ibm-doors

Does DOORS baseline and/or track history of Attribute DXL and Layout DXL scripts

I often edit DOORS Layout DXL, usually by starting with a column created using Analysis->Wizard and then going into the column properties Layout DXL -> Browse... -> Current.

In terms of Layout DXL code that is attached to a column in this way:

  1. Does DOORS maintain a history of this code, in any way similar to the history of a DOORS object row?
  2. Does DOORS save a copy of this code when you baseline a module?
  3. If either 1 or 2 are true, is there a way I could view the history/baselines of the pieces of Layout DXL code attached to columns in a view?
  4. If 1 and 2 are not true, can anyone suggest a good way to back up or version control dxl scripts? Ie: could I make my own dxl text files and put those text files in SVN (or similar) and then tell DOORS to use them as Layout DXL for certain columns?
  5. If 1 and 2 are not true, is there more history/backup/baselining functionality for Attribute DXL than Layout DXL?

I've looked for a History button in the Browse DXL window and Edit Column Window, but don't see anything that seems promising. Google and searches of IBM DOORS help pages return lots of results for terms like "baseline dxl history" etc, but they are all about using DXL to display history and baseline info for other objects/modules, not instructions for finding the history of a Layout DXL code snippet itself.

Solution

  • Views are independent of module versions, which has the advantage that you can define a new view and it works in all baselines, but the disadvantage that the code is not stored in a baseline, so: for 1 and 2: no. Attribute DXL (5) on the other hand belongs to a module version and thus the code is contained in the baseline.

    Concerning 4: We do it like this: We have a base directory that is under version control (svn, git, hg, as you like it). This base directory has subdirectories like "scripts", "lib" etc. When we want to access DXL code, e.g. in a menu or in a column, the only line of code we have is a relative path to a DXL file, e.g. #include <layout/TraceColumn.dxl>.

    Now, we only need to create a batch file to start DOORS. In this batch file, we call doors.exe with the parameter -addins "%ADDINS%" where ADDINS is a variable that contains the actual base directory.

    This way, DOORS can find the code it needs and we have can version our TraceColumn.dxl just like any other source code.