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Essentials of Rational ClearCase Module 4: Working with Elements and Views

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Objectives Upon completing this module, you should be able to: 

Add files to source control

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Compare versions of elements

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Move, rename, and remove elements and versions

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View an element history

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Find checkouts

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Change an element checkout status

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Cancel a checkout

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Select versions other than those in your view

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Remove a view 2

Module Topics  Working with Elements  Adding files and directories to source control  Comparing versions of elements  Moving, renaming, and removing elements and versions  Viewing an element history  The lost+found directory

 Working with Views     

Finding checkouts Changing a checkout status Canceling a checkout Specifying versions using version-extended names Removing a view 3

Adding Files to Source Control  As you work on a project, you may create viewprivate files that you want to add to source control  You can add  Files  Directories

 Add files to source control  GUI — Add to Source Control  Command Line — mkelem  Utility — clearfsimport 4

Adding Files to Source Control (cont.) When you add a file to source control, ClearCase:  Determines the file type  Creates an element  Creates the /main branch and an empty version 0  By default, checks in the element and creates version 1

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Adding Files to Source Control (cont.)

1 Select the items to add to source control, right-click, and then click Add to Source Control.

2 Select to work on elements after you add them to source control; clear to check in elements.

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Adding Directories to Source Control Add directories to source control the same way you add individual files

When you add a directory to source control, files within the directory remain view-private

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Adding Many Files or Directories  When you must add a number of files or directories to source control use clearfsimport  clearfsimport is a command-line utility that converts file system directories and files to ClearCase elements  clearfsimport creates new elements or adds new versions to existing elements

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Working with VOB Symbolic Links  A VOB symbolic link makes a file element or directory accessible from more than one location in the VOB  VOBs and directories are sometimes symbolically linked for organizational purposes  Links are generally created by the ClearCase Administrator 9

Comparing File and Directory Versions  ClearCase allows you to compare element and directory versions  Can compare a version with predecessor or with any other previous version in the tree  In GUI, invokes graphical Compare tool that compares contents of files and directories

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Comparing File Versions The Compare tool displays a graphical comparison of text files.

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Comparing Directory Versions The Compare tool enables you to view, side-by-side, the elements appearing in two versions of a directory.

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Moving an Element From ClearCase Explorer only, drag and drop to move elements within a VOB.

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Removing References to an Element  Remove the name of an element or VOB symbolic link from a directory list  The element still exists in the VOB

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Renaming an Element

Select element, right-click, and then click Rename.

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Removing a Version Deletes one or more versions of an element from the VOB. Select version, right-click, and then click Delete.

Removes all metadata items that were attached to the deleted version(s).

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Removing an Element Removes an element COMPLETELY from the VOB; there is NO WAY to restore it Removes all references to it in ALL directory lists You cannot remove elements that have checked-out versions To remove an element, you must be the element owner, VOB owner, or have ClearCase administrative privileges 17

Viewing an Element History  An element history is recorded in event records in the VOB  A ClearCase operation, such as checkout, causes an event record to be created  Event records include: who, what, when, where, and comments associated with the event

Screenshot: Element history example

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The lost+found Directory  Found in every VOB at the highest directory level  Contains orphaned elements, which are elements that are no longer cataloged in any version of any directory

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Module Topics  Working with Elements     

Adding files and directories to source control Comparing versions of elements Moving, renaming, and removing elements and versions Viewing an element history The lost+found directory

 Working with Views  Finding checkouts  Changing a checkout status  Canceling a checkout  Specifying versions using version-extended names  Removing a view 20

Finding Checkouts The Find Checkout tool enables you to search for checkouts based on user-defined criteria.

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Finding Checkouts Based on selection criteria, ClearCase displays a list of the checked out files in the Find Checkouts window.

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Changing the Checkout Status  From the Find Checkouts window, you can change the status of a checkout  To change the status of a checkout, you must be one of the following:  ClearCase group member  VOB owner

 Element owner  Element group member

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Canceling a Checkout  Cancel a checkout when you do not want to save changes or want a fresh copy  You can rename and save a view-private version of the file: filename.keep. If you do not save the file, all changes are lost

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Canceling a Checkout  You can cancel a checkout from the Find Checkouts window  Once you undo a checkout, your view selects the predecessor version

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Selecting a Version Other Than Those in Your View  Enable you to specify a version that may not be visible in your dynamic view  @@ (extended-naming symbol) denotes a path into the version tree of an element  Specific integer versions hello.h@@\main\rel2_bugfix\9  User-defined version labels util.c@@\REL3

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Using a Version-Extended Name  Using a standard name, you access the version of the file that your dynamic view selects: Z:\Hardware\src>type hello.c #include "hello.h" printf("Hello, %s!\n", env_user() ); int main() { printf("Your home directory is %s.\n", env_home()

); }

printf("It is now %s.\n", env_time() ); return 0;

 To see a version other than the one selected by your dynamic view, use a version-extended pathname: Z:\Hardware\src>type hello.c@@\main\r2_int\1 main() { printf(“Hello there, world!\n); }

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Removing a View  Views are temporary, task-related objects; once a specific development task or project is complete, remove the view  Before removing a view, add all important view-private files to source control or copy them to another location  Removing the view will:  Clean up VOB references to the view  Remove the view storage directory  Remove the view tag and unregister the view  Stop view server processes Do NOT use Windows Utilities to remove a view storage directory 28

Removing a View (cont.) 1

Click Remove View on the Toolbox tab in Shortcut pane. 2 Select the view you want to remove, and then click OK.

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Module Review  What does ClearCase do when you add a file to source control?  What is the easiest way to add many files and directories to source control in ClearCase?  What is the lost+found directory? Why is it significant?  How can you find out which VOB elements are checked out?  How do you access versions of elements other than those selected by your view config spec?  Why would you want to remove a view?  Why should you not use operating system utilities to remove a view? 30

Module Lab  In this lab, you perform the following tasks:  Add files to source control  Move and rename an element  View an element history  Find checkouts  Access versions not selected by your view  Remove a view

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