VC/m 2.0 Release Notes |
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Right software, right time, right place™
What's new?
VC/m version 2.0 is a major release of VC/m that is focused on enabling
VC/m to manage all types of component in a consistent and seamless manner.
With VC/m version 2.0 you can manage components of your Visual Basic application,
your web-site content and your controlled documents with the same ease and same
procedures as your Caché / M application source code. Furthermore you
can manage components of all these disparate technologies using a single VC/m
object. [Closely related components (of whatever kind) are managed as
one unit meaning that they are always checked-out together and always moved
together.]
Hybrid Objects
An object can now be created comprising of different component
types (eg .htm and .exe) which can be manipulated seamlessly as a single
entity.
Integration
with Visual Source Safe
VC/m can store objects in a Visual Source Safe library.
A Visual Source Safe library is used by VC/m in exactly the same way as
VC/m uses its native library. Multiple versions of objects can be
placed into and retrieved from a Visual Source Safe library. When
placed in the library, each component is labeled with the object name, variant
and version of the object that owns it.
User-Definable
Transfer Functions
In earlier releases it was only possible to define one transfer
route of any one type between any two locations. For example, a Transfer
from A to B. It is now possible to create multiple routes between
two locations by using a different function code for each pair. Each
route can then have different characteristics (such as access codes) enabling
them to be used for different purposes and in different contexts.
Web-based Client
Interface
A completely new user interface allows objects to be manipulated
using Microsoft's Internet Explorer web-browser. The interface includes
a tree-like display of locations and their contents. Objects can be
manipulated using intuitive drag-and-drop methods.
New License
Key Mechanism
A license key mechanism has been introduced that enables key
files to be distributed that control the user count and component and location
drivers that are enabled. Additionally, an expiry date can be
specified for any component enabling new features to be evaluated in the
environment of an installed VC/m system.
;; Comments
The M routine component driver (R type components) now allows
comment lines to be generated with ;;vc; prefixes. This allows comments
to be generated that do not get removed from the routine when its source
code is removed.
Transfer Route
Attributes
The following new attributes have been added to transfer routes:
o Create new version? The version number can be
incremented at any point in an object's life cycle.
o Hide/Show/Prompt for status date? The status date
associated with each version of an object can now be hidden, displayed or
prompted on any transfer route.
o Status date caption. The caption for the status
date is also configurable for each transfer route.
o User-definable audit trail message. The text of
the message that is stored in the audit trail is now user-definable for
each transfer route.
o User-definable dependency functions. An extrinsic
function may be referenced in the 'Dependent locations' field to allow user-definable
dependency conditions to be setup.
Generic Locations
Three generic locations can now be created (%ANY, %FROM and %TO)
and referenced in transfer routes. This allows transfer routes to
be set up from anywhere to anywhere.
Location Maintenance
The location maintenance function has been completely reworked
to allow a single logical location to map to multiple physical locations.
A component mask specifies which components map to each physical location.
As an added convenience, physical locations are created on-the-fly to make
the setup process easier and quicker.
Menu Reorganisation
The main menus have been reorganised to make them more rational
and intuitive.
Audit Trail
The audit trail now allows inquiry by date to use a date range
rather than just a single date.
Bulk Transfer
Bulk transfer features are now controlled by run-time call arguments:
o Enable/Disable status function
o Print transfer report
o Release auto-default
Load
The load function does not match versions against different
variants. This enables components with the same name, but which are
actually different, to be loaded more easily when installing a VC/m system.
Object, Variant
and Component Names
o The combined length of the object and variant
name can now be up to 40 characters.
o Objects can now include a period in the object
name.
o The length of a component name can now be up to 200
characters. This can include a partial path for text and binary components.
New component
drivers
The following component drivers are now available:
Standard:
o text components
o binary components (not supported for VMS)
Add-on options:
o CDL components
o WebLink developer run-time components
o DSM p-code
Change Request
API
An API interface has been created for integrating change requests
with third-party systems.
Serenji and
Caché Studio Integration
Both Serenji and Caché Studio can be configured to integrate
with VC/m. These editors will perform status checks against VC/m and
prevent code from being edited unless it is checked out.
Miscellaneous
o Ability to execute arbitrary M code on any
device initialization
o Setup/Properties screen includes many new configuration
settings and defaults.
Transfer Screen
The display of information on the main transfer screen has been
improved. The following additional information is now shown:
o The current master location and active locations of
the selected object are displayed.
o The predicted new master and active locations after
transfer are displayed.
The following functional enhancements have been made:
o Entry of @? at the object prompt invokes change request
lookup.
o Entry of a component reference at the object prompt
automatically selects the object that owns the component.
o Entry of ? in the change request field when it contains
a value invokes change request maintenance for that change request.
Systems
Changes have been made to the behaviour of the system in the
situation where objects and locations are not associated with systems.
An object that is not associated with a system will only belong in locations
that also have no systems. The system code for an object will default to
the object's variant code if this a valid system code. An internal
switch can be used to validate variant codes so that only valid system codes
can be used as variants.
Deprecated
Features
o Retrospective checkout.
o Component renaming.
o Super-user access right (#) has been replaced by generic
transfers as these are more controllable and predictable.
Copyright 1999,2000 George
James Software
For assistance contact support@georgejames.com