This topic applies only to the IBM Business Automation Workflow Advanced configuration.

Using CVS with Integration Designer and Workflow Center

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This topic shows you how to perform common tasks using IBM® Integration Designer with IBM Workflow Center and a traditional software configuration management (SCM) system.

Before you begin

As a best practice, it is recommended that you store the project content in the following way:
  • Store only the default projects and minimum artifacts required for collaboration in Workflow Center.
  • Store non-default projects separately in the SCM system, not in Workflow Center.
  • Store implementation content in the unshared and unmirrored library modules in the SCM system.
It is also recommended that you understand these and other best practices of sharing projects between Integration Designer and Workflow Center that are described in the following articles:

About this task

If you are using Integration Designer with Workflow Center, you are either storing your projects in Workflow Center or storing them in both Workflow Center and an SCM system. The latter case is likely to apply if you were working with earlier versions of WebSphere Integration Developer for several reasons:
  • The SCM contains a history that is important for maintaining code integrity.
  • There are usually automated build scripts that run from the SCM.
  • Corporate standards may require that you continue to use a specific SCM.
Working with two repositories introduces additional complexity to the governance system, but those can be addressed by careful planning. These instructions will help you manage that configuration successfully.

Although this topic addresses working with Concurrent Versions System (CVS), the principles also apply to other SCM systems. For more information about working with CVS or other SCM systems, see the related links at the end of this topic. You can access actions for source control management system clients that you have currently installed from the Integration Designer Business Integration view by right clicking a project and opening the Team menu.

Eclipse only allows one SCM to be associated with a project. If you use Workflow Center with another SCM system, treat Workflow Center as a secondary repository. The SCM system is the primary storage area used by the developers as they work with their artifacts. Load projects to the Workflow Center intermittently, perhaps at project milestones. Do not check projects out from Workflow Center to make changes.

Because you work from CVS, artifacts such as business process definitions, which are solely associated with Workflow Center will not exist in the CVS repository.

Procedure

  • Add projects to both repositories.
    A project that is under CVS control can be added to Workflow Center by associating it with a process application or toolkit (see the related links for instructions). That association creates a bpm.repo.prefs file in the Integration Designer .settings folder. That file contains the details about the association. Integration Designer checks for this file when a when a project is brought into a workspace. If Integration Designer finds that file, it will connect to the Workflow Center repository and show the project as contained in the specified process application or toolkit. You can add a project to the repositories in either order, but if you associate the project with Workflow Center last, synchronize the project with CVS immediately after association so that the bpm.repo.prefs file is visible if someone checks the file out of CVS.
  • Remove projects from the Workflow Center by disassociating them.
    You need access authority on the Workflow Center to perform this task.
    1. In the Business Integration view of Integration Designer, right click the project and select Disassociate from Process Center.
      Disassociation removes the project from the Process Center repository and deletes the bpm.repo.prefs file. The file will still exist in previous snapshots, so a disassociation can be reversed.
    2. Synchronize with CVS immediately so the disassociation is registered there before someone else checks out the file.
  • Check out files only from CVS, using the CVS Import wizard or the CVS navigator.
    Although Integration Designer makes it easy to bring in projects from Workflow Center using the pop-up menu, you should not do that for projects that reside in CVS. CVS metadata is stripped out when a project is shared with the Workflow Center repository. If you pull projects from Workflow Center, the files will not be connected to CVS. If you unintentionally make changes to files that you have accessed in this way, you need to publish them to Workflow Center and have someone pull them into another workspace that still contains the CVS connection for the project. The revised project can then be committed to CVS from there.
  • Before publishing projects to Workflow Center, update from CVS to capture any changes that have been made by the team. Immediately after publishing, synchronize with CVS.
    Doing these two actions keeps CVS as the system of reference and avoids conflicts between the two repositories.
  • Create tracks in Workflow Center before creating branches in CVS. Make the branch and track names similar so the relationship between them is easy to identify.
    1. In the Process Center perspective, select a process application.
    2. In the process application title bar, select Manage. Select Allow users to create tracks in this process app.
    3. Select Snapshots and then select an existing snapshot or create one. Click New Track:
      Screen capture showing the locations of the Snapshots and New Track controls.
      You need to create the track from a snapshot.
    4. In the Create New Track window, provide a name and description for the track. Click Create.
      Now that a track exists in Workflow Center, you can create a corresponding branch in CVS.
    5. Right-click a project in CVS and select Team > Branch.
    6. In the Create a new CVS branch window, give the branch a name and version.
    7. At this point, the new CVS branch still points to the main track, not the new track. To complete the process, you need to replace the workspace content with the new track content. In the Business Integration view, right-click the project and select Replace With > Latest from Tip of Track.
    8. Select the new track and click OK.
      At this point, Integration Designer edits the bpm.repo.prefs file to point to the new track. However, the projects must still be reassociated with the new CVS branch.
    9. In the Business Integration view, select Team > Share Project.
    10. In the Share Project window, select Use an existing module and select the module that you have associated with the process application.
      The program recognizes that there is now a branch for that module and provides a page where you can choose to synchronize with the branch instead of the HEAD stream.
    11. Select the branch and click Next. If you do not see your branch, click Refresh Tags.
    12. Expand the module settings, right-click bpm.repo.prefs, and select Mark as Merged. Select Launch the Commit wizard and click Next.
    13. Right-click bpm.repo.prefs, and select Commit. Click Finish.
  • If a Workflow Center machine URL changes, edit the bpm.repo.prefs file to reflect the change.
  • If a project in CVS is associated with a Workflow Center that is no longer running, disassociate the project from the Workflow Center server. Right-click the project in the Business Integration view. Select Disassociate and confirm the action.