What's new in Engineering Workflow Management in 7.0.3

Redesigned Engineering Lifecycle Management product documentation

Tracking and planning

Simplified linking

• You can copy the ID and summary of a work item as a link by using a keyboard shortcut or copying in the work item editor, plan editor, or quick planner. You can then paste the copied link to an external tool such as Notepad, Notes®®, and Slack messages.
• You can use the drag and drop or Copy – Paste as Link option in the plan editor to link a development plan to any of the following target artifacts:
  • A development plan in EWM.
  • A test plan in ETM.
  • A requirement collection in DOORS Next.
• You can use either the drag-and-drop method or the copy-and-paste method to create OSLC links between an EWM work item and a Rhapsody® Model Manager (RMM) architecture element.
  Note: You cannot create links if the user-selected configuration context in the source is not the same as the configuration in the target application.
• You can drag a work item from the work item editor, plan editor, or quick planner views and drop it on the work item editor to create non-OSLC links, such as parent-child and depends-blocks. You can also use the Copy Link option in the work item editor, plan editor, or quick planner views to copy the work item link. Click Paste as link in another work item to create a non-OSLC link.
• Use the following keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste:
  • To copy link, use Ctrl+C on Windows and Linux® or Command+C on Mac.
  • To paste as a link, use Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows and Linux or Command+Shift+V on Mac.
• The last link type that was used to create a link from work items is now stored in the system. This last link is displayed as the default link type in the Create Links dialog box. A load indicator is now added that helps you to see if it takes time to create links by using the drag-and-drop or copy-paste method.

Quick planner enhancements

• You can now save the pinned lanes in the Quick planner boards. If you pin one or more lanes in a board, the preferences are saved in the system. The next time you or any other user views the board, the lanes appear in the order as pinned by the previous user.
• You can configure the States filter for all the state groups, including the <All State Groups> on the Lane settings page in Quick planner work boards.

Program board enhancements

• For the program board to be useful during program iteration planning, you can now opt to select the proposed attribute. This attribute is available in the out-of-the-box SAFe templates and can be used while displaying data on the board.
• In the program board, you can now filter work items based on the states.
• By default, the program board now excludes rejected or invalid work items based on their rejected or invalid states as defined by the templates.

  By default, the rejected or invalid states in the templates are not selected in the configuration. All other states are selected.

Work item linking and navigation in a global configuration context

In 7.0.2 ifix08, support was added to allow global configurations for outgoing open services for lifecycle collaboration (OSLC) links to be inferred that uses work item attribute values and the administrative settings of the project area. The user interface labels are now updated to clearly represent the behavior of the Engineering Workflow Management global configuration linking support. Previously the labels indicated the inferred configuration, but the labels are now updated to default configurations to align with the concept. For more information, see Enabling linking of work items to versioned artifacts.

Adding images as an attachment

To add an image as an attachment, you can now copy the image from your system clipboard and paste it onto the work item editor. You can paste the image by using any of the following methods. You can specify a file name for the attachment. The image file is saved in PNG format.

• Use Ctrl+V for Windows and Linux, and for Mac, use Command+V.
• In browser, in the Edit menu, select Paste.
• Right-click Edit menu in a browser, and select Paste.

Preview support for PDF attachments

In the web client, you can now preview PDF attachments in the work item editor. To enable this feature, on the Advanced properties page set the Allow preview of PDF attachments property to True. For more information, see Configuring advanced properties. To preview the attachments, on the Links tab of the work item editor, click the PDF attachment link. You can also hover over the attachment link to see the preview.

Displaying line breaks for large HTML attributes in query results

In the web client, the line breaks can now be preserved for large HTML and text attributes in the query result output. For example, the text in the Description field of work items is displayed as a query result. By default, the feature is enabled. You can change the setting on the Advanced properties page. You can set the query result maximum Row height property to define the maximum number of rows that can be displayed for each query result. The default value is 500. To disable the feature, you can set the value to 0. When the value is 0, the output is presented as it used to display in the earlier versions. For more information, see Configuring advanced properties.

Opting out of automatic subscription to a work item

When you add a comment to a work item, you are automatically subscribed to the work item, and you receive email notifications each time when it is updated. If you do not want to be subscribed automatically to a work item when you add a comment, you can now choose to opt out of automatic subscription in the web client. To opt out, on the Mail configuration page, clear the Subscribe me automatically when I add a comment checkbox. In 7.0.3, the option is removed from the Preferences page of the Eclipse client. You can configure the setting in the contributor’s profile or Work items settings page in both web and Eclipse clients. However, Eclipse clients with versions earlier than 7.0.3 hold a higher preference and the new contributor's profile setting is ignored.

String list attribute values

When you copy or move a work item into a different project area, the attributes with the string list type are now included in the resulting work item.

Creating a work item copy

When you create a copy of a work item, you can now choose to copy the parent link.

Improved selection dialog for team areas and project areas

In the web client, when you select one or more team areas or a project area in the work item editor or the query editor, you can now perform the following actions:

• Filter the values by name.
• Select multiple values from the list.

Role-based permissions

You can now set role-based permissions in the Permissions section of the Project area page to restrict the following actions:

• Moving a work item out of a project area.
• Downloading work items from queries and plans.

EWM Eclipse client Team advisor

IBM Engineering Workflow Eclipse client now reports export query permission error in the Team advisor tab, when you do not have permission to export queries. The Export Work Items wizard displays corresponding error when you open the wizard, and select a query for which you do not have access to export.

Improving OSLC and TRS logging

The logging feature for Engineering Workflow Management 7.0.3 now supports tracing of OSLC GET, PUT, and PATCH request, especially when used to create backlinks between OSLC friend servers. It also supports tracing of TRS change events and other OSLC updates.​​​​ The logging can be enabled by adding the following lines to the Log4j2.xml file:

<Logger name="com.ibm.team.calm.foundation.common.OSLCResourceLogger" level="TRACE" />
<Logger name="com.ibm.team.workitem.service.internal.oslc.ResourceRequest" level="TRACE" />
<Logger name="com.ibm.team.calm.foundation.common.OSLCResourceLogger.ChangeEvents.Trs" level="TRACE" />
<Logger name="com.ibm.team.workitem.common.internal.IQueryRepositoryService" level="TRACE" />
<Logger name="com.ibm.team.workitem.service.internal.oslc.trs.resources.TRSRegistry" level="TRACE" />
<Logger name="com.ibm.team.rtc.common.internal.service.rest.reports.diagnostics" level="TRACE" />
<Logger name="com.ibm.team.foundation.common" level="TRACE" />

Jazz Source Control

SCM reporting in JRS

Tracked resource set (TRS) feed EWM SCM configuration resources (TRS 2.0), which was a beta release is now available. Source control streams, snapshots, and baselines can be included in this TRS feed with their files so that they can be reported in Report Builder through the lifecycle query engine (LQE). The data that is published through this feed is configuration-based and compatible with other ELM products when they are in opt-in mode.

• Publishing streams and other configurations: Source control project areas can have many streams, snapshots, and baselines. Thus, all configurations are not published by default. The configurations that you select must be published. After a stream is published, any changes to the components or the files in the stream result in changes sent through the TRS feed. Publishing a stream also publishes any snapshots that are owned by the stream.
• Publish permissions: The abilities to publish streams and other configurations and validate published items are controlled by permissions. If you need to publish a configuration or validate a published item, they must be assigned a role that has the required permission. The permissions are assigned in the project area editor at the permissions path: Source Control/Tracked Resource Set/Publish & Unpublished. By default, no role has the permissions to publish SCM resources.
• Reports in Report Builder: After a stream is published, the data for that stream is included in the new TRS feed. The TRS feed is available in LQE through the lifecycle query engine scoped by a configuration data source. You can use the artifact type selection widget to generate reports for files or include files in the reports with related artifacts, such as requirements or test resources. An important aspect of an SCM file is the path of the file in the component. The path of a file that is needed must be modeled separately. To include the path of the file in the report, select Enable multiple paths or add other source artifacts option. Then, you can merge the file to path relationship with any other relationship you are querying on. You can also configure the fields, which appear in the query output. You can then select a global configuration (GC) that contains the published SCM stream. Additionally, you can select a requirements stream that contains requirements that are linked to one or more files in the SCM stream.
• Restrict publishing of SCM artifacts owned by a project area that is not enabled for full configuration management: By default, project areas are not configured for full configuration management. Thus, you cannot publish any SCM artifacts such as streams, baselines, or snapshots to the EWM SCM configuration resources (TRS 2.0) feed. Before you publish the SCM artifacts, you can enable full configuration management on the Project Area administration page from the Configuration Management tab of the Source Control section.
• Support for filtering files by project area in the Report Builder: In the Report Builder, you can now filter reports that include files by project area. Most file-based reports use lifecycle query engine scoped by a configuration data source that filters the files in the report based on the chosen configuration. Filtering by project area is optional. Previously, filtering any project area produced an empty report, whereas now the report contents are filtered properly by both the chosen configuration and the project areas.

Show side by side file comparison in the web UI

When you need to view the difference in the web UI, you can now use the Compare option to view a side-by-side comparison of the initial and final state of the file. You can compare file with a file in another stream, workspace, snapshot, or baseline. You can also include a comment and work item for the change set, along with the version identifiers for the file versions being compared. For more information, see Comparing source control items.

Show, set, or unset custom attributes for a file

The file content view in the SCM web client now contains a new Custom attributes tab. You can use this tab to show, set, or unset custom attributes for a file. You can add custom attributes that are preconfigured in the project area for a file type and set a value. You can also modify the value or remove the custom attribute, if required. You can now search for files and changesets based on the custom attributes.

Improved search for files, streams, workspaces in EWM web UI

• Search for streams or workspaces where a contained component is at a specific baseline: In the web UI, it is now possible to search for a stream or workspace that contains a specified component, and the content of that component matches the content for a specific baseline. This feature was already available in the Eclipse client.
• Search for files in baselines or snapshots in the EWM web client: Previously, you could search for files only in workspaces or streams by using advanced search. Now, you can search for files in baselines or snapshots as well.
• Search for files based on custom attributes in the EWM web client: In the EWM web client, on the Advanced search page of SCM, you can now search for files and changesets based on custom attributes. Before searching for custom attributes, ensure that custom attributes are added to a project area that is for the required SCM artifact. The custom attributes must be configured within the artifact along with their values.

Component history improvements in the web UI

The following improvements are made to the component history view of the web UI:

• You can now view baselines with the change sets of a component. The change sets or baselines are displayed in the order in which they enter the workspace. By default, the component history view displays only change sets. To display baselines with the changes sets, click Show Baselines. To switch to the original view, click Hide Baselines.
• You can use Show baselines toggle to view both the baselines and change sets in the history of the component. Alternatively, use Hide Baselines to hide the view.
• The Added by and Date added columns are added to the change set information.
• When you expand a change set, the changed files now have a link to the file contents and the file version

Baseline label decorations now show an asterisk (*) based on the component's hierarchy

When a component diverges from its current baseline, an asterisk (*) is displayed as baseline label decoration. If a component is in the root of a component hierarchy, then the asterisk is shown if the hierarchy diverges from the component's current hierarchical baseline. The baseline label for a hierarchical component displays an asterisk in the following cases:

• Any subcomponent includes changes that are not part of the current baseline.
• Any subcomponent is at a baseline that is not part of the hierarchical baseline of the parent.
• The hierarchical baseline for the component includes child baselines, but the child component is not in the workspace.

Component filters added in SCM editors and wizards

To support customers with many components, component name filters are introduced to the workspace, stream, and snapshot editors in the Eclipse and web clients. In addition, in the Eclipse client, a component name filter is added to the Add component wizard when you add a component from another workspace or stream. Previously, the name filter was only available when you added a component from a baseline. This filter is already present in the wizard for the web client. In all cases, the component name filters are case-insensitive and can accept the standard wildcard characters, asterisk (*) and question mark (?). Use asterisk (*) to match zero or more characters. Use question mark (?) to match any single character at the present position.

Minor enhancements in the web UI for Jazz®® Source Control

• A landing page for component URIs is now available. A component URI can be obtained from the Eclipse client.
• Baseline tags are now shown on the baseline page.
• Searching for streams and workspaces on the Advanced search page can now find streams and workspaces that contain a specific component.
• The download limit of 4 GB is removed from web UI folder.

Code review enhancements

• Improved look and feel of the SCM Code Review UI: In the new editor, the current version of the file is on one side of the page. Another noticeable difference is how the editor shows the spacing for added and removed subsections of code.
• Code reviews landing page shows pending and submitted code reviews: A new menu option, Code reviews is added to the Source Control menu, in the Web UI. This landing page displays pending, submitted, and completed reviews.
• Support for resubmitting code for review in the work item: You can now resubmit the code for review from the code review presentation view in the work item by using the Web, Eclipse, or Visual Studio clients.

Repository tools command for deleting SCM components

You can now use the scmDeleteComponent repository tools command to delete a previously archived SCM component. Deleting a component permanently removes the component and all its included artifacts, such as change sets, baselines, files, and content, from the database.

For example,

> ./repotools-ccm.sh -scmDeleteComponent component=_j6bJgDWPEeugK61YTHPVkg repositoryURL=https://server.com:9443/ccm adminUserId=AdminUser adminPassword=AdminPassword

For more information, see Invoke Component Delete.

Minor enhancements in the command line interface

• The Show command can now be used to show the attributes of a change set.
• The List streams and List workspaces commands can now find streams and workspaces that contain a specific component.

Engineering Workflow Management clients

Engineering Workflow Management Shell control panel is now available in the Navigation pane

The Engineering Workflow Management Shell control panel is now moved to the navigation window of the file explorer. It addresses the issue of Engineering Workflow Management Shell not supporting a configuration, where multiple Windows Explorer processes run at the same time after Windows 10 updates that were released in October 2020 caused the Windows Control panel to open in a different explorer.exe process. All other ways of starting the Shell control panel, such as from the taskbar, Start menu, and desktop, remain the same.

Open web-based UI in Visual Studio, Shell, and MSSCCI clients by using the Microsoft Edge Chromium runtime

All web-based UI in the Engineering Workflow Management client for Visual Studio, Windows Shell, and MSSCCI now use the Microsoft Edge Chromium rendering engine in place of the unsupported Internet Explorer. This includes the internal web browser, feeds, history graph, operation history, OSLC pickers, hovers, work items, and query editors.

Microsoft Edge Chromium Evergreen Runtime is now a prerequisite for installing any of these clients. You can install the most recent Microsoft Edge Chromium Evergreen Runtime from Microsoft Edge WebView2.

Support for Visual Studio 2022 IDE

Engineering Workflow Management client now supports installation on Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 IDE. A new offering is available for use with Visual Studio 2022.

Integrations

Jenkins integration

• Team concert plugin
  • A new pipeline step is added to allow the running of Engineering Workflow Management build from Jenkins and making the result available back to the pipeline users. This allows customers to implement their fully automated CI or CD pipeline in Jenkins with Engineering Workflow Management as the source control and still maintain complete traceability.
    • The links to work items, change sets, and file contents captured in the snapshot can now be published. It leverages the current Engineering Workflow Management features and workflows .
    • The logs or artifacts from an Engineering Workflow Management build is now available to build engineers and developers in the Jenkins pipeline context .
  • You can configure the poll time, while waiting for the Engineering Workflow Management build to complete.
  • Pipeline scripts now allow additional optional parameters to be configured for serverURI, buildTool. If configured, it overrides the global settings thereby making it avoidable to update scripts every time the global settings are changed.
  • The robustness of the parallel execution of pipeline jobs is improved.
  • The versions of the Java™ libraries are now upgraded to Java Development Kit (JDK) 11 for enhanced performance and security.
  • The <tables> to <div> layout migration changes as required by Jenkins core are adopted to make the UI more modern and mobile friendly.
  • The common-digester3 is adopted as a replacement to common-digester2 to address security concerns. For more information, see security fix and recommendations from Jenkins.
• Team Concert® - Git plugin
  • The versions of the Java libraries are now upgraded to JDK 11 for enhanced performance and security.
  • The <tables> to <div> layout migration changes as required by Jenkins core are adopted to make the UI more modern and mobile friendly.

Git integration

• Work item picker for GitLab merge requests: Work item IDs are now added to the merge request description in the GitLab web UI by using a work item picker. This work item picker is available for the Engineering Workflow Management extension to GitHub in Chrome browser only.
• Filter issue in the Git diagnostics table by project areas to easily browse the Engineering Workflow Management-Git issues: You can filter the issues in the Git diagnostics table by project areas. Click the filter icon to view all table filters, including the additional project area filter.
• Comment to the Engineering Workflow Management work item from the command line or webhook when linking a work item to a Git commit: You can replicate the commit details to the work item comments when you link Git commits through webhooks or post-receive hooks in GitLab from the Git repository registration page for the GitLab hosting server.
• Git commit link and improvements in rich hover: You can find additional details like commit ID, comment, name of the committer, and commit creation date which are available on Git commit link in the work item editor and rich hover.

Enterprise extensions

New build extensions ant tasks

The following new ant tasks are added to the build toolkit tasks to programmatically manage and use EWM artifacts:

• getBuildDefinitions to retrieve a list of build definition IDs from the Jazz repository.
• getBuildDefinitionUuid to retrieve the ID of a build definition.
• getProcessArea to get a list of process area names from the Jazz repository.

Build subsets can be added to Favorites

• Build subsets from enterprise extensions can now be added to the Favorites folder in the Team artifacts navigator.
• Build definitions can now be added to the Favorites folder in the Team artifacts navigator. Enterprise Extensions derivatives, including dependency build, promotion, packaging and deployment definitions, can also be added to the Favorites.

ISPF client supports data set definition properties

The ISPF client can now handle and apply properties that are associated to data set definitions, for resources that are loaded and changed with the ISPF client.

ISPF user build in the EWM ISPF client

You can now submit a user build from a loaded resource from the EWM ISPF client:

• On the Data set member list window, you can now use a new action called UBS to submit a User Build of the selected resource.
• A new User build options window is proposed, including some default build parameters that are already set.
• You can choose a build definition, enter a user build directory, and then submit the build.
• At the end of the user build, the build log file is displayed.

Enterprise extensions system definitions

The following usability and capabilities of the Enterprise Extensions system definitions are enhanced:

• System definition items can be added to the Favorites folder.
• Build properties can be used in data set definitions.
• Up or down buttons are provided for specifying translator variables.
• A Duplicate button is provided for DD allocations and DD concatenations.
• Support is added for PDSE Version 2 allocations for Type 1 and Type 2 data set definition types.

deleteBuildResults Ant task to allow granular pruning of build, package, and deploy results

The deleteBuildResults Ant task deletes a filtered list of build results for the specified build. Both include and exclude result filters are allowed. You can select the following filters:

• Build state
• Build status
• Label
• Requestor
• Personal build
• Time
• Property
• Tag

Post compile exit for enterprise extensions z/OS® dependency builds

The enterprise extensions dependency build post compile Exit offers an extension point for customizing build processing. The post compile exit is called after the compilation processing, when all the languages defined for the build and all of their translators have completed, and before the build maps are published and the build report is produced. This exit is called if the build is successful, if a simple compiler error has been encountered, or if some aspect of the compilation processing has encountered a build failure.

The post compile exit allows you to insert more logic into the build process to determine whether the build, and all of the compilations, have completed successfully. If you determine that the build was successful, you can signal to the enterprise build script to complete as normal, publish build maps, and generate a build report. If the compilations are not successful, regardless of the return code that was passed back to the build, you can signal to the enterprise build script to complete in error. You can signal that the build is in error in two ways: set the publish build maps property to false or publish only the build maps for the successful compilations.

For more information, see Post Compile Exit.

Deprecations

When a feature is deprecated, IBM continues to support the feature, but no longer plans to enhance it and might remove the capability in a subsequent release of the product.

Engineering Workflow Management integrations

The following Engineering Workflow Management integrations are deprecated:

• IBM Rational® ClearCase® via Bridge, Synchronizer, and Importers
• IBM Rational ClearQuest® via Bridge, Synchronizer, and Importer
• IBM Rational Change^*
• IBM Rational Synergy^*
• IBM Sametime®
• Subversion and SVNKit
• Atlassian BitBucket

^*IBM announced end of life for Rational Change and Rational Synergy effective September 2024. For more information, see announcement letter 921-121

Removals and replacements

Developer-10-C client access license

The Developer-10-C client access licenses for Engineering Workflow Management are discontinued. These licenses will not be available for download from jazz.net.

Engineering Workflow Management client on MacOS

The Engineering Workflow Management Eclipse client does not support installation by using IBM Installation Manager on MacOS. You can use the Eclipse p2 capability to install the Engineering Workflow Management Eclipse client on MacOS. For more information, see Installing the IBM® Engineering Workflow Management client in Eclipse by using the p2 installation repository.

Build Forge® agent libraries

The Build Forge agent libraries are no longer embedded in the EWM build toolkit installation to ensure that the latest product and security fixes are included. The libraries must now be downloaded from IBM Fix Central and installed following provided documentation.

Incubator Ubuntu packages

Incubator Ubuntu Linux packages for SCM CLI and Build Engine are no longer available for download to get started with development and release engineering activities.

Engineering Workflow Management Enterprise Edition features

• Context aware search is removed. Use the IBM Application Discovery and Delivery Intelligence solution to locate relevant information in your code. For more information, see IBM Application Discovery and Delivery Intelligence
• IBM Dependency Based Build (DBB) no longer provides an evaluation version. IBM Dependency Based Build is available with a 90-day trial license from Shopz.