Simplify global development and delivery by using IBM Rational Software Architect and IBM ClearCase Remote Client

This article presents some of the tips, techniques, and best practices for integrating integrated development environment (IDE) and software configuration management (SCM) tools in a global development and delivery (GDD) environment.



Introduction

In a world of non-stop technology, teams are working across continents. Many businesses are now globally distributed, which presents the challenge of working with remote teams. These teams work in different time zones, speak different languages, follow different cultural practices, and work in completely different styles. Without general guidelines, controls, and checks and balances in the process, managing a project in a global development and delivery (GDD) environment is difficult.

This article presents some of the tips, techniques, and best practices for integrating integrated development environment (IDE) and software configuration management (SCM) tools in a GDD environment. These tools include IBM® Rational® Software Architect, IBM® Rational® Application Developer, and IBM® Rational® ClearCase® by means of the CCRC (ClearCase Remote Client) plug-in. This information was originally presented in the 2007 IBM Rational Software Development Conference, Orlando, Florida in June 2007, and to a customer in Chicago in November 2007. Now it is coming to you as a developerWorks article.

CCRC, Rational Software Architect, and ClearCase

The ClearCase Remote Client is a user interface that is powered by Eclipse and optimized for use by developers who connect to a ClearCase Web server over a wide area network.

The ClearCase Remote Client is available in two forms:

* The ClearCase Remote Client for Eclipse that integrates ClearCase with the software development environments provided by Rational Software Architect. When you install the ClearCase Remote Client for Eclipse into a Rational Software Architect environment, all ClearCase Remote Client viewers are available in the ClearCase perspective and can be added to other Rational Software Architect perspectives.
* The ClearCase Remote Client, a Standalone client that is designed for use outside of the Rational Software Architect IDE.

In this article, CCRC refers only to the CCRC for Eclipse client unless otherwise specified. Rational Software Architect includes Rational Application Developer and IBM® Rational® Software Modeler. Most CCRC functions are also applicable to these Eclipse-based products, because CCRC is built to work in Eclipse.

To best understand the ideas presented in this article, you are encouraged to review the Rational Software Architect and ClearCase documentation to learn about the product concepts and features. Also, note that "ClearCase views" are different from "Rational Software Architect views".

Rational Software Architect is part of the IBM® Rational® Software Delivery Platform, which offers these features:

* Support for model-driven development.
* Support for building Java™, Java™ 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE™ Platform), and Web services applications.
* Includes tools and utilities for debugging, testing, and deployment.
* Integrates with IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Network Deployment.
* Enables direct deployment into WebSphere Application Server network.

ClearCase has two usage models for software configuration management:

* Unified Change Management (UCM)
* Base ClearCase


Methods of integrating Rational Software Architect with ClearCase

Rational Software Architect can integrate with ClearCase in two ways: by using the SCM Adapter (which is available with Rational Software Architect), or by adding the CCRC Plug-In. Each plug-in has its advantages. CCRC is the most recent; its simplicity and power to penetrate WAN environments is attractive to many developers. The key differences between these two plug-ins are as follows:

* SCM Adapter:
o Connects a native ClearCase client and Rational Software Architect
o Requires a LAN Connection
o Spawns ClearCase UI dialogs
o Requires traditional ClearCase client installation on the local machine
o Requires the MVFS (MultiVersion File System) if users need dynamic views
* CCRC :
o Embeds ClearCase into Rational Software Architect; does not require a native ClearCase client
o Supports latent network connections
o ClearCase client installation not required
o Separate ClearCase perspective and views inside Rational Software Architect
o Common look and feel across different operating systems