Example: Running an OSLC interaction
As an application user, you can run OSLC interactions between applications that an integration designer integrated. You start the OSLC interaction by clicking a button in the consumer application. Depending on the type of interaction, you can create a resource record in the external provider application or link to an existing resource in the provider application.
In this example, your application is the consumer and Rational Team Concert is the provider. However, this process can also work with any OSLC provider.
You use the Service Requests application to enter requests for fixes to the software that your team is developing. Your integration designer used the OSLC Providers application to integrate the Service Requests application with the Rational Team Concert application. Two OSLC interactions were created. In the Service Requests application, there is now a tab that is labeled Defects in the Related Records tab. The tab has a Defects window and two push buttons in the window: Create Defect and Select Defect.
You can now enter a service request and create an associated defect in Rational Team Concert at the same time, without leaving the Service Requests application. Or you can associate the request with an existing resource in Rational Team Concert, by using the Select Defect button.
Creating a defect
In the Service Requests application, you create a service request, provide a description and other information, and save the request. You open the Related Records tab, and click the Create Defect button on the Defects tab.
Because you are creating a resource record in an external application, Rational Team Concert, you must sign in to Rational Team Concert. The Rational Team Concert login window is displayed. After you provide your user ID and password, the Create Resource window is displayed. The Create Resource window is a Rational Team Concert window, now available to you in the Service Requests application as a result of the OSLC integration.
You specify the type of resource to create, a defect. You also must provide information in the Summary field, and specify the project or container to file the defect against.
Your integration designer mapped the Service Request Description field to the Rational Team Concert Description property when the interaction was created. As a result, your service request description is in the Description field on the Create Resource window. You can edit the description if necessary.
Previewing provider application resource record data
Creation of the record in Rational Team Concert also creates a row in the Defects table in the Service Requests application. The Description field contains information about the linked resource in Rational Team Concert. The table row also shows the URL of the linked resource record.
The Description field has an information icon, a small blue circle with an
i
in it. You can hover the cursor over the information icon to display a window that
shows data from the defect record in Rational Team Concert. (If you are not signed in to the
provider application, hovering over the information icon displays a message and a link to sign
in. If the provider application does not support OSLC previews, a second icon appears and
you can click on this icon to see a preview.)
You can use the preview window to check the status and other information about the Rational Team Concert defect record from within the Service Requests application.
Selecting a defect
In the Service Requests application, you enter a second service request. The request is to fix an instance of a problem that was previously reported, and for which a defect exists in Rational Team Concert. For the second request, you want to link to the existing defect, rather than create a defect record. On the Defects table on the Related Records tab, you click Select Defect.
You might need to select the container, such as the Rational Team Concert project, for the defect, if the provider application supports multiple containers.
On the Select Resource window, you specify Defect as the type of resource that you want to select. Provide search information, such as the defect number or description, to display the defect or defects that match your search criteria. When you select a defect and click OK, the link to the Rational Team Concert defect resource is established. A row for the defect is added to the Defects table in the Service Requests application. You can use the information icon to display defect information, just as you can for the row that you added by creating a defect.