StarTeam

An introduction to Software
Configuration Management
With StarTeam

Prepared By : C.Venkata Srikanth

Date : 07/06/06
 Software Configuration Management
Configuration mangement
-A “Configuration” is a set of revisions or parts
-Configurations are used in manufacturing disciplines where it is essential to
know what revisions or parts of comprise a product release
Software Configuration mangement (SCM)
-SCM means configuration of management of software parts by tracking
versions of software modules and creating product releases from those
versions.
Key actions that compromise SCM
- Tracking revisions of digital assets
- Identifying configurations of a system
-Controlling the release of configurations throughout the software life cycle
- Reporting the status of configurations
 Benefits and Requirements of SCM
 Locking to avoid conflicted Changes
 Audit history of changes
 Rollback and recovery
 Understanding the impact of change among software
modules
 Traceability of software Changes to their reasons
 Identification and retrieval of builds and releases

 Merging to reconcile conflicted changes

 parallel development
Version Control

 VSS

The B2B project design documents, BPSS,

Payload, Interface Spec and other development
related documents are kept in the VSS. (For
each project structure need to be maintained the
similar way.
Version Control
Adding files & Getting
Latest Version from VSS
StarTeam overview
 StarTeam is Borland's comprehensive
configuration & change management tool.
 StarTeam provides a complete range of software
change and configuration management. A robust
platform for coordinating and managing the
entire software delivery process, Star Team
promotes team communication and collaboration
through centralized control of all project assets.
Benefits of Star team
.Locking to avoid conflicted changes
-StarTeam supports various locking models

.Audit history of changes

-StarTeam maintains complete history of revisions,
moves,deletes and all other actions for all
configuration items

.Rollback and recovery

-StarTeam provides easy access to old revisions and
configurations

.Understanding the impact of change among software

modules
-StarTeam provides linking among all configuration item
types to denote relation ships among software modules
-StarTeam also provides sharing
Benefits of Star team

. Traceability of software changes to their reason

-Star team provides linking among all configuration items including
Requirements,change Requests and tasks

. Identification and retrieval of builds and releases

-StarTeam provides label and promotion states,as well as a powerful
feature called “views” which provides the ability to see ,maintain and
deploy all software configurations

. Merging to reconcile conflicted changes/variant and parallel development

-StarTeam fully supports branching and merging for individual items and
for configurations
StarTeam User Interface
Working
View Folder
Location
Project

Active Filter

Selected
Folder Contents
Pane shows items in
the selected folder
Selected
Item

Details Pane
shows information
Status Bar about
the selected item
Project Working
View Folder
Location

ContentPane

Detailed Pane
What is StarTeam Project?

. A StarTeam Project is :

- A way to organize your configuration items according to the

purpose they serve
- The highest grouping level in a StarTeam server

. Projects have their own definable security schemes and

structure

. Projects can reuse configuration items from other projects

Objectives
 Star Team Container Hierarchy
- Repositories
- Projects
- Views
- Folders
- Items
Star Team Container Hierarchy
Repository

Projects

Folders

Files Change Requirements Tasks Topics

Requests
Star Team Container Hierarchy(Detailed)

Repository

Projects

Root View

Root Folder Child View

Root Folder
Child Folder Items
(File,CR,Req,Task,Topic)

Items Child Folder Items

(File,CR,Req,Task,Topic) (File,CR,Req,Task,Topic)

Items
(File,CR,Req,Task,Topic)
 What is StarTeam project?

 A StarTeam project is :

- A way to organize your

configuration items according to the
purpose they serve
- The highest grouping level in a
StarTeam server
. Projects have their own definable
security schemes and structure
. Projects can reuse configuration
items from other projects
What is a StarTeam View?
A StarTeam view is a sub container of
a StarTeamProject
A View can serve one of many
different purposes,

Such as
- To isolate work on a particular release
- To provide a snapshot of a release for
non-technical users
- To limit access for external
development teams to a subset of the

project
- To create a variant branch
- To present items in a customized
folder structure for deployment or
other purposes
 What is a StarTeam Folder?
 A Star Team folder is the lowest-level
container for configuration items within a
project and view.

 Folders organize the project(and its views)

into understandable ,hierarchical parts.
 In Star Team , folders are revisioned just
like files and other configuration items
What is a working Folder

 A working folder is the location on your workstation where :

- Star Team copies file revisions when they are checked out
- Files are modified to create new revisions
 Star Team looks for file revisions when they are checked in
- New files are created and added to the Star Team repository
How to Create a working Folder
 Working folders can be created in two
ways.
 Right Click on the Project and Select

“Create Working Folders” menu.

 Select Folder ->”Create Working Folders”
Adding Folders
 New folders can be added to StarTeam in

two ways.
 Select “New” from the folder context

menu.
 Drag and drop the new folder into the
StarTeam Window.(Only for window
client )
 Check Out and Check In
Step #1
Check out a file from Star Team Step #2
Server to working folder and lock it Edit the file in
the working
folder on local
work station

Star Team Server Working Folders

Step #3
Check in from working folder to Star Team Server to and
unlock it. A new revision is created.
Creating The Task
Activate The Task
Close The Task
Promote The Task
Getting Started with StarTeam
 Opening a StarTeam Project
 Double click the StarTeam icon
or select StarTeam Start menu
option
 Select “Project…Open”
 Double-click the server that
shows the project to be opened
 Provide your logon credentials
Choosing a Project and a View
 Important : Do not be
confused by the fact that
the project , its root
view,and its root folder
may have the same name
5 Double-click the desired
project name
6 Double-click the desired view
to be opened
Check out the project from promotion state
Check out the project from Promotion State
Modifying Files

 First you have to lock the file exclusively and open a file from
working folder.
 Modified that file and check in and unlock that file.
Checking In Files
 When you check in,the Star Team Server
creates a new tip revision from your working file
 The Check in dialog includes several options.
- Comment for this revision
- Lock Status(typically unlock when checking in)
- Force check –in to by pass
“Out of Date” ,”Merge”,
or “Unknown” statuses.
Be very careful when forcing Check-in
- Link and Pin Process items to associate new
file revisions with their reasons.
Understanding File Status
The file status shows the relationship between your
working file and the tip revision in the repository

The status of your files determine which operations you

will be able to perform on that file

 “Current”
- The tip revision of this file is in the working folder.
 “Out of Date”
- The working file is a copy of an old version of the file.If
you need the tip revision , you should check it out .
File Status Definitions

 “Missing”
- The file is part of the Star Team project view,but it is not
. in your working folder. To place the file into a
working . . folder on your hard drive,you must check
this file out
 “Not in View”
- The file is in the working folder but not in the Star team
. project view.You might want to add this file to the view
. if you are no longer using this file,you might want to
delete it from the working folder.
File Status Definitions
File Status Definitions
 “Modified”
- The working file has been altered and is based on the tip revision
of this file. You might want to check this file in so that the tip
revision is placed in Star Team.
 “Merge”
- The working file has been altered but it is not based on the tip
revision(most recent revision) of this file.this usually happens when
both you and some one else work on a file at the same time,but the
other person checks the file in before you do.When you check this
file in. If it is a text file,Visual Merge can reconcile the differences
between your working file and the tip revision
- Merge=“Out of Date “ + “Modified”
 “Unknown”
- The file in the working folder has the same name as a file in the
view but the file was not checked out from the repository.You
might have copied it from another location.Use Update Status to
determine the correct Status.
Item History Tab

List of revisions for a selected item

Revisions are listed from the most recent to the oldest
Item History Tab

 A “right click” pop – up menu allows you to review the revisions properties
to compare revisions,to change the comment associated with that revision
and to see its reference
 Understanding Merge
 Merge Operations are Required when two users simultaneously update the same file .There

are two general cases

- Strategic Merge
- Using the VCM tool or a similar procedure to merge numerous files,
typically across views and typically as part of an intentional concurrent development
effort.
- Tactical Merge
- Two users collide unexpectedly while working independently on the same file.(Diligent
use of exclusive lock prevents this scenario )
View Label
Promotion State
 Change Request Management
 Change Request:

A Change Request (CR) is a metadata item in StarTeam. It is revision-

controlled, and has the same basic item behaviors as files do, such as branching
sharing ,security, and so forth

A Change Request (CR) is a request to change something within the scope of

a project

(i) Change Request items have the same properties as other

configuration items.

(ii) Change Request items can be linked to other configuration items in

order to
define dependencies.
Change Request Management
 Change Request Tab:

The Change Request tab provides item functionality for change request items

–Supports a CR-driven development and/or maintenance process

–Organizes change requests in columnar list..

–Options are very similar to other configuration items.

Change Request Management
 Change Request Tab:
Change Request Management
 Creating New Change
Requests:
New Requirements can be created directly from within the StarTeam interface

•Select the “New” option from the menu or toolbar

•If desired, a custom form can be defined for change request items
Change Request Management
 Creating New Change Requests:
Change Request Management
Change Request Management
 Change Request as the active process Item:

Change Requests can be selected as the “Active Process Item”

•Indicated at the bottom of the StarTeam window

•Displays the appropriate change request ID number

The active process item becomes the default link for all subsequent
“check in” operations can be manually overridden.
Change Request Management
 Change Request as the active process Item:
Change Request Management
 Resolving and Closing Change Request:

Open the Change Request Properties dialog and change the status to one of
the resolved statuses

•Fixed
•Documented
•Cannot Reproduce
•Duplicate
•AS Designed
Change Request Management
 Resolving and Closing Change Request:
 Improving StarTeam Performance

Ensure all users are using Cross- Platform Client only.

This can be done by clicking on Help About
Improving StarTeam Performance

Ensure that the info there is same as below

 Improving StarTeam Performance
Download patch for the client from “//172.24.181.41/StarTeam Client” and
apply the patch following the steps given below

Then run the file StarTeamCPpatch14.exe and choose Next

 Improving StarTeam Performance

Accept the terms of the license and choose Next:

 Improving StarTeam Performance
Choose Typical and then click on Next:
 Improving StarTeam Performance
Accept the default installation folder and choose next:
 Improving StarTeam Performance
Accept the default shortcut folder and choose next:
Improving StarTeam Performance
 Improving StarTeam Performance
Ensure Starteam is not currently running and choose install:
 Improving StarTeam Performance
Other wise you’ll get the message:
“Starteam is already running”.
Ensure all users have compress transferred data enabled as this can reduce network
traffic by up to 80% - Choose Project Open --> Server Properties:
 Improving StarTeam Performance

Ensure that you have checked the Compress transferred data check-box

Now select Tools Personal Options

Improving StarTeam Performance
 Improving StarTeam Performance

In the Workspace tab, check the Automatic refresh with maximum delay of check-box
 Improving StarTeam Performance
In the StarTeamMPX tab, see that the values entered are as above.
 Improving StarTeam Performance

In file tab, check Optimize for slow connections check-box

To see the background progress of StarTeam, you can run the StarTeam client using
following command at your command prompt
C:\Program Files\Borland\StarTeam Cross-Platform Client 2005 R2>stjava.exe
StarTeamCP.stjava -- -netmon

The MPX message broker is configured only for eCommerce project. People entering in any
other project might not see any significant improvement in the performance
Thank You