ClearQuest Dynamic List Editor

ClearQuest Dynamic List Editor

Created by ClearQuest admin for ClearQuest admins.

Dynamic List Editor

This is NOT a solution that is provided and supported by IBM-Rational. The Dynamic List Editor is an add-on to your existing ClearQuest schema, VBScript or Perl based, that provides a unified interface to administer Dynamic Lists for Windows, Eclipse, UNIX clients, and (most importantly) the Web client. Additionally, it adds basic audit capabilities that can be enhanced using the Audit Trail package. The enhancement is distributed as a ClearQuest schema integration, and it can be easily removed from the schema when it is no longer required.

In the Editor, all dynamic lists are represented by correspondent stateless records of the Dynamic_List record type.

Dynamic List administrators work with the stateless records, and when the update is completed and records are submitted to the database, the correspondent dynamic lists are updated automatically.

Installation Instruction

Please create a backup of schema and user databases before the installation.
The package is an add-on to your existing ClearQuest schema. In order to install it, you will need ClearQuest administrative access and administrative tools (ClearQuest designer). When the configuration is completed, users with the "Dynamic List Admin" privilege or super users can modify the content of the Dynamic Lists using ClearQuest Web or other ClearQuest clients.

Automatic Install

• Unpack the distribution to your local or network drive (you cannot start the installation from a network share using UNC path)
• Launch "install.bat" in the root of the distribution
• Accept license agreement
• Provide administrative user credentials, ClearQuest connection, database name, and click on "Connect"

When installation is completed, login to the user database and run "Public Queries/Administration/Dynamic_Lists" query to verify Dynamic list data. You can start using the tool immediately.

Manual Install

If you prefer to install the Editor manually, please follow the steps below It is highly recommended to test the procedure in your development environment, and backup master and user databases before you start.

Download and Unpack Schema Integration

Save the downloaded archive to your administrative machine hard drive and unpack it. The integration is a text file that can be easily scanned or inspected.

Apply Integration to ClearQuest Schema

• Verify that the ClearQuest schema is checked in, and that there are no pending schema changes that have not been applied to the user database.
• Open the command line tool, (Start->Run "cmd") and change the directory to the location where the integration package was extracted.
• Import integration using the "cqload importintegration" command. For example:

cqload importintegration -dbset <db_connection_name> <admin_user> <admin_password> <ClearQuest_Schema_Name> "" "Dynamic List Editor" 1.0 Dynamic_List_Editor.txt ""

• Verify that the schema update was imported and no issues were detected.

Upgrade User Database

Now, you can apply changes to the user database using ClearQuest Designer. For Eclipse Designer, in the ClearQuest Database Admin section, right click on the user database that you are going to apply changes to, and select "Upgrade Database" from the context menu. (In legacy Windows Designer, select the "Upgrade Database..." option from the database menu and select your user database).

Apply the change that you imported on the previous step by clicking the "OK" button. Verify that user database was upgraded successfully.

Import First Dynamic List

The rest of the configuration can be completed from a ClearQuest client. You can use any client of your choice. The instructions are based on ClearQuest Web client, version 8.0. Login as an administrator (super user), and submit a new record of the "Dynamic_List" type:

Select one of the list names from the "Name" drop-down list.

Dynamic list values will be populated automatically.

click "Save" to commit the record to the database

Creating Dynamic List Administration Query

Now, you will need to create a simple query that will be used by Dynamic Lists administrators. Right click on the folder you are going to save the query to, and select "New Query" from the context menu.

Select "Dynamic_Query" as a record type

Provide a query name (for instance, "Dynamic Lists"), add the "Name" field to the presentation/display section, and specify the "Ascending" (A-Z) sort order. Save the query.

Importing Dynamic Lists

Run the "Dynamic Lists" query that we created on the previous step. You should see one Dynamic List record in the result set. Select the record, and in the "Utilities" section, chose the "SyncAllLists" action.

The action syncs ClearQuest records with the correspondent dynamic lists:

• when the ClearQuest record already exists, its content is updated from the dynamic list
• when the ClearQuest record does not exist, a new record is created
• when a dynamic list for the existing ClearQuest record does not exist, the record is deleted.

If no error occurred, a confirmation is displayed. Otherwise, you would see an error message. Refresh the query to verify that all dynamic lists with their proper content are loaded.

Administering Dynamic Lists

When all the Dynamic_List records are populated, List Administrators can start using the query you created and Dynamic_Lists records to modify the content of the linked dynamic lists. Most of the time, the "Update" action is sufficient. In addition, the Editor offers the following actions to simplify administration:

Action Name	Action Type	Access Control	Description
Submit	Submit	Super User	Submit allows the creation of new records when a new Dynamic List added to the ClearQuest schema. You can also use the "SyncAllLists" utility action to synchronize all the records at once.
Update	Modify	Super User, Dynamic List Admins	Update is the primary action for administering Dynamic Lists content. When an action is initialized, the record is refreshed with the latest content of the dynamic list (please check "Dynamic List Caching" section). When the updated record is saved, its content is saved in the correspondent dynamic list as well.
Delete	Utilities / Delete	Super User	This action allows you to delete existing Dynamic_List records, such as when a correspondent dynamic list is removed from the schema. Alternatively, you can use the "SyncAllLists" utility action to synchronize all records at once after a database upgrade.
LoadList	Utilities / Script	Super User, Dynamic List Admins	Load List action updates the current ClearQuest record with the content of the correspondent dynamic list. Please be aware that in order to see the update you might need to refresh the ClearQuest query or even to close and re-run it.
SaveList	Utilities / Script	Super User, Dynamic List Admins	Save List action saves the content of the current ClearQuest records into a correspondent dynamic list.
SaveAllLists	Utilities / Script	Super User, Dynamic List Admins	Save all lists saves the content of all ClearQuest Dynamic List records into correspondent dynamic lists. It might be useful when records are imported from an external source.
SyncAllLists	Utilities / Script	Super User	This action syncs ClearQuest records with their correspondent dynamic lists: when the ClearQuest record already exists, its content is updated from the dynamic list when the ClearQuest record does not exist, a new record is created when a dynamic list for the existing ClearQuest record does not exist, the record is deleted.

Dynamic Lists Caching

In order to improve performance, ClearQuest caches the content of dynamic lists. When you update the content of dynamic lists using native tools, the update is not available to all existing clients and sessions immediately. Your clients might need to re-login to the database in order to see the changes. Similarly, the dynamic list editor is using an actual dynamic list as a primary trusted source of data for the records. When you initiate a record update, the record content is loaded from the dynamic list first. In an environment where dynamic lists are actively updated from many clients simultaneously, it might cause overwriting, because the cached list values could be used by ClearQuest. In a so changing environment, it is recommended to re-login to the database before starting a dynamic list modification (the same issue exists when you use native tools in the legacy ClearQuest Windows Client). If you rarely use native tools to update dynamic lists (for instance, when a ClearQuest full client is not installed on the Dynamic List Admins' machines, and they use the Editor's Web Client capability to modify lists only), you can select the ClearQuest records as a trusted source of data for the dynamic lists. In order to do so, you need to remove the "Update" action initialization hook from the Dynamic_List record type, and upgrade the user database to apply changes. This would ensure that the most accurate data is used for list modification.

Support

ClearQuest Dynamic List Editor is supported by CQAdmin, inc. Three levels or support agreement are currently offered, starting with free community support at http://forum.cqadmin.org. Consulting services are also available.