Is there anyone out there using Clear Case with Sybase Powerbuilder?

Question

Word has come from upon high to standardize our SCM system. And upon the clay tablets was written Clear Case.

I am reaching out to anyone who is actually using this configuration - to get best practices, hints and tips, war stories, anything...

The Sybase Source Control newsgroup only gives back the sound of crickets.

We currently have a boatload of actively maintained Powerbuilder 11.5 and EAServer 5.5 systems - so version-ing at the PBL library file level is NOT an option.

And it will be a long, long time before we go to the newest version 12 - which removes the PBL file and uses text files and works as a Visual-Studio plug-in.

Answer 1

I used ClearCase and PowerBuilder at a previous job.

We were using the IDE-integrated source control, and had it setup so that the individual objects were saved in clearcase as raw text objects (.sro, .srw, etc). I was not the one that exported the objects so unfortunately I can't give details, but I think PB can do at least some of that for you. Anyway, with this configuration when we checked in a file from PB, the IDE would automatically check the .srX file into ClearCase. This is the configuration you need, so that you can view the history of your changes using the ClearCase tools.

We also used PowerGen to automatically create PBL's using the source files in ClearCase. This is also a process you want to set up. Previously to this process we had to manually check the PBL's into source control (!!). I strongly advise against you doing this - otherwise you cannot truly guarantee that the .srX files and the PBL's are in sync.

Anyway, that's a brief summary. Let me know if there's anything you would like me to clarify, and I'll do my best. Good luck!

Answer 2

I do use ClearCase, but not directly with PowerBuilder projects.

The ClearCase manual has:

• an extensive section on PowerBuilder integration,
• and a couple of technotes, including a " Getting started with PowerBuilder and ClearCase Integration" document.

The Sybase infocenter (11.5) mentions settings affecting source controls.

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PowerBuilder projects or not, I recommend:

• snapshot views for all development activities
• dynamic views for consultation purposes (you can very well have both: one dynamic view to test your config spec, and one snapshot view to reuse the same tested config spec and actually copy the files locally)
• CC Vob servers (for hosting the repositories) should be on a LAN. If there are on a WAN, then use CCRC (a RCP client communicating through web with a Web ClearCase Server which, in turn will communicate with the Vob servers on the same LAN)
• CC View servers on a LAN (each client should manage its own view server)

Answer 3

I've always used the following pattern

_work.pbl _last_minute_changes.pbl 1.pbl 2.pbl 3.pbl ...

I export the objects from 1,2,3... and check them into clearcase. I set up a nightly build using PowerGen to do a bootstrap import to a network share. I use a script to pull those pbl's down into my view. I check an object out of clearcase and import it into my _work.pbl. Make my changes, export it and check it into clearcase. A trigger then fires a CI build that imports the object into the _last_minute_changes.pbl and regenerates it against the previous nights pbl's and then archives it to a network share.

I then refresh my view from the share using the script and delete the object from my work.pbl. When it comes time to deploy we run a script that takes the sync'd pbl's and turns them into pbd's.

I used this process for a team of over 100+ powerbuilder developers in 4 states and it woked really well for us. Our application had over 12,000 objects and we never had any problems.

Answer 4

I am the Source Code Control Administrator and I have been using ClearCase and PowerBuilder together (using the IDE integration) for about 7 years. We have the PBL objects (.srw, .sru, etc) exported and in ClearCase. The PBLs are not in ClearCase. We also use PowerGen for regeneration instead of GLV because of GLVs issues with more complex systems.

ClearCase integrates beautifully with PowerBuilder (we are usign 9 and we are doing an ROI on the upgrade to 12).

Search IBM's website for "Getting started with PowerBuilder and ClearCase.pdf". That contains some very good information.