Stat 6.3 - User Guide

About Archive Sets

Using Stat, developers can take ‘snapshots’ of objects as they exist in a particular environment and archive them indefinitely in the Stat Repository. Because archive sets are stored in the Stat Repository and not a generic application environment, you can archive different versions of objects and rollback to previous versions when necessary. This effectively makes Stat the “Undo” feature of your generic application.

Once a developer locks the objects that he or she wishes to change, Stat automatically takes a snapshot of those objects before any changes occur. This is called a base archive set. The base archive set is the “pre-change” version of all the objects locked in the CSR. You can use this snapshot, like all archive sets, to restore data objects and file objects to their previous state.

As you make changes to the objects, you can also create interim archive sets. This is effectively backing up your work as you go along.

The ability to create the archive sets that include file objects and/or data objects is activated at the service domain level by your system administrator.

Archive Set Types

You use archive sets to recover objects to environments and migrate completed changes. There are three main types of archive sets: Base, Interim, and Final. There is also a fourth type called Merged, which is the result of using the Object Merge Wizard to combine the definition of two versions of the same data object.

You can use any archive set type to restore or move objects. Each archive set contains objects that belong to one CSR, while the CSR itself may contain one or more archive sets, including the base, the final, and all the interim or merged archive sets.

When you create an interim or final archive set, you tell Stat what environment the archives of the objects should come from. For data objects, the archives come from the selected generic application environment. For file objects, the archives come from either the source file locations defined for the selected environment or from the working directory of the assigned developer.

System administrators define source file locations for each file type and working directories for each developer. Working directories are where users make their changes. When creating an archive set, you can take the file archives either from the environment’s source file locations or from the developer’s working directory.

Base Archive Sets

The base archive set is the most important because it contains the “pre-change” version of all the objects in the CSR. Stat automatically creates the base archive set when you save your CSR after locking objects. The base archive set is created from the Base environment in your migration path. Your system administrator defines which environment is the Base environment for each migration path. Your system administrator also defines each file type's source file locations for the Base environment. It is from these locations that Stat takes the “pre-change” version of the file objects locked in the CSR.


	NOTE: If objects are removed from a CSR, those objects are also removed from all the archive sets on that CSR. This keeps the base archive set accurate and up-to-date.

A CSR can contain only one base archive set, which contains all the locked objects. The base archive set is dynamic, meaning that Stat automatically adds to it objects that are locked in the Base environment after the set is initially created. The base archive set continues to grow as Stat issues more locks on objects in the CSR.

You should never delete base archive sets from the system since they contain objects in their original, “pre-change” state. The moment you request a lock on objects, Stat places a holder in the system for the base set. Before you save the CSR, the status of the base set is In Process. If you do not save the CSR, the objects are not locked and the base archive is not created.

Interim Archive Sets

As you make changes to objects, you can save the modified objects in interim archive sets. Interim archive sets contain objects that are currently being modified and can be taken from any environment on your migration path, although by default the source environment is Development. If the archive set contains file objects, the archive of the file objects is taken either from the first source location defined for the specified environment or the developer’s working directory.

You can create an unlimited number of interim archive sets. An interim archive set is also dynamic. Stat can add objects to it after it is created. However, you cannot add or delete objects from an interim archive set once it has been migrated. This is to keep referential integrity intact. If you need to archive an object that is not in one of your interim archive sets, just create a new interim archive set for that object.

An interim archive set can contain some or all the objects associated with a CSR. You create interim sets to save objects after significant changes have been made throughout the development process.

Final Archive Sets

Once your changes are completed and approved, you should create a final archive set. The final archive set is static, and although it is not mandatory that you create one, it is strongly recommended. A CSR can contain only one final archive set, and objects cannot be added to it once it is created. When the final archive set is created, Stat automatically adds to it all objects locked on the CSR.

You can create a final archive set from any environment on the migration path of the CSR. As with interim archive sets, if the final archive set contains file objects, the archive of the file objects is taken either from source locations defined for the particular file types or the developers’ working directories.

Merged Archive Sets

Merged archive sets are automatically created by Stat when you use the Object Compare Wizard to combine the definition of two versions of the same data object. Merged archive sets are automatically added to the CSR from which the original versions of the object were selected. A CSR can contain an unlimited number of merged archive sets. For more information on the Object Merge Wizard, see Object Tools and Wizards .

Archive Sets Table

The Archive Sets table shows the archive sets that have been created for a particular CSR. You can create and migrate archive sets whenever this table is displayed. To open the archive sets table, select the Archive Sets tab of the CSR window. The table appears in the right section of the tab page.

The Archive Sets button becomes activated whenever you select the CSR node, the All Objects node, or the Migration Path node in the tree view on the left side of the tab page. If you select any object or developer node in the tree structure while the Archive Set table is displayed, the view switches to the Environment Info table and the Archive Sets button becomes dithered. This is because archive set information is not specific to these nodes and cannot be filtered.

To view archive set information by environment, select any of the environment nodes under the Migration Path node. This filters the archive set table to show information about only the archive sets created from that environment.

To sort rows of information in the Archive Set table, click on the column headings.

The archive set table displays the following information:

This is the archive set ID, which Stat automatically generates. Archive sets appear in the order you create them.

Source

This is the source environment from which you copied the objects in the archive set. It must be an environment in the migration path defined for the CSR. A “-w” appears at the end of the environment name if the archive set was taken from the Development environment and it contains files that were taken from the users' working directories rather than the source file locations of the development environment. If it was taken from a VCM repository, a “-v” appears on the end of the environment name.


	NOTE: If the base archive set contains file objects, these are copied from the source file locations of the Base environment. Interim archive sets are copied from the Development environment by default.

Type

This is the type of archive set. Options include Base, Interim, and Final.

Description

This is the description you entered when you created the archive set. Descriptions help distinguish between different interim archive sets. Base archive sets always contain the description: “Stat Baseline Set.”

Objects

This indicates how many objects the archive set contains. For a base or final archive set, this number is the total number of objects locked on the CSR. An interim archive set may contain less than that number.

Archive Set Status

This indicates the current status of the archive set. Possible statuses include:

•

In Process – Indicates that Stat is currently archiving the objects. When you add objects to a CSR, the archive set is in this initial status until all objects are archived. When the Stat is finished archiving, the status changes to Complete.

•

Complete – Indicates that all objects are archived

•

Complete/With Errors – Indicates that the archive set is created but errors were detected during the archiving process. For generic applications, this could mean that one of the environments is not clean, or it could mean that Stat could not find the file objects you wanted to archive, or that the file location information was not set up correctly. Some errors are so severe that the archive set is unusable. Refer to the Logs window for further information.

•

Complete/With Warnings – Indicates that the archive set is created but warnings were issued during the archiving process. You can still migrate an archive set in this status. Refer to the Logs window and investigate further.

•

Delete Pending – Indicates that the archive set is set for deletion. It remains in this status until Stat completes its tasks.

•

Deleted – Indicates that Stat deleted the archive set

Ready to Migrate

If selected, this indicates one or both of the following:

•

The archive set is to be included in a mass migration with other archive sets that target the same environment

•

The migration of the archive set must be approved before it can be moved into the target environment

For more information on mass migrations and migration approvals, see Migration Approvals and Mass Migrations (Generic Applications) .

Migration Status

This indicates the status of any archive set that you marked as Ready to Migrate. Before you select the target environment(s) for the archive set, the status is N/A. After you select the target environment(s), the status is In Process. Once the archive set has been migrated to all the selected environment(s), Ready to Migrate is unchecked and the status reverts to N/A.

Create Date

This is the date that the archive set was created.

Buttons

The archive sets table features the following short cut buttons:

•

New – Opens the Archive Set window in which you can define new archive sets

•

Edit – Opens the Archive Set window in which you can edit the selected archive set

•

Delete – Deletes the selected archive set

•

Refresh – Refreshes the window with the most up-to-date information from the Stat Repository. You can also press <F5> to refresh.

•

Print – Prints the contents of the Archive Set table

•

Migration Target – Opens the Target Environments window for the source environment of the selected archive set. This button is activated when Ready to Migrate is selected for the archive set.

Creating Archive Sets (Generic Applications)

As you make your changes to objects, you should periodically make interim archive sets. This lets you save your work at that point in time. When all your changes are completed and approved, you should make a final archive set. The procedure for both is the same.

To create an archive set:

In the Archive Sets tab of the CSR window, click New.

This opens the Archive Set window.

In the Archive Set window you enter basic information about an archive set. Here you define the archive type and source environment and add a description and comments. This window also provides you with read only information, such as number of objects and the time and date the archive set was created.


	TIP: You can re-size this window as needed by clicking and holding an edge of the window and dragging to size you want.

In Type field, select the type of archive set you want to create.

Your options include Interim and Final. Base sets are automatically created by Stat.


	NOTE: You can create unlimited number of interim archive sets, but only one final archive set.

In Environment field, select the environment containing the objects you want to include in the archive set.

This environment should be the one in which you made your changes. The default environment for interim archive sets is Development.


	IMPORTANT: If the CSR contains a reserved object for the selected environment, you cannot create a final set. If the CSR contains an unlocked object for the selected environment, you can create a final archive set but Stat displays a warning message.

In the Description field, enter a short description of the changes you made to the objects.

This entry helps identify the archive set elsewhere in Stat.

If you are adding file objects to the archive set, do one of the following in the Files From field:

•

Select Environment if the source environment is Development and you want to take the file archives from the environment’s source file locations

•

Select Working if the source environment is Development and you want to take the file archives from the assigned user’s working directories. Or select No if you want to take the archives from the source file locations of Development.

•

Select VCM if you have associated the CSR with a version control management record and you want to take the file archives from the VCM repository. After selecting this option, a VCM-specific field is displayed (Revision for SVN and P4, Tag/Branch for CVS and Git, Label for PVCS, and Version for TFS). In this field you can specify the particular version of the objects you want to add from the VCM repository. Your system administrator may have configured a default value, but you can override it either by entering the version you want manually or by clicking the control button and selecting the version from the dropdown list. If left blank, Stat adds the most recent version of the objects in the repository.


	NOTE: When you save the archive set, Stat retrieves the objects from VCM repository. Your system administrator can configure Stat to archive the objects themselves or pointer to those objects.

If you want to include the archive set in a mass migration based on application release label, select the release label you want in the Release field.

(Optional) Enter comments about the archive set.

Comments can include a longer description of the changes or any other helpful information.

Click on the Objects tab.

In the Objects tab, click Add....

Stat opens the Select Objects window, which displays a list of the objects contained in the base archive set.


	NOTE: When creating a final archive set, Stat automatically adds all the objects in the base archive set and does not open the Select Objects window.

In the Select Objects window, click a column heading to have the rows sorted based on that column.

Select the objects you want to add to the archive set.

An interim archive set can contain one, some, or all the objects in the CSR.

If you have performed previous migrations or deleted objects on the CSR, check the existence of each object by selecting it and clicking Check Existence.

Stat goes out to the source environment or file locations and looks for the object. If it finds the object it displays the value Yes in the corresponding Exists field. If the object does not exist, Stat displays the value No. Objects that do not exist in the source environment cannot be included in the archive set.

Click OK.

This returns you to the Archive Sets tab in the CSR window, which shows your new archive set at the bottom of the Archive Set table. The Status column will display the value In Process until the Stat Central Agent finishes archiving all the objects.


	NOTE: Archiving objects is an optional function of Stat. If your system administrator sets up Stat to create archive sets, object archiving occurs automatically.

Please select your product:

To serve you better, please complete the Purpose of your Chat:

Recommended Solutions for Your Problem

Stat 6.3 - User Guide

About Archive Sets

Archive Set Types

Archive Sets Table

Creating Archive Sets (Generic Applications)