year:

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/leapyear.html

http://www.history.com/news/all-about-leap-day

...and for any of our followers who may have been born on February 29^th :  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!

Now on to the videos....

Rational Team Concert, Rational ClearCase, and Cadence Virtuoso – a 3 part series

A new 3 part series of videos was recently published. The videos discuss the environment of the Solution for Electronic Design and how you can use IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) and IBM Rational ClearCase to implement a Change and Configuration Management (CCM) environment to track library cell components in the Cadence Virtuoso Library Manager environment.

Part 1 - Introduction

Part II - Scenario 1 - Create Custom Design

Part III - Scenario 2 - Update Cell Library

Image credit: Image courtesy of frog-clip-art.com

For web issues observed on IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) applications Rational Team Concert (RTC), and Rational Quality Manager (RQM) you may need to download and use Fiddler Web Debugger to capture network traffic. Find some helpful steps below that will guide you through the install and help isolate specific session information.

1.    Download the recent version of Fiddler Web Debugger

2.    Install it on the machine where RQM client (browser) or other clients (RQM excel importer, RQM URL Utility, RQM Copy Utility) is used

3.    Enable Fiddler Options > HTTPS > Decrypt HTTPS traffic so that the recorded session data is readable

4. From the Fiddler application view choose the target process type to capture sessions

To capture network traffic from browsers, choose ‘Web Browsers’ 

To capture network traffic from non browser processes, choose ‘Non-Browser’

If the type of process is unknown, choose ‘All Processes’

5. Enable Session Capture using option File > Capture Traffic (or keyboard short F12)

6. Replicate the behavior on RQM browser or other client applications (example: RQM excel importer, RQM URL Utility, ec), confirm Fiddler captures the sessions as shown below

7. Use in window filter option to sort session entries by RQM host [Note : Required only if Capture done for ‘All Processes’]

8. Select all sessions relevant to the RQM host and export to .saz file using File > Save

9. Provide File Name and click Save

It may be interesting to know if a common timeline for all project area's in IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management tool is possible.

The production level scenario is that a team has Requirements Management (RNDG), Configuration & Change Management (CCM) and Quality management (RQM) activities, using LPA. But the fact is that you have to create separate timeline/iteration schedule for all 3 project areas, and then remember to update all copies whenever you would make a change. This can be of tedious if your development activities demand timelines for all 3 phases to be the same.

Now let me take you through the current behavior of timeline/iteration usage in all 3 components for IBM Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM).

Requirements Management using Rational DOORS Next Generation (RNDG) :

There is no support for timelines in RDNG.
RDNG does however have the concept of baselines that can be used to snapshot the state of artifacts, and with the introduction of DNG 6.0, there is now support for configuration management
You might want to take a look here for the new configuration management support: Administering configurations

Configuration & Change Management (CCM) :

Creating timelines, iterations, and iteration types

Rational Quality Manager (RQM) :

Timelines and Iterations in Rational Quality Manager

Currently this is an open RFE that you can track here: Enhancement 172120:  Allow a single timeline to be used for the RM, QM, and CCM applications

RTC 5.0.2 plugin integration with IIB toolkit 10.0.0.0 displays for other user profile login on the same machine

Integrating IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) 5.0.2 Client Feature into IBM Integration BusToolkit 10.0.0.1 on Windows platform. We followed the instructions reported from the Integrating the Rational Team Concert client with the IBM Integration Toolkit documentation and it worked fine.

RTC plugin and Work item perspective is visible only for the user that directly did the installation (regardless of the fact they are administrators or simple users).

Scenario:

The RTC 5.0.2 plugin is only visible to the user that installed the plugin directly and not to the other users that can run IBM Integration Toolkit 10.0.0.1 on the same machine.

As IBM Integration Toolkit 10.0.0.1 should be opened by different domain users on the same machine, is it possible to install RTC plugin only once and make it available to all users?

RTC 5.0.2 P2 plugin integration with IIB toolkit 10.0.0.0 doesn't display for other user profile login.

Since IIB is not installed with IM we don't know how it installs itself and what multi-user install scenario is available later (multi-user install scenarios are listed in the Eclipse doc: Eclipse multi-user installs.

Note:   Each user needs to install the P2 for RTC.  That is because each user has his or her own Toolkit configuration.

This is evident in the eclipse.ini file that resides in the directory <installDirectory>/tools.  The following indicates that the configuration path is unique for each user - based on the user's home directory:

** Workaround Steps **

1. In the eclipse.ini file that resides in the directory <installDirectory>/tools. ( eg: C:\IBM\IIB\10.0.0.0\tools)
   
          -configuration
          @user.home/AppData/Local/IBM/IIBT10-config/10.0.0.1/configuration
   
   Typically this is the following for v10.0.0.1 on Windows:
   
          C:\Users\<userName>\AppData\Local\IBM\IIBT10-config\10.0.0.1\configuration
   
   Note: It is possible to change this path in the eclipse.ini file to a hard coded path so that all users use the same configuration, but there are some caveats to this: there might be other side effects.
   
    
2. All users of the IIB Toolkit need to have write access to the configuration.
   
           C:\Users\<userName>\AppData\Local\IBM\IIBT10-config\10.0.0.1\configuration
   
    
3. By default, the IIB toolkit does not prompt for the workspace when the toolkit is started, so every user will try to open the same workspace.
   
   This can be changed in the Toolkit by changing the preferences at:
   
   Window->Preferences->General->Startup and Shutdown->Workspaces
   
   and click on Prompt for workspace on startup.
   
   However, all users will see the same list of workspace to select from.
   
    
4. Try Login to the IIB installation machine with secondary user and Open the IIB you get the RTC plugin associated.

**Introduction**

User is creating HTTP Filtered Value Set using the procedure from the IBM on-line help:  Configuring an HTTP filtered value set provider

Especially the paragraph describing Value Set Combo,  Value Set Picker  and  String List.   Normally by specifying String List as the attribute type, the Kind presentation is available. The String List presentation includes New and Add buttons. The New button displays a text field where you enter a string.

The Add button displays a window in which you enter text in a Filter field to see matching values.

How to enable Add button in HTTP Filtered Value Set for (String List type) Attribute in RTC child project area

**Scenario**

You are not able to see the Add button for the multivalue select attribute (String List type) for Workitem types in Child Project areas.

Note: For Master and Child Project area combination, some of the http Value set combo was getting (XML data source URL: This resource is expected to return an XML document.) values from both Master and Child Project areas.

** Expectation**
How to see the Add button for the mutlivalue (HTTP Filtered Value Set)  select attribute (String List type) for Workitem types in Child Project areas.

**Cause**
The issue could be because of the value set provider ids are different in Master Project area and Child Project Area.

**Steps to Verify**

1. Verify the Value set provider id in Master Project area (which is not working).
   
   Please see the below xml code as an example from the (RTC Master Project area>> Process Configuration).
   
   
   id="com.ibm.team.workitem.valueproviders.VALUE_SET_PROVIDER._bTCMcKNEEeWsUZ3Vfx3t7A"
   name="Custom_ValueSet"
   
    
2. Verify the Value set provider id in Child Project area ( which is not working).
   
   Please see the below xml code as an example from the (RTC Child Project area>> Process Configuration).
   
   id="com.ibm.team.workitem.valueproviders.VALUE_SET_PROVIDER._Lo9OUKNGEeW"
   name="Custom_ValueSet"
   
    
3. Copy the same id from the Master Project area into Child Project area Process configuration Source (if value set ids are different).
   
    
4. Save the Child Project area configuration and you see the Add button.

If you are looking for information on how to configure alternate JVM for your IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) Eclipse client on Mac OS, follow the below steps:

1. Modify the below two properties in eclipse.ini file
       -vm
       /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.7.0.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/bin
       -Dosgi.requiredJavaVersion=1.8
   
    
2. Move to Java Installation path and modify Info.plist
   /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Info.plist and change:
   
   <key>JVMCapabilities</key>
   < array>
       <string>CommandLine</string>
   < /array>
   
   
   To:
   
   <key>JVMCapabilities</key>
   < array>
       <string>CommandLine</string>
       <string>JNI</string>
       <string>BundledApp</string>
   < /array>
   
    
3. Create the directories and create a link to libjvm.dylib with the following commands. 
   
   Enter your password if/when prompted.
    
   1. sudo mkdir -p /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bundle/Libraries
      
       
   2. sudo ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/jre/lib/server/libjvm.dylib/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_45.jdk/Contents/Home/bundle/Libraries/libserver.dylib

If you are using RTC configured with IHS (reverse proxy) using SCM list command results in error "HTTP error 414: Request-URI Too Large."

Here is an example of what the error might look like :

./scm.sh list components -r repositoryurl --snapshot mysnapshot
Returns this result:
Service failed to communicate with repository repositoryurl: CRJAZ0098E The com.ibm.team.scm.common.rest.IScmRichClientRestService{/ccm/service/com.ibm.team.scm.common.test.IScmRichClientRestService} service failed. The server returned the HTTP error 414 with this error text: Request-URI Too Large.

To address this issue, define the below parameters in httpd.conf of IHS to a value larger than the default 8190:
LimitRequestLine

For reference you can check the below link
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/core.html#limitrequestline

Note the property "LimitRequestLine" must be defined within the Virtual Host directives in httpd.conf file and then restart IHS services for the changes to take effect

For example :

<VirtualHost *:443>                                                     
SSLEnable                                                               
#SSLProtocolDisable SSLv2                                               
LimitRequestLine 99999                                                  
</VirtualHost>     

If a Rational Insight report displays an IBM Rational Team Concert (RTC) custom attribute, and the text in this attribute has two spaces next to each other, the report will display an &nbsp; code instead of the second space, even though these codes do not show up when you look at the data in RTC.

You can work around this behavior by removing the extra spaces in the RTC data.

This happens because RTC does not format custom attributes (by design).  If the text in an RTC custom attribute has two spaces next to each other, one of the spaces gets converted to &nbsp;.  If you are interested in requesting that RTC format custom attributes, please submit a Request for Enhancement (RFE) at the Rational Software RFE Community.

This issue may also impact IBM Rational Quality Manager (RQM) data (for the same reason).

Looking for the latest fixes in 2015 for your Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) product versions?

Here are the most recent Interim Fixes (iFixes) that have been delivered in the past few months of 2015:

Refer to the Latest Versions page on jazz.net for details about all the latest version information.

The RTC workitem id, which is generated automatically from the system, also assigns an internalID.

Scenario:

When a customer has multiple teams, such as developers and a management team, simultaneously working on projects,

how can you identify which work item ids belong to which projects or departments?

RTC Workitem id's can be prefixed with the project\department  names + internalID in attribute customization calculated  value script.

You can use this customization if the value of an attribute must be calculated instead of entered by the user. Optionally, the calculated value can depend on the value of other attributes in the same work item. An attribute configured with a calculated value customization should use a read-only presentation. Here are all Calculated Value customizations that you can configure using the Eclipse client:

https://jazz.net/wiki/bin/view/Main/AttributeCustomization#Calculated_values

1) Enable scripts: Go to administrative page of your RTC server : https://your.server.name:9443/ccm/admin.                                                         
                                                      
Open the Server tab >> From the left side-bar open Configuration > Advanced Properties. In the Work Item Component find the "Enable Process Attachment Scripts" property and set its value to true.                                                  
                                                                                                            
2) Create new Calculated Value Provider from Attribute Customization >> section of Process Template Configuration (using below script)  

     
 Example : with Script ( it has been adapted for your requirements, accordingly )

dojo.provide("org.example.workitems.providers.SiteID");

dojo.require("com.ibm.team.workitem.api.common.WorkItemAttributes");

(function() {
var WorkItemAttributes=com.ibm.team.workitem.api.common.WorkItemAttributes;
dojo.declare("org.example.workitems.providers.SiteID", null, {

    getValue: function(attributeId, workItem, configuration) {
    var internalID=workItem.getValue(WorkItemAttributes.ID);
if (internalID!=null) {
console.log("Answer is IOT Banking "+internalID);
        return "IOT Banking"+internalID;
        } else {
        console.log("Answer is null");
        return "";
        }
    }
});
})();

                                                 
3) Create a New attribute and Configure the provider for some attribute ("small string" in our case) and save it.

                                                                                                            
4) Add a New Attribute Presentation in the Workitem type Headline or other editable attribute. After changing , such attribute scripts are executed and the calculated attribute is filled with new value.            

5) Save the workitem and verify that the Newid attribute value should be ( "IOT Banking "+internalID)                                                           
 

Our peeps have been busy creating videos to help you get the most out of our products.  Check out these recently published educational videos.

Rational Software Architect: What's new in RSA-RTE 9.5  - This video provides an overview of the new features and function in IBM Rational Software Architect RealTime Edition version 9.5

IBM Rational Integration Tester: Virtualizing a message-based service -  This video describes how to virtualize a message-based service using IBM Rational Integration Tester

Importing attachments from ClearQuest 8.0.0.1 to Rational Team Concert 5.0 - This video demonstrates how to import attachments from ClearQuest 8.0.0.1 to Rational Team Concert 5.0.2.

This article is regarding Rational CLM integration with JIRA, able to get the information that JIRA can be integrated with CLM containers (RRC, RTC and RQM) with Rational Adapter for JIRA.

Advantages of RTC and JIRA Integration

Following are some of the benefits that an organization will get by integrating RTC with JIRA:

• Track and manage RTC Work Items using synchronization and OSLC linking mechanisms
   
• Gain greater visibility into project progress and activities with dashboards and reporting features at various levels
   
• Synchronize Issues fields of JIRA with the Work Items fields of RTC
   
• Enhance overall team performance by integrating work items, build, and software configuration management

As per the topology, JIRA application is installed on a single application server and the CLM applications are also installed on a single application server.

 
Note: You can also install the JIRA adapter on any system from which a browser can access the JIRA server.

For example: Standard Topology
 
 

The JIRA application server communicates with the CLM application server through server friend relationships. The adapter resolves links from CLM work items back to the JIRA server.
 
 

As long as the JIRA application can connect or ping to the repository you may install it on the same machine or another server

This article explains how to reduce the number of Rational Team Concert component flow displays in the pending changes window.

By default, all components in a Repository workspace (RWS) use the current flow target. You can use the Repository workspace editor to add flow targets or change their scope so that not all components use them.  Refer to Flow targets for further details.

For example, you can specify in flow targets for some of the components in a Repository workspace (RWS) display, or decide that a specific component must display in pending changes window.

Note:  You can use the Flow Only components checked below option in RWS\Stream Flow Target to make the Pending Changes view more manageable. This helps more when streams or workspace have 10++ and which might not be all needed in the pending changes window.

1. Open a Repository Workspace (RWS) >> Flow Target >> Click Edit
    
2. Select Flow Only Components Checked Below
    
3. Click Ok and save the Repository Workspace (RWS)
    
4. Open the Pending changes window.  You can see that only the selected components will appear in the pending changes window.

You can use the above scenario where in you can avoid unwanted components display in the pending changes.

Here is a collection of some of the Basic Rational Team Concert Source code management links from IBM Rational Support.  We hope you will find them as helpful as we have.

RTC Source Control Basics
 

• Getting started with Rational Team Concert source control
  
  https://jazz.net/library/article/41
  
  https://jazz.net/help-dev/clm/index.jsp?re=1&topic=/com.ibm.team.scm.doc/topics/c_getting_started.html&scope=null
  
  http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/jazz-source-control-management/
   
• Jazz Source Control: Design Objectives:  https://jazz.net/library/article/525
   
• Advanced Gestures and Workflows:  https://jazz.net/library/article/125
   
• Practicing source control archaeology with Rational Team Concert:  https://jazz.net/library/article/447
   
• Process permissions lookup in Rational Team Concert:  https://jazz.net/library/article/291
   
• Process behavior lookup in Rational Team Concert:  https://jazz.net/library/article/292
   
• Jazz Source Control - Resolving Conflicts:  https://jazz.net/library/article/39
   
• Multiple Stream Development:  https://jazz.net/library/article/40
   
• How to keep your streams flowing smoothly in Rational Team Concert:  https://jazz.net/library/article/649
   
• Flow changes cross repositories with Rational Team Concert:
  
  https://jazz.net/library/article/535
  
  https://jazz.net/library/article/596
   
• Loading Components:
  
  https://jazz.net/library/article/192
  
  https://jazz.net/library/article/1016
   
• Share and manage documents through the Rational Team Concert 3.0 Web UI:
  
   https://jazz.net/library/article/361
   
• Stream strategies with Rational Team Concert 3.x:  https://jazz.net/library/article/599
   
• Controlling access to source control in Rational Team Control:  https://jazz.net/library/article/215
   
• Finding Lost Content with Rational Team Concert:  https://jazz.net/library/article/191
   
• Jazz Source Control FAQ:  https://jazz.net/library/article/126

The external help desk is the way Service Desk integrates with Rational Team Concert. When Service Desk users publish an incident to this external help desk, the integration creates a work item in a Rational Team Concert project area.

Steps:

1. Create external helpdesk:
   
   Complete the Incident Management with IBM Rational ClearQuest -> Register IBM Rational ClearQuest as External Service Desk using SPRO transaction.
   
    
2. Verify:
    
   1. Execute the SPRO topic.
       
   2. Look at the list of External Service Desks. Your new service desk should be listed.
       
   3. Find the Service Desk ID column (far right). Look at the value.
       
   4. Open the Rational Connector and look at the System Guid value in the footer. Make sure this matches.

Note: ClearQuest was the first Rational Configuration Management tool supported by the Rational Connector. When support for Rational Team Concert was added, SAP did not update the SPRO documentation. This will be corrected in a future release of Solution Manager.

References

• Introduction to Rational Connector for SAP Solution Manager
   
• Integration of RTC with SAP service manager (video)

In continuing on the topic of Performance testing, Vaughn Rokosz takes a look at some of the common reasons performance tests can fail, and suggests ways of tuning your servers to avoid the common issues.

Take a look at his latest article that includes the following:

• What happens during performance testing?
• Tuning a Jazz system for heavy concurrent use
• Tuning system for long runs

Article:  Tuning Jazz systems to support performance testing

For your convenience, here is the link to the previous article on the subject:  Creating a performance simulation for Rational Team Concert using Rational Performance Tester