Re: iSeries Projects and (beginning) XP status report -- WDSCI-L

i use iSeries projects alot. i've never had any problems with them. there
are SOME things i don't like but i can live it them. it also makes it
very simple to export your code from PC to PC, etc. since we don't have a
CM package here i use them for organizing relevant code (i.e. all source
for an AP maintenance program, etc.) it's handy plus i don't have to dig
through hundreds of source members...just open the project and refresh the
project source from the iSeries.

Thanks,
Tommy Holden

Duane Kehoe <dkehoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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08/14/2007 11:25 AM
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Re: [WDSCI-L] iSeries Projects and (beginning) XP status report

Buck,

You can solve the library issue by modifying the build CL. I have not
played with the projects perspective in a little while but did find that
things worked better when I told wdsc to create a generic build CL which
I later modified to my situation. In the couple cases I followed threw
to finish it did work fairly well, but then again I do not have any
version control system in place(can't convince the powers that be we
should have one, yet!!).

Lately, I have been thinking about trying out projects again as I look
to find a better development / organization model for code and objects.
Historically our shop has used the QRPGLESRC, QCLSRC method of grouping
by source types within a given library. This is nice but can at times
make finding all the pieces of a process more cumbersome, I still think
that is better than a single source file for an entire library that
contains many programs / processes. More recently I have been
contemplating a single file for all sources related to a given process /
program, for example LIBRARY/PROJECT with all source members together.
In my minds eye this would keep things organized and together allowing
for easier modification especially if build CLs are used(which I have
also been thinking about using as I get more modular in my design). I
am sure this may ruffle some of my coworkers thought processes but I
think it may be a good direction to go at least for modular programs as
it more closely aligns to the methods employed by other languages. I am
very interested in other developers opinions in this area, what are
others doing / recommending? Thanks in advance for any responses.

Buck wrote:

Wanted to let the list know how it's going. I'm trying to get some XP
(eXtreme Programming) techniques going in my RPG and CL programming and
I thought I'd give iSeries Projects a try, mainly for the SVN
integration. I figured I'd keep many versions of the code as I went

along.

In general, I don't think iSeries Projects is a particularly good fit
for XP. Not because there's something wrong with iSeries Projects, just

that it's probably not the right tool for the job.

The Subversion integration is okay, but mostly manual. That is, I don't

get a new rev every time I open a member for editing. And by the way,
once you've opened a member for editing under iSP, don't open it later
with RSE or SEU. Things get confused quickly, and the repository thinks

it's the member of record which will result in the loss of changes.

There's a bug trying to look at version history. If you click on a
member (say at version 14) and right click, team, history you see the
history. Click on a different member (say at version 12) and it doesn't

show the history for that member. You have to do it again.

Compilation is a pain. Again, iSP wasn't intended for a rapid edit,
compile, test cycle so I can hardly blame WDSC for my misuse of it. I
found it unpleasantly easy to compile the wrong member (right click,
remote, compile, compile.)

When ready to integrate, iSeries Projects deploys only to a single
'test' library. Not fun when one has a production deployment that goes
into multiple libraries.

All things considered, I think I'll be doing the next iteration with RSE

and skipping Subversion. I didn't get enough value out of the
experiment to stay with it for a project that is strictly RPG and CL.
If the whole shop used WDSC and Subversion, I might change my opinion,
but as a solo effort, it was more work than it was worth to me.
--buck