Rational Team Concert 6.0.1 New & Noteworthy

Rational Team Concert is an integral part of the Rational solution for Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM). For new and noteworthy information about other CLM applications, see these pages:

• Jazz Foundation (Jazz Team Server) and Global Configuration Management 6.0.1
• Quality Management 6.0.1
• Requirements Management 6.0.1
• Jazz Reporting Service 6.0.1
• Rational Engineering Lifecycle Manager 6.0.1

For a list of changes to the CLM 6.0.1 installation and upgrade process, see CLM 6.0.1 Installation and Upgrade Notes.

New in previous versions of Rational Team Concert

For details about new features and functionality in previous releases, see these pages:

• Rational Team Concert New & Noteworthy 6.0
• Rational Team Concert New & Noteworthy 5.0.2
• Rational Team Concert New & Noteworthy 5.0.1
• Rational Team Concert New & Noteworthy 5.0
• Rational Team Concert New & Noteworthy 4.0.7

New in Rational Team Concert 6.0.1

Tracking and planning

My Stuff

Cross project views

This release adds support to view and edit work items across multiple projects. To view your work items across multiple projects, click My Stuff on the top toolbar.

You are presented with the following views to display work items for the projects that you select:

• My Work: View all the work items that are assigned to you. You can also rank work items in this view.
• My Starred: View work items that you starred for quick reference.
• My Subscribed: Use this view to display all work items to which you are subscribed.
• My Activities: View important project activity. The My Events section shows work items in which your team members have mentioned you; the My Subscriptions section shows updates to your subscribed work items.
• All Work: Use this view to display all open, in progress, or resolved work items (including unassigned and unplanned).

Project selection

You can choose the projects for your views by using the Project Selection menu.

• My Projects: Includes work items from all projects of which you are a member. This is the default selection.
• All Projects: Includes work items from all projects to which you have access in the repository.
• Below that is a list of all projects to which you have access. You can select which projects to include in your views.

Filtering

The cross project views support common filtering across all projects and advanced filtering of specific projects. Common filtering supports the following features:

Common filtering also supports Parent links in short form notation (->) and full form.

To add filters for specific projects, click the arrow at the corner of the filter text box.

Advanced filtering supports filtering on the projects that are selected in the project selection menu. You can filter work items in a specific project with all enumeration-type, contributor-type, tags, category, and deliverable attributes.

Advanced filtering also supports:

• Parent links in short form notation (->) and full form
• Iteration type attribute (for example, Planned For)
• Work Item type attributes
• Link attributes (all links to or from a work item are supported)

Bulk edit

You can now apply same attribute value to multiple items by first hovering over the items and then selecting the check boxes.

Alternatively, you can select multiple items by using the following control options:

• Shift + click selects all work items between the first and last selected items.
• Ctrl + click expands and selects all child work items if the currently selected item has any child items.

When you change the attributes for one work item, the changes are applied to all of the selected work items.

Custom views

If you use a filter often, you might want to save it as a custom view. Click Save and type the name of the view. Your custom views are displayed in the left navigation pane below the predefined views.

If you have created several custom views, you can search for them by name.

Process template

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 3.0 for a portfolio

A predefined process template to support Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) 3.0 at the portfolio level is now available. It can be used to accelerate the adoption of SAFe, leveraging the automation of Rational Team Concert to manage key SAFe artifacts such as portfolio epics. It also supports key SAFe events such as release planning at portfolio level. This template is designed to be used with the Rational DOORS Next Generation (RDNG) project template (available out of the box with RDNG 6.0.1) with Strategic Theme, Value Stream, and Lightweight Business Case. It supports a single portfolio tracking multiple programs. For more information, see IBM SAFe Support.

Planning

Quick Planner: Bulk edit

Quick Planner now shows check boxes that enable bulk edit. After you select multiple work items, you can use bulk edit to modify multiple attributes at the same time or drag and drop the group.

New control options are added for selecting multiple work items:

• Shift + click selects all work items between the first and last selected items.
• Ctrl + click expands and selects all child work items if the currently selected item has any children

Quick Planner: Filtering

Filter syntax now supports the following:

• Short form Parent attribute (->)
• Iteration type attribute (excluding Planned For attribute)
• Work Item type attributes
• Link attributes (all links to a Work Item are supported)

Additionally, the Quick Planner views are now simplified by moving My * views (except My Work) to the My Stuff page.

Default categories

You can now specify a work item category to be used as a default for a particular team area when creating items in plans. You can configure this option on the categories page of the project area editor. New items that are created for plans in the corresponding team area will have their Filed Against value set to this. In Quick Planner, if a team area is selected, this property also applies to items that are created by using quick create.

Export a plan to CSV

The Plan editor now has a button to export a plan to a CSV file, which supports cross-project plans, as well as other plan types.

Configuration management

The Plan editor now supports linking to versioned test plans and requirements collections. The plan's iteration must be associated to a release that is linked to a global configuration.

When creating a link from a versioned requirements management (RM) or quality management (QM) resource to a plan, the selection window now filters the list of plans by the current global configuration. This filter can be disabled through a check box in the selection window.

Colorization of work items in the Plan editor based on test case status now supports links to versioned test cases.

When a plan is linked to a versioned requirements collection, the Plan editor now supports creating work items for the requirements in that collection.

Blocked cards

In the Plan editor, for Kanban and Taskboard views, you can now mark cards as blocked and provide a reason with one click. This is a predefined feature in the Scrum and SAFe templates.

Simplified configuration for blocked cards

The project area editor in the Eclipse client allows marking cards as "blocked" for projects that do not have this configured.

For more information, see Viewing work items with the Kanban board.

Editable Boolean attributes in Kanban and Taskboard views

The Plan editor now supports editable Boolean attributes in Kanban and Taskboard views.

Work items

Duplicate resolution actions in workflows

Duplicate resolution actions are now customizable per workflow. The duplicate resolution action ensures that items that are resolved as duplicate have a "duplicate of" link.

Complete the following steps in the web client to see the new Duplicate Resolution control.

1. Open the Project Area.
2. For the process configuration, click the Work Items tab.
3. In the Work Item editor, click Workflows.
4. In the Details section, notice the Duplicate Resolution control. Use this control to select the resolution to which the duplicate resolution action applies. Select None to have no duplicate resolution action for the workflow.

Note: This can be done in the project area editor in the Eclipse client as well.

Copy ID and summary (web client)

The web client work item editor toolbar now contains a new option to copy the ID and summary of the item to the system clipboard. The "Copy ID and Summary" action opens a new window, so you can copy plain text or link versions of the work item ID and summary. For browsers that do not support the copy action, you can use the new window to manually copy the plain text or link version.

Configuration management

Links shown in Feeds and in the Work Item History view can now navigate to versioned resources in QM and RM.

The Ranked List view for plans can now indicate the pass/fail status of versioned resources in QM.

The Lifecycle Queries now support links to versioned QM resources. These queries include:

• Plan Items tested successfully
• Plan Items tested successfully (current iteration)
• Plan Items with failing tests
• Plan Items with failing tests (current iteration)
• Plan Items with tests not run
• Plan Items with tests not run (current iteration)

Usability of associating Releases to Global Configurations is improved by allowing Global Configurations to be replaced more easily.

Before a Release can be associated to a Global Configuration, a check is made to ensure that the OSLC Link Type/Attribute mappings have been established.

Improved work item load performance using WebSphere DynaCache

Work item load performance from the the Work Item editor of the web client can now be optimized by enabling WebSphere DynaCache usage. For more information, see Configuring DynaCache in WebSphere Liberty profile.

Creating structured queries

New sections are added to the Eclipse and web client online help that provide conceptual information, examples, and limitations associated with advanced querying.

• Creating queries in the Eclipse client
• Creating queries in the web client

Jazz source control

Local changes preserved when reloading due to out-of-sync

There are some scenarios in which a loaded repository workspace can become out of sync. For instance, if a user has the same workspace loaded on two different machines, the workspace on one machine will become out of sync when changes are checked in or accepted into the workspace from the other machine. The following screen shot shows an example of a workspace that has become out of sync in this manner.

You will notice that the workspace contains two local changes. In the past, reloading the workspace would have caused these changes to be removed (although the content would have been preserved in the backup shed). Now, with the changes made in 6.0.1, the reload will preserve these changes. The following screen shot shows the reload page of the load wizard. You still have the option to overwrite local changes if you like, but it is not enabled by default so clicking finish will result in a reload that preserves the local changes.

The next screen shot shows what the Pending Changes view might look like after the reload takes place.

You will notice that the local changes for the two files remain. You will also notice that there is a conflict entry in the unresolved folder as well. The reload will automatically merge any file contents that are auto-resolvable, so the conflict entry indicates that there was an unresolvable conflict between the remote changes and the local changes that needs to be merged manually. The merging of this local conflict is much the same as workspace conflicts, as shown in the following screen shot.

Once you have manually merged the files, you can choose the Resolve as Merged action from the editor or you can use the actions from the pending changes view. Resolve with Mine is essentially the same as Resolve as Merged and will leave the local change as is and remove the conflicting item. Resolve with Proposed will undo the local change resulting in the remote content of the file being restored.

Code Review

Code Review is a web-based review tool that is integrated with Rational Team Concert work items and Jazz source control. It provides a new code review presentation that you attach to a work item type. In the example shown below, the code review presentation is added to the work item's Approvals section. It shows a code review in progress, lists the change sets, target stream, and issue status. It also presents a list of files in the change sets where you can see who has reviewed a specific file along with links to open must-fix issues.

In the web browser, the review provides an annotated compare editor that lets reviewers create code review comments related to specific lines of code, and the ability to identify must-fix issues.

A process precondition can prevent a reviewer from approving a code review if must-fix issues they submitted have not been resolved. The reviewer sees an error message similar to the following when attempting to save the work item:

You can find more information on how to configure code review for your project area, enforcing operation behavior, and code review work flows in our User Guide.

Using access groups for SCM artifact read access

In the RTC Eclipse, Visual Studio, and command line clients, users can now set the read access of streams, repository workspaces, components, files, and folders to an Access Group.

For example, the Read Access Permission window for a component (with the new Access Group radio button) is shown below:

The various places in Rational Team Concert that display the read access of an SCM artifact are updated to include both the read scope type and the name of the artifact to which read access is deferred (e.g. project area, team area, or access group name). This can be seen in various label decorators, tooltips, editors, Properties view, etc.

Additionally, a Change Access Control context menu action for shared files or folders is now available from within the Package Explorer and Navigator views. Previously, this action was only available from the Repository Files view.

In the Eclipse client, the search output for stream, repository workspaces, and components has an optional column that shows the visibility (i.e. read access).

The CLI query command now includes a new function, has_read_access(), which can be used to find repository workspaces and streams with the given read access. To enable this for repository workspaces, a new option has been added to the command to specify that the query is for repository workspaces: --workspace. The syntax for the new has_read_access() query function is as follows:

scm query --stream "has_read_access(<visibility>,<optional_arg>)" 

<visibility> can be one of the following:

• accessgroup
• projectarea
• teamarea

accessgroup can be followed by an optional second argument to specify an access group.
projectarea can be followed by an optional second argument to specify a project area.
teamarea can be followed by an optional second argument to specify a team area.

scm query --workspace "has_read_access(<visibility>,<optional_arg>)" 

<visibility> can be one of the following:

• accessgroup
• projectarea
• private
• public

accessgroup can be followed by an optional second argument to specify an access group.
projectarea can be followed by an optional second argument to specify a project area.
private and public are never followed by a second argument.

Examples:

	C:\>scm query --stream -r https://localhost:9443/jazz "has_read_access('teamarea', @4057)"
	(4055) "Project X Stream 3" Team X
	C:\>scm query --stream -r https://localhost:9443/jazz "has_read_access('projectarea', @4056)"
	(4054) "Project X Stream 2" Project X

Also, the scm list components, list streams, and list workspaces commands now have an option for showing components with the given read access. The syntax for the new option (for components) is as follows:

scm list components --visibility <arg>

<arg> can be one of the following:

• public
• private
• projectarea
• teamarea
• accessgroup

If <arg> is projectarea , then an additional option allows specification of a project area: --process-area <arg>
If <arg> is teamarea , then an additional option allows specification of a team area: --process-area <arg>
If <arg> is accessgroup , then an additional option allows specification of an access group: --accessgroup <arg>

The scm list remotefiles command now has an option for showing read access. The syntax for the new option is as follows:

scm list remotefiles --show-access/-a

Example:

C:\>scm list remotefiles -r https://localhost:9443/jazz --show-access -w WorkspaceA ComponentA /p1
/p1/
/p1/file1.txt [Contributor - (_KGRY4CFWEdq-WY5y7lROQw) ADMIN]
/p1/file2.txt [Access group - (_i3KnoVgWEeWru9nTlhjyhw) AccessGroup1]

Directional flow

In the Rational Team Concert Eclipse, Visual Studio, and command line clients, users can now set the direction of flow of the flow target.

In the workspace/stream editor page, the flow target list has three new columns (Flow Direction, Current Flow, and Default Flow) as shown below:

The flow direction of the flow target can be changed by clicking on the Change Flow button, which will bring up the dialog allowing the user to set the flow as Incoming, Outgoing, or Incoming and Outgoing. Setting the flow direction of the flow target to incoming implies that the workspace can only accept changes from the stream and similarly setting the flow direction to outgoing implies that the workspace can only deliver changes to the stream. By default, the flow target is added with the flow direction as incoming and outgoing.

Users can also set the current incoming/outgoing flow and default incoming/outgoing flow. For example, if the user has set different current incoming and outgoing flows for a workspace, the Pending Changes view would be displayed as shown below:

Additionally, users can set the current incoming, outgoing flows of the workspace from the Pending Changes view Change Flow Target context menu option.

In the command line client, the set flowtarget command has been updated to include a new option called --flow-direction, and the --default and --current options have been updated to accept the flow direction. The arguments for these options will be i for incoming, o for outgoing and b for both (which means incoming and outgoing).

$ scm set flowtarget "JKE Banking Workspace" "BRM Stream" --flow-direction i  --current i --default i
$ scm set flowtarget "JKE Banking Workspace" "QA Stream" --flow-direction o  --current o --default o
        

The list flowtarget command output now shows the flow direction information, as shown below:

$ scm list flowtarget "JKE Banking Workspace"
(1001) "BRM Stream" (incoming) (current) (default)
(1002) "EEM Stream" (incoming, outgoing)
(1003) "JKE Banking Integration Stream" (incoming, outgoing)
(1004) "QA Stream" (outgoing) (current) (default)
(1005) "RelEng Stream" (incoming, outgoing)

The show status command output shows the current incoming and current outgoing flows, as shown below:

$ scm show status
Workspace: (1000) "Workspace1" <- (1001) "BRM Stream" -> (1004) "QA Stream"
Component: (1006) "Banking Logic"
Component: (1007) "Build"
Component: (1008) "C# UI"
Component: (1009) "Database"
Component: (1010) "Java UI"
Component: (1011) "Mobile"
Component: (1012) "Prerequisites"
Component: (1013) "Web UI"

Restricting flows to components in a stream

In the Rational Team Concert Eclipse and web clients, users can now configure which workspace or stream can deliver changes to the components of the stream. The SCM "Deliver (server)" operation behavior precondition Restrict Change Set Delivery to Components in Stream has been updated to list and configure the source workspaces.

The updated precondition Restrict Change Set Delivery to Components in Stream view is shown below:

To configure the source workspaces, users will select the component and click on the Edit Permissions button. The Edit Restrictions dialog has a new section at the bottom to specify the source workspaces and streams that can deliver to the component of the stream, as shown below:

Similarly, the user can add the source workspaces in the web UI as shown below:

Component hierarchies

In Rational Team Concert 6.0.1, the component hierarchies feature has been extended to the VS.Net and shell clients. Note that, although MS-SCCI can work with hierarchies, users won't be able to see or create them. Please refer to the section Client for Microsoft Visual Studio IDE in this New and Noteworthy for more details about how you can create and manage component hierarchies using the Visual Studio client.

With the full capabilities of the component hierarchies feature now available across the Visual Studio, Eclipse, and command line interface clients, the feature is now enabled by default (it can be disabled if your organization does not plan to take advantage of this feature).

Custom attributes

The support for custom attributes includes more artifact types. In addition to source file versions, baselines, snapshots, and streams, custom attributes are now supported for components.

You can create custom attributes for supported artifacts and then query the artifacts later, based on the value of these custom attributes.

Tags

A special custom attribute called tags is also supported, which is a predefined custom attribute that can be used for source file versions, baselines, snapshots, streams, and components. The tags attribute can store zero or more values. Users can run a query from the command line to retrieve artifacts where the tags attribute contains a specific value.

You do not need to specify the special custom attribute tags in the attribute definition for the different artifact types. By default, it is available for all supported types and is not shown in the attribute definition web UI.

Defining custom attributes

Before you can create a custom attribute on file versions, baselines, snapshots, streams or components, the custom attribute must be defined in the project area. Custom attributes are defined by using the web client. To define custom attributes, you must have administrative access to the project area. The component must have been added to the existing artifacts as a possible type for definition of custom attributes.

Creating and modifying custom attributes

Use the set custom-attribute command to create or modify the value of a custom attribute on a component.

scm set custom-attribute -C/--component <arg>
                         [-r/--repository-uri <arg>] [-u/--username <arg>
                         -P/--password <arg> | --certificate <arg>
                         -P/--password <arg> | --smartCard -u/--username <arg>
                         | --kerberos] <key> <value>

key is the name of the custom attribute to set.
value is the value of the custom attribute.

The option -C, --component <arg> indicates the component to which custom attributes are set. To specify the component, use the component name[@repo], alias, or UUID[@repo].
Example:

$ lscm set custom-attribute type "Simple component" --component SimpleComponent

Now the attribute "type" is set to "Simple component".

Removing custom attributes

Use the unset custom-attribute command to remove a custom attribute.

scm unset custom-attribute -C/--component <arg>
                           [-r/--repository-uri <arg>] [-u/--username <arg>
                           -P/--password <arg> | --certificate <arg>
                           -P/--password <arg> | --smartCard -u/--username
                           <arg> | --kerberos] [-j/--json] <key>

key is the name of the custom attribute to retrieve.

The option -C, --component <arg> indicates the component from which to remove custom attributes. To specify the component, use the component name[@repo], alias, or UUID[@repo].
Example:

$ lscm unset custom-attribute type --component SimpleComponent

The "type" custom attribute is successfully removed.

Getting a specific custom attribute

Use the get custom-attribute command to get the value of a custom attribute.

scm get custom-attribute -C/--component <arg>
                         [-r/--repository-uri <arg>] [-u/--username <arg>
                         -P/--password <arg> | --certificate <arg>
                         -P/--password <arg> | --smartCard -u/--username <arg>
                         | --kerberos] [-j/--json] <key>

key is the name of the custom attribute to retrieve.

The option -C, --component <arg> indicates the component from which to get custom attributes. To specify the component, use the component name[@repo], alias, or UUID[@repo].
Example:

$ lscm get custom-attribute type --component SimpleComponent

This returns:

(6330) "SimpleComponent"
  type - Simple component
		

Showing custom attributes

Use the show custom-attributes command to show custom attributes.

lscm show custom-attributes -C/--component <arg>
                            [-r/--repository-uri <arg>] [-u/--username <arg>
                            -P/--password <arg> | --certificate <arg>
                            -P/--password <arg> | --smartCard -u/--username
                            <arg> | --kerberos] [-j/--json]

The option -C, --component <arg> indicates the component for which to show custom attributes. To specify the component, use the component name[@repo], alias, or UUID[@repo].
Example:

$ lscm show custom-attribute --component SimpleComponent

This returns:

(6330) "SimpleComponent"
  type  - Simple component
  owned_by - Tom
  		

Querying using custom attributes

Use the query command to query components by custom attributes.

lscm query [-C/--component] [-m/--maximum <arg>] [-r/--repository-uri <arg>]
           [-u/--username <arg> -P/--password <arg> | --certificate <arg>
           -P/--password <arg> | --smartCard -u/--username <arg> | --kerberos]
           [-j/--json] <query string>

query string matches custom attributes. For details, see the IBM Documentation.

The option -m, --maximum <arg> indicates the maximum number of results to be returned. The number must be greater than 0. If you omit this option, 10 is used by default.
The option -C, --component specifies the components in which to match the query string.

Example:

$ lscm query --component "has_attr(owned_by)"

This returns:

(6330) "SimpleComponent"
(6345) "Next Component"

$ lscm query --component "owned_by = 'Tom' or owned_by = 'Sue'"

This returns:

(6330) "SimpleComponent"
(6345) "Next Component"

$ lscm query --component "(owned_by = 'Tom' and type = 'Simple component')"

This returns:

(6330) "SimpleComponent"

The general query supports:

• <expression> and <expression>
• <expression> or <expression>
• <attribute> = <value>
• has_attr(<attribute>)
• tags contains <tag>

<expression> can contain combinations of other query functionality grouped by the precedence operators ( ).

The component type also supports some specific query operations:

• in_workspace(<object identifier>)
• in_stream(<object identifier>)
• name = <literal name>
• name matches <pattern>.

The <object identifier> is the UUID, literal name, or alias. An alias number must be prefixed with an ampersand (@). The <literal name> is the full literal name, and the <pattern> is a name string that includes an asterisk (*) to match zero or more of any character. The question mark (?) matches one of any character.

New decoration to show when a component has changes in addition to the current baseline

Components appearing in the Pending Changes view, Team Artifacts view, and New Snapshot dialog all have a label decoration to show the "current baseline" (which shows the baseline ID and name). We now prefix this label decorator with a "changed/dirty" asterisk character when there are change sets on top of the current baseline. For example, if you create or accept new change sets, then the current baseline decorator will have the "*" prefix. This information may be useful in the New Snapshot dialog, as you can see at a glance which components will have baselines created.

This is shown in the Pending Changes view below:

We also improved the component tooltip hover to provide this information as well.

Rational Team Concert Git integration

Using Node.js based server to serve Git repositories

Git HTTP requests can now be served by a Node.js server, which enables Git sync commands, such as clone, push, fetch, pull, and etc. to work without needing an Apache-based HTTP server. For more information, see Node.js Server for RTC-Git Integration.

Using Node.js-based hooks

Hooks for checking permissions and work item linking are supported in Node.js. The existing Python-based hooks continue to work as well, but if you are not using Python and do not want to install it, you can use Node.js-based hooks. For more information, see Using Node.js-based Hooks.

RTC integration with GitHub Enterprise

Rational Team Concert now expands its integration with Git by supporting GitHub Enterprise. GitHub Enterprise is the on-premise version of GitHub, which enables collaborative code development behind a firewall. You can use web hooks to link Rational Team Concert work items with GitHub commits. The comment associated with a commit is examined to identify the work item to be associated, using the same default keywords as in Git Integration. GitHub Enterprise 2.2.x is needed for the integration to work. For more information, see RTC Integration with GitHub Enterprise.

GitLab process enforcement support for HTTP

We can now define permissions and operation behavior for GitLab users in Rational Team Concert. Rational Team Concert identifies the GitLab user who is delivering the changes and responds based on the entitlements of that user. This is currently limited to the HTTP protocol. GitLab 7.7.x is needed for this to work. For more information, see RTC GitLab Enhancement.

Actionable Git comments to update RTC work item

While Git comments are currently used for linking work items in RTC, that support is now also extended to perform certain actions on the work item. The two actions supported are resolving the work item and specifying the time spent. Actionable comments must follow a specific format for RTC to be able to distinguish them from a standard comment.

To resolve a work item, #resolve should follow the number of the work item to be resolved, e.g. Task 21 #resolve.

For time spent, the work item number should be followed by time# and then the time spent in nwndnhnm format, where

• n is the number for a specific denomination;
• w, d, h, m are the denominations for weeks, days, hours, and minutes respectively. If only a single number is specified, then it is taken as hours.

Entries can be specified in any combination, for example bug 11 time#1w4h or task 23 time#4d6h20m.

#resolve and #time can also be used together in any sequence but should follow the work item number that they reference e.g. defect 8 time#4h #resolve.

Rational Team Concert Build

Team Concert Plugin for Jenkins

From 1.1.9.6 version the Team Concert Plugin supports projects of type Workflow. You can use the Team Concert plugin in a workflow job via the general "checkout" step or "teamconcert" step. It supports polling and generation of changelogs.

API token option for Jenkins connection

API token support has now been added to the Jenkins build engine UI. You can now use the API token in place of a password for authentication to Jenkins server from Rational Team Concert.

Ant property to reuse login

In 6.0.1, a new property com.ibm.team.build.ant.reuseLoginOption has been added for Build Ant tasks. If this property is set to true, the first time an ant task logs in to a repository, the connection is not terminated at the end of this task. All subsequent tasks reuse this connection as long as they connect to same repository with same user ID. As soon as a task logs in into a different repository, or with a different user ID, the previous connection is terminated. This creates a new connection, which is reused thereafter.

SCM check for scheduling builds

In 6.0.1, a new property team.scm.preBuildScmCheck has been added to a build definition. If this property is set to true for a build then a check for SCM changes is performed before scheduling a build. This check is applicable only for builds scheduled using the Rational Team Concert source control option with Jazz Build Engine.

Enterprise platform extensions

Dependency build and promotion

Changes in promotion definition editor

There are several changes made in the promotion definition editor:

The z/OS Promotion or IBMi Promotion page now consists of three tabs: General, Component Promotion, and Work Item Promotion. You must configure the options in the individual tabs.

Publish build map links and Destination directory (originally in the Build File and Targets section), Skip timestamp check when build outputs are promoted (originally in the Enterprise Promotion section), and settings in the Platform section are now merged into a new section called Outputs.

The order of the sections in the General tab has been changed. The Build File and Targets section is collapsed by default because you do not usually need to configure it.

To improve control of work item promotion, the definition editor has a new Work Item Promotion tab. You can specify the work item options on the tab, and the options are applied in the work item promotion request dialog.

If you select "Promote source and outputs", the option is applied and the applicable selection is disabled in the work item promotion request dialog. If you want to specify what is promoted in the work item promotion request dialog, select "Specify the following radio button options during work item promotion".

For each of the options:

• Include children of selected work items
• Consider ignored changes
• Include impacted outputs

You can elect to enable the option so that it is selectable in the work item promotion request dialog, and whether the decision to use the option is specified in the work item promotion request dialog. For example, the options selected in the previous Promotion Definition screen are shown in the settings of the following work item promotion request dialog:

Permission to override the work item promotion settings in the definition editor

If you defined the work item promotion settings in the promotion definition editor, another user might need to override the settings to change them during promotion.

For example, the following settings have been selected in the promotion definition:

During the request for a work item promotion, you can see that some of the choices are disabled by the previous definition.

You can override the settings selected in the promotion definition if permission is granted to you in the process configuration. Permission is granted by selecting Override Settings during promotion.

After you are granted permission, all choices in the work item promotion are available, even if they were disabled by the work item promotion definition.

Build Result editor

Pre-process process in Build Report contribution

The results of the pre-processing of files are displayed in the Build Report line of the Contribution Summary on the Overview tab of the build result.

The frequency of updates to the number of buildable files can be set in the build definition editor.

Count the successful and failed build files in the Build Report contribution

The number of the successful and failed build files is displayed in the Build Report line of the Contribution Summary.

Add the local and remote file open actions

The open local and remote file actions are added to the context menu of the row in the dependency set view.

The open local and remote file actions are added to the context menu of the source files table in the Build Map editor.

Changes in the build report editor

Failed build report

If the build fails, the details of the buildable files that failed are displayed in the Failed tab of the build report.

Not built report

If the build fails, any buildable files that were not built are displayed in the Not Built tab of the build report.

Successful build report

If the build is successful, the Build Report editor only displays the Successful tab. In addition, if you hover over the Reason to Build column of the build report, a tooltip provides more information.

Retrieve File Details button added to the Inputs tab of the Build Map editor

On the Inputs tab of the build map editor, you can click Retrieve File Details to retrieve the details of the files and the names of the files that produced them.

Subset file export

An export function in the Build Subset editor and Subset Preview view enable you to export the file list to a comma-separated values (CSV) file.

Export function in the Build Subset editor

Right-click the component in the subset editor, click Export All in the context menu, then click CSV.

Build subset preview

Right-click the component in the Preview view, then click Export All in the context menu.

Export All is also available as an icon in the upper-right corner of the preview view.

Always Build subset files

Files in subsets have a new "Always Build" property. When set to true, the file is built even though it has not been modified. There are also new menu items for opening and removing files in the table.

Build map storage maintenance

In previous releases, when you deleted a build map, a history of the build map might remain. With RTC 6.0.1, build map histories are fully deleted when the associated build definitions are deleted. In addition, build histories are also deleted when all build results for definitions that reference build maps prior to migration are deleted.

Increased control over build scoping

The Dependency Build editor has new settings in the Dependency Options section to allow increased control over what gets built. A subset can be included in a build as a mandatory list of files to be built. The files in the mandatory subset will be built even if they are unchanged. Additionally, build pre-processing normally runs various queries to find files that are impacted by the changed files. Advanced properties are provided for disabling these queries.

Changes to DD allocation dialog in the System Z translator editor

In the Add DD Allocation or Edit DD Allocation dialogs, the Output can be consumed by other programs option enables the output to be consumed as the input of the other programs.

Changes to deployment type in the translator editor

Variable support added for deployment type

In the deployment type field of the Translator editor, you can enter a value or select a variable in the translator.

Build request dialog customization

The build definition editor lets you specify which elements are visible in the request dialog. The build request uses the value from the build definition if a property is not shown in the request. Several of the properties in this table are new to the request dialog.

Some of the properties in this table were previously only specified in the request dialog. Default values for these options can be specified in the Build Definition editor. This enables you to control the behavior when the options are hidden in the request dialog.

Some of the new properties are displayed in an advanced section in the request dialog and require a new permission to be displayed.

Follow-up action to run a target build improvements

The Run Target Build follow-up action for the Promote Work Items (server) operation has been improved in the following areas:

• The follow-up editor itself has been renewed to more clearly show the default options, and the ones to be applied to individual promotion definitions.
• A new option to include files impacted by the changes in the target build has been added.

You can configure this follow-up action in the Process Configuration > Operation Behavior section of your project area.

Pre-processing activities progress reporting improvements

The label and scope of the activities reported in a build during the pre-processing phase have been reviewed to provide a better reporting and understanding of the steps in this build phase.

Reuse pre-processing information of a build

New options in the Request Rebuild dialog allow you to try to reuse the pre-processing information from the result being rebuilt, if the build conditions have not changed. You can also specify if the build should fail in case the reuse of information is not possible.

The build activities will reflect this reuse of information.

Performance Improvements

Performance has been improved in several areas of a Dependency build process. The following build operations have shown relevant performance improvement during the testing phase:

• Updating dependency data build activity: performs up to 120% faster, as a consequence of changes to leverage the new and improved features around Source Code data in this release.
• Compile step activity: has shown an improvement of up to 6% as result of changes in the allocation logic.
• Pre-processing step when change set analysis is performed: up to a 20% improvement has been measured in the tests, as result of logic changes to leverage the features included in this release related with pre-processing.

Complete performance reports for this release will be available at the RTCEE for Application Development for z/OS Performance Testing wiki page.

Mass import tool

zimport associates Jazz source control user properties with zFiles

To associate Jazz source control user properties with imported data set members when using the zimport scmtools subcommand, there is a new mass import tool mapping rule. The rule identifier added to the mapping for associating user properties is the character 'U'.

For example, entering the line U:TEST.COBOL.*=UserProp1:Value_01;UserProp2:Value_02 in the mapping file associates the user properties UserProp1 and UserProp2 and their respective values Value_01 and Value_02 with the zFiles corresponding to all the imported data set members contained in the data set <HLQ>.TEST.COBOL.

Source code data scanning

Overall changes

Tools for source code data scanning administration have been added to Rational Team Concert 6.0.1. With these tools you can set up scan configurations for specific streams, request source code data scans, and view the results.

Creating a scan configuration

In the Team Artifacts view, expand the Enterprise Extensions node in the project and right-click the Source Code Data folder. From the context menu, click Open Scan Configurations to open the scan configuration editor for the project area.

Select the stream for the scan configuration and click Create.

Verify or change the configuration values and click the Save icon.

Explanation of fields:

• Enable for background scan – Check this box if you want to run update scans on the stream at regularly scheduled intervals.
• Delay interval – Specify the number of seconds to wait after a scan before another background scan begins. The default is 3600 seconds (1 hour).
• Run background scans only if changes – Check this box if you do not want background scans to run if there are no changes to the stream since the previous scan.
• Maximum wait time – Specify the maximum number of seconds that a scan request remains pending while waiting for a previous scan request to complete. If the number of seconds is reached, the scan request times out with an error. The default is 600 seconds (10 minutes).
• Continue on error – Check this box if you want a scan to continue even if an exception is thrown during a file scan.
• Excluded components – List any stream components that should not be scanned (for example a component that contains only graphic files).
• Pruning policy – Rules to determine how many scan results for each type are kept before scans are automatically deleted.

Requesting a source code data scan

In the scan configuration editor, click the Request Scan icon in the toolbar.

On the first page of the scan request wizard, select the scope of the scan: the entire stream, a set of components, or a set of language definitions. The "Scan changed files only" option is checked by default which causes an update scan to be performed. Uncheck the option to scan all files within the scope selected. If selecting to scan a list of components or a list of language definitions, a list dialog box will appear to be populated.

On the second page of the scan request wizard, you can override scan configuration properties only for this scan request.

Viewing source code data scan results

In the scan configuration editor, click the Show Scan Results icon.

Clicking the icon opens a table with the latest scan results for the stream.

Double-click a scan result table row to open the scan result editor. The scan result editor shows a summary of the scan. Clicking on the scan log link will open the log which will provide more details about the scan.

Deleting the source code data for a component

Request a scan from the scan configuration editor. Select the Scan components option. Uncheck the Scan changed files only option. Select which components for which you wish to delete source code data. Click Next to continue. Enter the scan argument -delete .

Manually sharing source code data

In order to reduce the size of JFS resources, RTC tries to share source code data between streams when a new stream is created from an existing stream or during component promotions between streams. Sometimes conditions prevent this from automatically happening which can lead to unnecessary duplication of source code data. It is now possible to manually share the source code data between streams.

Before launching the scan request dialog for the stream you want to scan, locate the source stream with which you want to share source code data. Right-click on the stream and select Copy URL.

Request a stream scan from the scan configuration editor for the target stream. Uncheck the Scan changed files only option. Click Next to continue. Enter the scan argument -share and then paste the source stream URL.

Filter the results of the source code data query

If you don't have read access to buildable files, the source code data query results won't display the source code data for the buildable files.

Component condition added to the Source Code Data Query editor

In the Select Attributes dialog of the Source Code Data Query editor, you can select the Component attribute to add the component condition. In the Component condition edit area, you can select which components to query.

System definitions

Language definition impact calculations

The language definition editor has a new option that lets you disable impact calculations. This property is respected by build subsets, dependency build, promotion, and packaging.

Precondition requires a file to have an associated language definition

A new precondition requires that a file must have an associated language definition before delivery. The Check Language Definition on Files precondition is set using the Deliver(client) node of Source Control in Operation Behavior.

By default, the precondition causes all delivery files to be checked. You can configure which files are exempt from being checked by adding the extensions to the configuration editor.

If the precondition is set and files in a change set do not associate a language definition before delivery, the following error occurs:

Changes to the Add Components dialog for context-aware search

Add components dialog

The Add Components dialog of the search configuration editor supports selection of multiple streams and components, and you can add multiple components to the index table all at once.

ISPF client

Build subset capabilities in the ISPF client

You can now manage build subsets using the ISPF client.

A new option is available on the RTC Primary Option menu to work with build subsets.

A Build Subsets list panel is displayed, allowing you to create a new subset, edit an existing subset, or delete an existing subset.

From the Edit Build Subset panel, you can update the subset ID, description, and visibility, change the assigned build definition, and also manage the static contents of the subset.

Enter / next to a file in the contents list to display the available Subset Contents List actions.

Build Request dialog customization

The Build Definition editor enables you to specify which options are visible in the request dialog. The ISPF client build request panels use the default value specified in the build definition if a property is not shown in the request. Several of the options in these panels are new to the request dialog.

Some of the new options are displayed in an advanced properties panel in the request dialog and require a new permission to be displayed.

Reports

Story children burndown

The new Story Children Burndown report can plot a burndown chart covering the children of a top-level Work Item.

ETL for planned start and end dates

The planned start and end dates of a Work Item are now loaded in the RIODS.TASK_DETAIL table in the data warehouse.

New Platform/IDE Support

With this release, we are pleased to announce that Rational Team Concert has added support for the following platforms and IDE versions:

• Windows 10: You can now run Rational Team Concert clients in Windows 10. This includes the Eclipse Client, the client for Microsoft Visual Studio IDE,the SCM command line interface, and the browser based clients.
• Eclipse 4.5.1: The Rational Team Concert Eclipse Client can now be installed into Eclipse 4.5.1 running on Java 7 or Java 8.
• Visual Studio 2015: The Rational Team Concert Client for Microsoft Visual Studio IDE now supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 (see below).

Client for Microsoft Visual Studio IDE

Rational Team Concert supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2015

We are pleased to announce that Rational Team Concert now supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2015. Here are screen shots of the Help page and the Pending Changes view when Rational Team Concert is installed into Microsoft VisualStudio 2015.

Multiple workspace delete

Multiple remote workspaces can now be deleted from the Team Artifacts view at one shot. If errors result during the operation, they will be consolidated and shown in a report in the end of the operation. An example of the report is shown below.

Overwrite confirmation on load

The load wizard now includes an overwrite confirmation page, which is shown as needed. The confirmation page allows partial selection of the folders to overwrite. Only the selected folders are overwritten.

Repository workspace creation from snapshot

Creation of a repository workspace from a snapshot is now supported. You can select the "Create from Snapshot" option to search for snapshots in the streams or workspaces of the connected repository.

Component search

Users can now search for components based on name pattern or owner. This is available in the Component Search dialog as well as in the Component Selection dialog that comes up in the Change Sets Search dialog.

Share

Users can now choose a path within a component as the destination while sharing projects and folders to the Jazz source control.

Work item editor

The current user is automatically subscribed to a work item once they start to add a comment in the discussion list. This feature can be configured from the new preference under Tools > Options > Team Concert.

Component hierarchies

Note: The component hierarchy feature was introduced in Rational Team Concert 6.0, but the full capabilities were available only in the Eclipse and command line interface clients. The full capabilities of this feature are now available in the Rational Team Concert for Visual Studio client and the Shell Integration as well.

Navigating component hierarchy in the Team Artifacts view

Components with subcomponent relationships are organized as trees in the Team Artifacts view.

Add and remove subcomponent

Users can add any component within a repository workspace to another component as a child.

In a repository workspace, the user can remove a subcomponent from its parent component.

Note: All subcomponent changes are tracked in change sets. A new change set will be created when adding or removing subcomponents. Changes are shown in the Pending Changes view.

Deliver and accept component hierarchy changes

Changing the component hierarchy generates a change that is similar to any regular file change. The change is captured by a change set and flows to other streams or repository workspaces similar to regular file changes. If there is a conflict between change sets for component hierarchical changes, an automatic merge will be performed to resolve the conflict.

Deliver and accept all changes for entire hierarchy

New operations are created to deliver or accept all changes for all components in the entire hierarchy.

Create baselines

When a baseline is created for a component that has subcomponents, it will automatically create baselines for all of its subcomponents and save the relationships between them, so that the new baseline will contain the information to reconstruct the entire hierarchy.

Replace with baseline hierarchy

Users can now replace the entire component hierarchy with a baseline created earlier.

Add component hierarchy

Adding a component will automatically add the component and all of its subcomponents. If the component's subcomponents already exist in the repository workspace, users can choose to overwrite, skip, or cancel the operation.

Remove component hierarchy

Removing a component from the repository workspace will automatically remove the component and all of its subcomponents that are not used by other component hierarchies in the repository workspace.

Rational Team Concert shell

Multiple workspace delete

Multiple remote workspaces can now be deleted from the Team Artifacts view. If errors result during the operation, they will be consolidated and shown in a report in the end of the operation. An example of the report is shown below.

Overwrite confirmation on load

The load wizard now includes an overwrite confirmation page, which is shown as needed. The confirmation page allows partial selection of the folders to overwrite. Only the selected folders are overwritten.

Repository workspace creation from a snapshot

Creation of a repository workspace from a snapshot is now supported. You can select the "Create from Snapshot" option to search for snapshots in the streams or workspaces of the connected repository.

Component hierarchies

The component hierarchies feature has been extended to the Rational Team Concert shell client. Components with subcomponent relationships are organized as trees in the Manage Artifacts view. It follows the same workflow as the client for Microsoft Visual Studio IDE. Please refer to the section Component hierarchies in this New and Noteworthy for more details.

Rational Team Concert MS-SCCI provider

Overwrite confirmation on load

The load wizard now includes an overwrite confirmation page, which is shown as needed. The confirmation page allows partial selection of the folders to overwrite. Only the selected folders are overwritten.

Repository workspace creation from a snapshot

Creation of a repository workspace from a snapshot is now supported. You can select the "Create from Snapshot" option to search for snapshots in the streams of the connected repository.