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ClearQuest support for OSLC Configuration Management and Global Configurations

Product Documentation


Abstract

ClearQuest now provides some support for linking to artifact repositories that support OSLC Configuration managment and Global Configurations. The attached guide explains how to configure and use configuration management support in ClearQuest.

Content

ClearQuest 8.0.1.10 supports OSLC Configuration Management. OSLC Configuration Management defines an RDF vocabulary and a set of REST APIs for managing versions and configurations of linked data resources from multiple domains. ClearQuest itself does not support the creation of versioned ClearQuest records, but it does allow you to link to versioned artifacts stored in configuration-enabled applications such as Collaborative Lifecycle Management 6.0 or Rational Engineering Lifecycle Management (RELM).

Configuration support in ClearQuest consists of the following capabilities:

  1. Administrators can configure ClearQuest to use a global configuration provider that allows users to choose a configuration to work in.
  2. Users can select a configuration to work in. It could be any configuration provided by the global configuration provider, but usually it is a stream. When a user chooses a configuration, ClearQuest uses it for subsequent sessions until the a new configuration is chosen.
  3. When users make links to configuration-enabled applications, they are created in the context of the current configuration. Any new artifacts created in configuration-enabled applications are created in the context of that configuration. Any links created to existing records are also created in the context of that configuration. It is best to create new artifacts in an initial stream, otherwise the artifact may be not be available in other configurations.
  4. Navigating links or hovering over a link is performed in the context of the current configuration, not in the configuration in which the link was created. This has important implications: if a version of the artifact that the link points to does not exist in the current configuration, the link be comes unresolved. Therefore, take care to create artifacts and links to artifacts that are available in the configurations that you plan to work in.

These capabilities are available only if “Enable Configurations support for OSLC” is checked in the Application Options tab of the Site Configuration dialog. Configuration support can be disabled in ClearQuest.

It is not necessary to use configuration support in ClearQuest when integrating with configuration-enabled applications in CLM 6.0. Configuration support in ClearQuest provides the capability to link to specific versions of CLM 6.0 artifacts based on the current configuration context in ClearQuest. With configuration support disabled in ClearQuest, or when using older versions of ClearQuest, you can link only to resources that have versions in the initial streams (the default streams) in the CLM projects you are integrating with. Furthermore, the same limitations in linking to artifacts that exist when ClearQuest is enabled for configurations also apply when ClearQuest is not enabled for configurations. For example, you can create links only from ClearQuest to CLM 6.0 projects. You cannot create links from certain configuration-aware CLM 6.0 applications to ClearQuest records.


Configuration

ClearQuest supports establishing a “friendship” with a single global configuration server and choosing a project relationship to a global configuration project. Following are the steps for configuring a ClearQuest server to support OSLC Configuration Management.

  1. Establish a cross-server friendship with the global configuration server. You can use these instructions in the ClearQuest documentation. For the Root Services URI you can use a link of this form:

    https://friend-server:port-number/gc/rootservices

  2. Establish a project relationship between ClearQuest and the global configuration provider using these instructions. Create relationships only to global configuration providers. ClearQuest does not prevent you from linking to multiple global configuration providers, but to prevent confusion it is best to configure only one global configuration server and its linked applications. When choosing the Service Provider to link to, choose either “Select Configuration” or “Global Configuration Application.”
  3. Enable Configuration support on your server. Choose Site Administration->Configuration->Application Options. Check “Enable Configurations support for OSLC”.

Figure 1: Enabling Configurations support in ClearQuest Web


Choosing a Global Configuration

After you have configured at least one global configuration provider, you can begin choosing configurations to work in. The configuration selector is on the upper right toolbar, next to Site Administration or Preferences (depending on whether you are an administrator). The configuration selector is a drop-down menu (Figure 2). Before any configuration is chosen, the selector label is “Choose configuration context”. Clicking on this invokes a dialog for choosing a global configuration provider. If you have only one such provider, this step is skipped and you go straight to the global configuration server's selection dialog (Figure 3). Select a configuration and click OK.


Figure 2: Choosing a configuration context for the first time.


Figure 3: Selecting a configuration.

When a configuration server is chosen, its name replaces “Choose configuration context” as the selector label (Figure 4).


Figure 4: Currently chosen configuration.

To change the configuration, click on the name of the current configuration. You can also click on the drop-down arrow and select “Choose configuration context”. The configuration selector remembers recently chosen configurations. If you use several configurations, you can click on the drop down and choose from the last five configurations that you used.

Linking to existing versioned artifacts

Linking ClearQuest records to versioned Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) artifacts is similar to linking to non-versioned CLM artifacts. Instructions for how to link to these kinds of artifacts are available in the ClearQuest i. Links are created on the Links tab, which is added to the record's form after a schema designer enables the schema and record type for OSLC Links. When the selection dialog appears for choosing the record to link to, it searches for artifacts in the current configuration context. For example, if the “AMR Server US” configuration is currently set, then the selection dialog shows Test Plan versions that belong to the “AMR Server US” configuration (Figure 5). Figure 6 shows what you see if the “AMR Server EU” configuration is selected. Notice that there are two versions of Test Plan 8. The version of the Test Plan that you see in the selection dialog depends on the current configuration context.


Figure 5: Selecting Test Plan with "AMR Server US" Configuration



Figure 6: Selecting Test Plan with "AMR Server EU" Configuration

Links made from ClearQuest records to versioned artifacts are unidirectional: back-links are not created.


Creating versioned artifacts

When you choose to create a new artifact, the initial version is created in the current configuration context. If no configuration has been chosen, the new artifact is created in the initial stream of the provider. Be careful when creating artifacts. If you change the configuration context to one that does not include the new record, the link becomes unresolved and you cannot hover or navigate to the linked resource (Figure 7).


Figure 7: Link can become unresolved.

Navigating versioned artifacts

When you hover over an OSLC link, a pop-up appears that shows summary information about the linked artifact. This type of pop-up is called a “rich-hover.” Clicking on the link resolves to the artifact in its repository (for example, Quality Management or Requirements Management). When configuration support is enabled, the hover and navigation uses the current configuration context to determine the version of the artifact to display in the rich-hover and to which version of the artifact to navigate when the link is clicked. When the configuration context is changed in ClearQuest and it points to a version of the artifact that has a different headline, then the headline of the link displayed in ClearQuest changes to reflect the change of context after a refresh or a hover.

If you change the configuration context, then the link may point to a different version of the artifact than the one you originally linked to. For example, if you created the link to Test Plan 8 while working in the “AMR Server US” configuration context, in the links tab, and when hovering or viewing the link you will see the “AMR Server US” version of the record (Figure 8). Later, if you switch to the “AMR Server EU” configuration, when you view the links tab, and when you hover or navigate to the artifact, it will reference the “AMR Server EU” version of the Test Plan (Figure 9).


Figure 8: Link display when configuration is "AMR Server US"



Figure 9: Link display when configuration is "AMR Server EU"

Linking from CLM artifacts to ClearQuest

You can still link to and from Work Items in a Change and Configuration Management (CCM) application, even if it is configuration-enabled. When you create a link between a ClearQuest record and a CCM Work Item, a back-link is always created. There is no change in this behavior when ClearQuest is enabled for configuration support.

Linking from artifacts in other kinds of configuration-enabled CLM applications (such as Requirements Management, and Quality Management) to ClearQuest records is not supported and attempts to create such links fail (Figures 10 and 11).


Figure 10: Can't link from configuration enabled Quality Management to ClearQuest.



Figure 11: Can't link from configuration enabled Requirements Management to ClearQuest.

For QM and RM projects that are not configuration-enabled, the integration behaves as it did for CLM 5.0; that is, bidirectional linkage is supported and backlinks are created.


Limitations

The following limitations apply to global configuration support in ClearQuest 8.0.1.10 and newer:

  • ClearQuest allows you to configure relationships to multiple configuration providers but supports integration only with a single global configuration provider. Add only one project relationship to a global configuration provider.
  • ClearQuest project relationship panel allows you to configure a relationship with configuration providers that are not global configuration providers. For example, you can configure a project relationship to the configuration provider on Requirements Management even though it is not supported. If you try to choose a configuration from a Requirements Management configuration provider, an error pops up saying it can't find the selection dialog.
  • When configuring a project relationship to a global configuration provider, it may not be clear which provider to link to. Choose the one that says either “Select Configuration”, “Global Configuration Application” or “Global Configuration service provider”. Do not choose the one that says “Create component” or includes the project title (for example “Create component for project area...”).
  • You might have difficulty integrating with a mix of RM projects that include some that are enabled for configurations and some that are not. When trying to create or select an RM record in a project that is not configuration enabled, and you have already chosen a configuration, a warning pops up indicating that the project configuration in RM will be used because the configuration you have chosen is not available. Click OK to dismiss the warning. You will still be able to create links but you may still have difficulty navigating the links.
  • Backlinks are not created when ClearQuest links to a project that is configuration-enabled. (However, ClearQuest creates backlinks in projects that are not configuration enabled.)

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Document Information

Modified date:
29 September 2018

UID

swg27047205