You could use the work item API to write your own little "upgrade" program, but it of course would be better if there were a way to do this without writing code. Unless someone else comes up with a suggestion, it would be worth submitting this as an Enhancement work item on jazz.net.

Cheers,
Geoff

Hi All,

Currently we have a requirement - where we are changing the data type of a particular attribute from "Medium HTML" to "Large HTML". So in this case, i think we need to create a new attribute and map it back to the presentation? How can we retain the previous data after the mapping?

Thanks

Here is a suggestion:

1. Create the new custom attribute (Large HTML).
2. Create a new presentation mapped to the new attribute.
3. On the deprecated attribute presentation (Medium HTML), check the "Hide if Empty", to avoid showing it in the "new" work items.

--Gabriel Enriquez, IBM Rational, Jazz Tracking & Planning

Hi Gabriel,
The only problem doing it this way would be:
Existing WorkItems cannot be updated with a large text. -> since they will have the old attribute in their presentation.

I could not find the synchronize attributes option - i am using 3.0.1.1

Synchronize Attributes is available from the context menu if and only if you bring it up from the Type column (which is unlabeled but has the type icon in it) -- usually the first column of the query results).

Actually I think Gabe's suggestion (unless I misunderstand it) works fine from a display perspective. You add the new attribute and create a presentation for it on the work item type. You synch it to all relevant items.

When you bring up an "old" item with the old attribute that has data, you see both -- the old attribute and its data and the new, empty attribute. If you don't want the old attribute to be changed anymore, you can mark it read-only. And so that the old attribute isn't used in the future, mark it as "Hide if Empty" so that it can't be used on newly created items or items that didn't use it before. That way if the data needs to be added to an "old" item, it will go into the new attribute.

As to the read-onlyness of the old attribute, if someone really needs to change the value on an old item, they could copy the old attribute to the new one and make changes there (painful if it would likely happen often -- if that's the case, read-only might not be such a good idea, at first).

Over time, the "old" style will die away as those work items are closed. The main drawback is that if you query on this attribute, you'll need to query on both the old and new attributes for the same value in order to retrieve items from before and after the change.

I believe I've run a better way to do this than my previous suggestion. I've only had a chance to do a simple test in RTC-4.0, so this may not work in releases before RTC-4.0 (but I'm guessing it does).

In particular, the trick is to use process inheritance.
I created two parent process areas: PPA1 and PPA2. In PPA1 I have a custom property with ID &quot;xyz&quot; and type &quot;large-string&quot; , while in PPA2, I have the custom property with ID &quot;xyz&quot; and type &quot;large-html&quot;. I created a child project area, PACHILD, and had it share process from PPA1. I then created a work item with the xyz property with value &quot;<b>value</b>&quot;. When I look at the work item in the webUI, I just see that string. If I then change PACHILD to share process from PPA2, and then look at that work item in the webUI, I then see the string &quot;value&quot;. (i.e. I see it as an html attribute).

So, it looks like process inheritance gives us a way to change the type of an existing property.

But what if you aren't using process inheritance?

That involves more work, but the basic idea is to:
- create a template from your existing project area
- instantiate that template to create a new master project area.
- clear out the processs of your existing project area (by editing the process source directly)
- make your existing project area share the process of the new master project area.

Then when you need to change the type of a string attribute, use the above process to create a new master project area that is a clone of the existing one, make the desired change to the new master project area, and then change the existing project area to share its process from the new master project area.

Cheers,
Geoff

Hi All,

Currently we have a requirement - where we are changing the data type of a particular attribute from &quot;Medium HTML&quot; to &quot;Large HTML&quot;. So in this case, i think we need to create a new attribute and map it back to the presentation? How can we retain the previous data after the mapping?

Thanks

Note: This functionality was requested in work item 180112. Please feel free to add a comment in that work item to indicate your interest/support.

Cheers,
Geoff

Hi All,

Currently we have a requirement - where we are changing the data type of a particular attribute from &quot;Medium HTML&quot; to &quot;Large HTML&quot;. So in this case, i think we need to create a new attribute and map it back to the presentation? How can we retain the previous data after the mapping?

Thanks

I agree with above solution only for making "Large String" to "Large Html" but If I want to increase size of data type  like "medium Html" to "Large Html" in that case it wont work.