GoMidjets Visual Annotate provides a source code viewer that colors each code line separately, depending on the criteria that you choose: by usernames, by dates or by versions. It also provides you with a special mode in which you can see removed lines. This feature helps you compare the same code line on different versions – even more than two versions simultaneously!

We received much valuable feedback regarding earlier versions  from users who tried them. The new version was improved based upon these comments. Thank you to all who offered input!

This is the first commercial version for this tool. Licenses are provided by node-locked or by floating (concurrent) licenses.

What’s new – HIGHLIGHTS

• Improved user interface
• Display information of deleted code lines alongside the information for added code lines. This helps you easily find deleted code lines and even entire deleted functions.
• You can customize the dashboard and viewer for your own demands.
• Launch the tool at your convenience – GUI or CLI
• Stronger integration with ClearCase
• Supporting floating (concurrent) licenses like in ClearCase and ClearQuest
• Better support for foreign languages (if you write your comments in a language other than English)

What new – In details

• Launch Visual Annotate by GUI dashboard (in addition to launch by command-line). When launching Annotate with no specific filename, you will be asked to specify a filename.
• Launch Visual Annotate for specific file version. This helps you get annotating information for specific file version and its specific ClearCase branch/stream. The following options to launch the utility are now enabled:
• GUI:  Launching Annotate for file element (and then it displays the current version as seen on your ClearCase view)
• Command-line: Launching Annotate for file element (and then it displays the current version as seen on your ClearCase view)
• gm_annotate.exe m:\my_view\my_vob\employee.c
• Command-line: Launching Annotate for specific file version by using ClearCase convention:
• gm_annotate.exe employee.c@@/main/my_branch/6
• Set colorings and ranges for elapsed days coloring. This coloring type helps you identify when the code lines were added (the sooner the darker color). In default, 0-1 elapsed days will be colored in dark red. If you want to change this range or its color – you can do it.
• Your customized properties are saved for the next usage.
• New code-coloring option: by specific date. e.g.: you can color all code lines that have been added on 1/8/2012. This option is added to other options we’ve already made: color code by elapsed days; by file versions and by usernames.
• Highlight the current code line you’re now hovering on. This option enables you to easily identify where the mouse is hovering, and it bolds the lines and underscores the line.
• New actions taken from context menu (click screenshot to enlarge):
• Compare added version with previous version, source version and  deleted version
• Properties of version, element and activity
• Visual Annote now supports floating license mechanisms, like in ClearCase and ClearQuest. It enables you to install the utility on every host and for every ClearCase user in your organization while you share licenses among a larger number of users and enjoy central licensing management.
• Launch Visual Annotate from within ClearCase dashboards: “Version Tree” and “ClearCase Explorer”
• Launch Visual Annotate from within Windows Explorer and “Send To” context-menus
• Enhanced encoding support: ASCII and UTF-8. By default, Visual Annotate is set to the ASCII character set mode. If necessary, you can switch your viewer to UTF-8. Read manual for further details.
• Better support for identifying programming language. The following languages are identified automatically: C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, Java Script and HTML . See examples in screenshot: http://www.gomidjets.com/images/annotate_by_username.png
• In case of unknown file extension, default language coloring is set to “None”.
• Customize the duration time of displaying the tooltip window that displays information about the line you are hovering on.
• Cyclic log files to record errors (in case you want to send it to our support center)
• Code line numbers have been moved close to code itself
• Administrator permissions are no longer required on Windows 7

  Fixed bugs

• Long version names are no longer split out
• Default line coloring is no longer set to Visual Basic (but set to “None”).
• Coloring code behavior
• Small fonts for displaying code comments

The new release of ClearCheck continues to provide preventive maintenance and on-going maintenance for ClearCase vob servers and ClearCase environments.

Performance improvements: 

• Reducing amount of memory consumed when generating reports
• Reduced time to locate all views on VOB server (necessary for ClearCase checkvob subcommand)

New Functionality when generating health reports:

• Send email with link to report instead of attachment file, avoiding situations where report file may exceed predefined size (default is 5 MB)
• Since there are some email systems that prevent sending large emails, we enable you to predefine what is considered to be a ‘big email,’ and in case that report file is too large, you can send an email with a link to report file.
• Support UTF-8 encoding (along ASCII)
• Providing real-time status by new animated icon located on sysdary during scanning

Fixing bugs

• Corrected default value in Advanced email settings form
• Setting PDF report as the default report (instead of HTML report)
• Default regular expression login string for UNIX \Linux VOB servers has been corrected

“With ClearCheck we have an ongoing assurance that our ClearCase environment and VOBs are working properly. Instead of occasional manual checking which cost us money and added one more task to a busy schedule, we now get notice if there is a problem and exactly what it is. ClearCheck has made my job much easier.” 

Evgeny Krassilshikov, Director of R&D at harmon.ie (formerly Mainsoft)

Background

One of the products offered  by harmon.ie (previously known as Mainsoft) is a cross-platform enterprise solution, developed to function  as an OEM system for some of the world’s largest software vendors including Oracle Siebel, SAP Business Objects, IBM Rational, IBM Cognos, Mentor Graphics, Cadence Design and ESRI. Since 2008 the company has also been marketing enterprise collaboration products under its own brand.

The Challenge

Visual MainWin product is kept in “maintenance mode”. There are several active releases of this product that have been deployed by harmon.ie customers for years. However, clients still ask for small changes, bug fixes, and other minor maintenance requests.

The Visual MainWin project was developed in IBM’s Rational ClearCase environment, and is still stored on that platform. harmon.ie is highly committed to its clients and attaches great importance to ensuring that the Visual MainWin product is healthy, safely stored and capable of being updated as necessary. Thus, it was critical for them to follow IBM’s recommendation to periodically check their VOBs’ health.

Previously, harmon.ie used an external ClearCase specialist to conduct manual  health checks of each VOB once or twice a week. This ongoing expense was necessary to verify the integrity of the database and protect the valuable projects stored there. Yet, this expense also increased the cost of maintaining delivered projects.

The Solution

The ClearCase specialist providing services to harmon.ie suggested that they try ClearCheck as an alternative to manual health checks. A pilot project  was successful, and ClearCheck was quickly installed on the project maintenance environment.

After using the product successfully for over a year, harmon.ie was able to save a significant amount of money on ClearCase maintenance. ClearCheck checks all the VOBs automatically, using the most advanced checking methods. Once a problem is identified, it sends alerts so that the issue can be fixed quickly and effectively.

Recently we have launched a new complementary tool for ClearCase end-users: developers, leaders and QA engineers.

This new tool, GoMidjets Visual Annotate, helps you  trace the source of defects more easily by color coding the source code lines. For each code line, you can get more information such as:

• Who inserted that line
  

  Colored annotate by version (click to enlarge)

• When (including colored lapsed-time)
• Why (if you enter comments or use UCM activities)
• Which stream/branch it comes from, including the source stream/branch in case of merge / delivery / rebase.
• Who removed that line, when, on which stream and why

To watch screenshots and download a trial version: http://gomidjets.com/annotate

There’s more – you can get a view of source code including lines removed from other versions! This way you can compare more than two versions simultaneously.

GoMidjets Annotate supports all languages and it automatically identifies Java, C, C++, C#, VB, HTML and Java scripts.

Since we work in Agile process, we’d love to hear your feedback about the user interface (UI), performance, and what benefits you gained from using it. Thank you!
Feel free to spread the word to all your colleagues who use ClearCase and want to increase both productivity and quality..

To download, watch screenshots and video demo:  http://gomidjets.com/annotate

Location: Webinar (everywhere)
Language: French

We’d like to inform you about several exciting upcoming events that we have planned regarding Agile, ALM and Rational:

Location: Leonardo City Tower Hotel. Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Language: Hebrew

The forum subject this month is “Social Media in Software Development.” I will be delivering a presentation on “Utilizing Social Networks Feedback in Agile Development”

Location: IBM Israel (Petach Tiqwa)
Language: Hebrew

Location: Webinar (everywhere)
Language: French

In this post me we are hosting a guest writer, Mr. Leonid Stanovsky, who uses our product for a while and has agreed to share his review with us.

GoMidjets CompBL allows users of IBM’s ClearCase UCM to automatically compare baselines, streams and other ClearCase objects and assets. I have reviewed it in connection with a project that involved 20 developers, 10 components and intensive delivery/rebase operations, in which we created builds and baselines on the main release stream every night.

My aim was to assess the contribution of CompBL to our daily operations, mainly in reporting on delivered activities, as a basis for each day’s work plan. Such reports can be produced by built-in ClearCase commands, but this approach has two limitations. First, the commands are complicated and difficult to remember and to apply. Second, the output is very techy and not easily understandable by the managers who need the information. I’ve been planning to write a script to take care of this task for ages, but never got around to it. So naturally, when I was asked to review CompBL, I knew exactly why it may be useful.

I downloaded the demo version for GoMidjet’s website (www.gomidjets.com), and found it wizard-based and GUI –based, very easy to install.

After installation CompBL opens a GUI that allows you to compare baselines, streams, etc. on a one-time basis, and also to define dynamic rules that generate reports according to pre-defined criteria. The interface was a bit cluttered to my taste, but once I got a grasp of its logic and got assistance by support team, it was fairly easy to use.

I found CompBL especially useful for the following tasks:

• Compare two baselines on the same stream, each representing a different product version and build
• Compare pair baseline/stream in any combinations and quickly find and analyze differences between them. I used it for diagnostic errors detected during an integration testing, it allows quickly locate the root of problem.
• Create reports, as part of Build Release Notes, about new baselines very quickly and reliably
• Create daily reports that compare the latest baseline to the previous one. I’ve achieved this by writing a dynamic comparison rule.
• Create Continuous Integration (CI) reports that compare the recommended baseline to the previous one. I’ve achieved this by writing a dynamic comparison rule and it requires some extra customization (the products comes with a set of triggers that enables this kind of report)

The main advantage of the CompBL for Release and Configuration Managers  lies in saving time on manual report creation, based on UCM ClearCase commands above mentioned. One of the main problems with ClearCase, is that you need to do a lot of work to make the information presentable to managers (lots of copy & paste work from various sources). CompBL, on the other hand, automatically generates a tabulated report that can be easily understood by managers who want a quick and clear overview of the changes from one version to the next.

On the downside, I found the tool a bit slow. Especially uploading the baseline list takes more time than it should. But I know it will be improved on next versions.

To conclude, I found CompBL to be a very useful tool in saving time and energy for Release and Configuration Managers, and in making DevOps in general more efficient. Still, it can be improved in both simplicity and performance.

About the writer

Leonid Stanovsky is an experienced Configuration Manager with 18 years of industry experience. He currently serves as a ClearCase supporter at Elad/Intel, and previously served as Configuration Manager at Motorola and Alcatel-Lucent.

What’s new: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21566887
System Requirements: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27023170

Download (by Passport Advantage): https://www.ibm.com/software/howtobuy/softwareandservices/passportadvantage

ClearCase 8.0 has been made generally available. We’re working now to evaluate it with and w/o our plug-in solutions. We’ll share our feedback with you soon.

Herein some links for getting more information about the new release:
What’s new: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21566805
System Requirements: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27008776

Download (by Passport Advantage): https://www-112.ibm.com/software/howtobuy/softwareandservices/passportadvantage

ISRAEL – GoMidjets provides configuration management (CM) plug-in solutions for IBM Rational ClearCase and professional consulting services for Rational Team Concert (RTC), ClearCase and ClearQuest. GoMidjets announced that they have formed a partnership with A Better Solution, Inc., a U.S. based company that also specializes on Rational Tools CM consulting, tools and products.

“We are pleased to partner with A Better Solution, which allows us to resell their best-of-class products to our clients in Israel and abroad while also extending the footprint and support availability of our products in the United States through ABS.

ABS has already sold their products to many of our clients and government agencies so we are excited to build on that momentum. With their exceptional tools and our knowledge of our local markets, it was a perfect fit. Now we can extend the reach of our own tools by leveraging their reputation in and knowledge of the US market. “

- Tamir Gefen, Founder and CEO of GoMidjets.

“Gomidjets and ABS provide similar services in primarily different regions while at the same time providing complementary toolset the partnership is a perfect match for both companies that allows each company to acheive a larger footprint for both sales and support in the new regions.

“We are excited about our new partnership with GoMidjets. There is almost no overlap between our products and their products so both companies get new products to sell to their existing client base while extending their product set to new client that would not have been previously reachable.

The customer clearly wins as they are exposed to a wider tool set and they gain local support of these tools. Both ABS and Gomidjets as well as their clients will profit in this partnership. “

- Charles Clarke III, Founder and CEO of A Better Solution, Inc.

— For more information on GoMidjets, visit gomidjets.com.
— For more information on A Better Solution, Inc., visit abs-consulting.com.