New & Noteworthy for IBM Engineering Workflow Management 7.0.1 M2

You can now set up a sandbox using a stream URL from IBM EWM > Jazz source control > Setup sandbox from stream. This action will create a new workspace from the stream and load all components from the workspace in the sandbox.
 

The Work Items editor, Query editor, and Operation History view use an integrated web editor to interact with other views in EWM. The integrated web editor is based on the default browser engine embedded in the .NET framework, which is based on Internet Explorer.

Enterprise Extensions' Promotion feature has now been enhanced. The feature enables coordination of the delivery of source change sets to a production-level source stream in EWM when their built objects are deployed to production outside of EWM. This feature is enabled for z/OS work item packages and optimally used with IBM UrbanCode Deploy.

A REST API that is introduced for Package Promotion validates or promotes change sets to a target stream in EWM. You can configure a full DevOps process so that work item packaging generates a UCD version that contains the source change set metadata. The metadata can be used as an input parameter for this Package Promotion API. The deployment system can run customized deployment processes that issue calls to this API to synchronously (or asynchronously) deliver the change sets while their version is being deployed. To validate whether the change sets are not in conflict with the production's source state before deployment, Package Promotion might be called in the preview mode.

IBM Developer for z Systems supports the creation of zUnits, which allow organizations to capture and run unit tests easily. zUnits are programs that need to be compiled. Running the unit tests can be done through a runner during a build, without the need to run the programs that are being tested in an execution environment.

Engineering Workflow Management (EWM) now supports a workflow that allows building the test programs when they are created and changed. It also allows running the unit tests whenever the program to be tested changes, or whenever the test program or its data changes. The workflow is implemented by establishing dependencies based on the zUnit configuration file. In this release, EWM introduces a new scanner that creates these dependencies.

Note: This workflow is applicable only with the June release of IDz.

You can now create multiple change sets per component by using the new optional argument that is added to the zImport scm command-line tool.

To create multiple change sets per component:

• Specify the -m or --multiplechangesets option followed by an argument in the form of an integer to determine the maximum number of zFiles imported in each change set. By default, the zFiles are imported in one single change set. If you enter 0 as the argument, you do not change this default behavior.
• To specify a maximum number of zFiles in each change set, enter a number greater than 0. For example, if you enter 3, each change set will contain 3 zFiles maximum.
   

The translator output pattern rules now include the possibility to delete characters in output member names. Previously, translator output patterns supported pattern matching with asterisk (*) and equals (=) for preserving characters generated by build output. Now, exclamation marks (!) can be used to remove expected characters from an output.

For example, pattern '==!=====' applied against 'GABPROGA' would result in 'GAPROGA' as a final output name.

The following changes are made to z/OS Dependency build logging:

• The build log shows the TSO or ISPF command that is to be run based on the evaluation of the current translator.
• The z/OS build agent log is now configured for log management. A new log is created each time the build agent is restarted and by default, 5 previous logs are saved. This behavior can be customized in the build agent startup script.

Enterprise Extensions artifacts such as Language Definitions, Data set Definitions, Translators, and associated build definitions and results are updated to work with the newer z/OS software versions of the following products:
- Db2 z/OS 12.1
- IBM Developer for z/OS 14.1
- IBM Enterprise Cobol for z/OS 6.2
- IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS 5.5

Lotus Connections Integration (also known as EWM/RTC Social Connector) has been removed in this release.
Therefore, starting with release 7.0.1, the integration between EWM and Lotus Connections will no longer be supported.

You can now link GitLab Merge requests to Engineering Workflow Manager work items by specifying the work item number in the merge request description. The status of the merge requests, linked to the work item, are now displayed in the Pull Requests tab.

Image of Pull Requests tab in Web UI work item editor:

In the History view, you can now view baselines with the change sets of a component. The change sets or baselines are displayed in the order in which they enter the workspace.

You can hide the baselines by using the Hide Baselines button in the History view toolbar. This action is also available from the History view menu.

Additionally, the History view now supports paging. When a component history contains more entries, you can click the Show More link that is displayed at the lower left to view more entries.

Image of the history view displaying the baselines with the change sets:

The Deliver (server) advisor called "Require Work Item Approval" is updated to have reviews of type 'Review' as code review approvals instead of work item approvals.

In the example shown, the advisor is configured such that all deliveries require a work item approval from a user with 'Team Lead' role. Apart from this, two users with 'Team Member' role must conduct and approve the associated code review for the delivered changes.

• Ignore: Publishes a deletion event. LQE and LDX remove the skipped resource from the store.
• Unignore: Publishes a creation event. LQE and LDX include the resource in the store.