External SCM Tools (Windows)

The VisualAge for Java IDE offers an interface for checking .java source files in and out of an external software configuration management (SCM) system. This interface is a complementary feature that you can select when you install VisualAge for Java. It supports the following SCM tools:

The interface from VisualAge for Java to external SCM tools uses Microsoft's Source Code Control (SCC) API. It is supported for Windows NT and Windows 95 clients. It may work with other SCC-compliant SCM tools, but IBM has only tested the products and releases listed above.

If you selected the interface to external SCM tools when you installed VisualAge for Java, the Workbench window provides a menu for adding classes to source control, checking classes in and out of the SCM repository, and importing the most recently checked-in version of a class from the SCM repository. Prior to VisualAge for Java, Version 2.0, if you wanted to check a class into your SCM tool's repository, you had to do the following steps:

  1. Export the classes from the VisualAge for Java repository to the file system
  2. Launch your SCM client program from outside the IDE
  3. Use your SCM client program to check in the files that you created when you exported from VisualAge for Java

To check out a class, you would reverse the process. By contrast, with the interface to external SCM tools, the intermediate import and export steps are automated so you only need to select Checkin or Checkout from a menu in the IDE.

The interface from VisualAge for Java to external SCM tools does not provide any automatic synchronization of version names between the VisualAge for Java repository and the external SCM tool. VisualAge for Java does not prevent you from changing a program element in your workspace if you have omitted to check it out in the external SCM tool. The External SCM menu provides a convenient way for you to use an existing SCM tool without leaving the VisualAge for Java IDE, but you will need to correlate the functions of the two systems.

See the table below for a comparison of terms used by different SCM programs.

tentergf.gif (577 bytes) External SCM Tools and VisualAge for Java Team Development
VisualAge for Java, Enterprise Edition, provides a team development environment that uses a shared, object-based source code repository. This is VisualAge for Java's implementation of SCM; it provides software configuration support for development projects where multiple programmers work on the same code at the same time, and where they may need to support multiple versions. This shared repository implementation, sometimes called ENVY, is used by VisualAge Smalltalk and has become a de facto SCM standard for team development in Smalltalk environments.

Version control and repository management are integrated into VisualAge for Java, Enterprise Edition. The shared repository offers excellent support for day-to-day team programming activities. Even so, you may wish to install external SCM support as a complementary feature for one of the following reasons:

Comparison of SCM Terms
As you use the VisualAge for Java interface to external SCM tools, the following table may help you to correlate the terms that you encounter.

VisualAge for Java's interface to external SCM tools

PVCS

ClearCase

VisualAge
TeamConnection

SCM repository archives data repository repository

project

project

combination of VOB + view

combination of family + release + component + work area; sometimes known as version context

check in

check in

check in

check in part

check out

check out

check out

check out part

undo checkout unlock revision undo checkout unlock part

add to source control

create archive

add to source control

create part

get latest

check out the tip (latest version) with no read or write lock

not applicable

extract part

comments change description comments remarks

[Related concepts]
Repository

[Related tasks]
Preparing to Use an External SCM Tool (Windows)
Setting Your SCM Connection Parameters (Windows)
Adding Classes to the SCM Repository (Windows)
Checking Classes Out from an External SCM Tool (Windows)
Checking Classes In with an External SCM Tool (Windows)
Undoing Checkout with an External SCM Tool (Windows)
Getting the Latest Version from an External SCM Tool (Windows)
Comparing a Class to a Version in the SCM Repository (Windows)
Displaying SCM History (Windows)
Launching Your SCM Program (Windows)