StarTeam 2006 R2 Release Notes for
Cross-Platform Client (CPC), SDK, Notification Agent, StarTeam Extensions

This file contains important information that may not appear in online Help. Read this file in its entirety.

This release also contains the 9.1 and 9.2 patch releases.

System Requirements/Prerequisites (CPC Only)

Following are the system requirements for installing and running the StarTeam 2006 R2 CPC.

This CPC release is backwards-compatible with the StarTeam Server 2005 for Solaris, StarTeam Server 2005 R2 for Windows, and StarTeam Server 2006 for Windows.

The StarTeam Cross-Platform Client can be installed on Microsoft Windows systems and any system that supports Sun Microsystems Java Virtual Machine 1.5.0_09 or an equivalent JRE. The Cross-Platform Client has been tested on the following systems:

Known Issues

The following are known issues in StarTeam 2006 R2:

• When reordering the tabs in the upper pane, do not make the Audit tab the first tab. Listing all the audit entries can take a very long time.
• For Windows: You should use the Properties dialog box to change the name or case of a file (for example, FX.txt to fx.txt). Otherwise, StarTeam may report the file with the old name (FX.txt) as Missing and the new file (fx.txt) as Not in View. Pressing F5 will not change the status until the Windows file cache is refreshed, which takes about 1 minute. Alternatively, you can force Java to not cache Windows file properties by placing the following option in the CPC stjava file:
  
  -Dsun.io.useCanonCaches=false

New Features and Changes

The following are new features or changes included in StarTeam 2006 R2:

• Option to turn off custom toolbars.
  You can now turn off custom toolbars that load with each view window (if any custom tools were configured) on a per workstation basis. Custom toolbars are created as part of StarTeam Extensions. To turn off custom toolbars, choose Tools > Personal Options from the menu bar and then uncheck the Custom tools check box.
• New Notification Agent tags in the Notification Agent.
• Support for cross-project process items.
• New way of handling process items using process tasks and enhanced process links.
• Support for the use of a custom delimiter in the Item Export dialog box.  Previously, you could only choose from predefined delimiters. 
• New Folder Component Access Rights dialog box.
  This new dialog box allows you to set more granular access rights on a folder. To access the Folder Component Access Rights dialog box, click the Folder tab in the Items pane, and then choose Folder > Advanced > Component Access Rights from either the context menu or the Folder menu.
• The My Account dialog box now has a Membership tab that displays the logged-on user's group membership information. 
• Time Zone Updater (Windows only).
  The StarTeam Cross-Platform Client installer runs the Sun tzupdater program on the Sun JRE (1.5.0_09) installed with this release. The tzupdater program changes the JRE in order to provide better DST (Daylight Savings Time) information for Eastern, Mountain, and Hawaiian time zones. It also deletes three JRE files from the lib/zi folder (if they are there): EST, HST, MST.
  

Notification Agent Changes

• The Notification Agent now has three new tags for emails:
  • {{url-view}} places the StarTeam URL for a StarTeam view in an email
  • {{url-folder}} places the StarTeam URL for a StarTeam folder in an email
  • {{url-item}} places the StarTeam URL for a StarTeam item in an email

  These tags are explained more fully in the StarTeam Extensions User's Guide.

• Corrected the problem for ID #'s greater than 999.
  The Notification Agent now supports StarTeam URL tags for all items regardless of the ID number.  Previously, users who constructed StarTeam URL's to send via the Notification Agent could not support items with IDs greater than 999 because the CPC did not recognize the ID.
  

Active Process Item Changes

StarTeam 2006 R2 supports cross-project process items. Previously, you could only select a process item (change request, task, or requirement) from within the current view. Now you can select a valid process item from any view in any project, as long as the process item is on the same server as the files being added or checked in.

You can select a process item as the active process item for the current view, any open view, or a closed view by using either the Process Item toolbar button drop-down menu or the Change Request, Task, or Requirement menus. The item you select must comply with the process rules of selected view. The Current View and Select View menu commands are always displayed. If more than one view is open on the same server as the current view, the menu displays current view or views by name.

To specify or change an active process item for a view:

1. Select the process item.
2. Access the Set Active Process Item command any of these ways:
   • From the Task, Change Request, or Requirement menus.
   • From the drop-down menu of the Process Item toolbar button.
   • From the context menu for the item in the Items pane.
3. Select Current View, Select View, or the name of a currently open view.
   If you choose Select View, the Select View dialog box opens. Use this dialog to select the project and view on the current server for which the selected item will be the active process item.

Specifying Active Process Items at Check-in

When you specify or change an active process item during a check-in operation, if the process item belongs to a different view, the project and view information is prepended to the information displayed for the item. The process item information in different views will display as:

The process item information displayed is derived from a field within the process item and varies according to the type of process item:

• Change request – Synopsis field
• Requirement – Name field
• Task – Name field

To specify or change an active process item during a check-in operation:

1. Select the files to be added or checked in.
2. Select the appropriate toolbar button or menu command, such as File > Check In.
   

   Any active process item previously selected for this view is displayed in the Check In dialog box. The project and view are displayed in brackets along with the process item.

   

3. To choose a different process item:
   1. Click the Select button. The Select Process Item dialog box opens.
   2. Select the project, view, and/or folder containing the valid process item. To display all valid items in a view or a folder, click the All Descendants button.
      Tip: Selecting a specific folder will shorten the time to display valid items.

      

Viewing Active Process Item Information

When the selected view is the current view, the status bar displays the process item number. If the active process item is in a different view than the current one, you can mouse over the active process item shown in the status bar and see a tool tip showing the project and view as well as the process item description. To see details about a process item, you can now double-click the item in the status bar to open the Properties dialog box with more information.

Process Tasks and Enhanced Process Links

StarTeam now has a new way of handling process items. This release introduces a new type of task known as a process task, and a new way of using process links in View Compare/Merge (VCM) sessions and in check-in and add-file operations. A process task is a task that StarTeam automatically creates for use in VCM sessions and check-in and add-file operations. The links to and from process tasks are called enhanced process links. VCM always uses process tasks, but their use is optional with check-in and add-file operations.

Benefits of Process Tasks

Prior to this release, as you checked in or added files with a process item, StarTeam created process links which linked and pinned the process item to the tip revision of each file. If you checked in the same files later using the same process item, the process links were automatically updated and re-pinned to the new tip revision. The use of process items in VCM sessions was optional. If used, changed items were linked and pinned to the process item of the VCM session.

Because a process item could appear in multiple views for multiple operations, it was difficult to distinguish which links were relevant to which views. StarTeam has improved the process model to solve this problem by introducing process tasks and enhanced process links.

Important: Borland recommends that all users with StarTeam Enterprise and Enterprise Advantage Servers use the newer process model. The newer model is not available with StarTeam Standard Servers.

How Process Tasks Work when Checking in Files

In previous releases, if you checked in three files using a process item, the process item was linked and pinned to the tip revision of the files.

With this release, if you use process tasks for check-in and add-file operations, the active process item is linked directly to a process task. That process task is linked and pinned to the file revisions. The process task serves as an intermediate item between the process item and the files. A process item is relevant to only one view.

If you reopen and reuse a process item, StarTeam creates a new process task for it. If you use a process a process item repeatedly with the same process task, StarTeam creates new links for each operation.

How Process Tasks Work in VCM

StarTeam 2006 introduced a new VCM feature that allowed you to select a process item for each session. In the current (R2) release, VCM automatically creates a process task for each session for you. VCM creates links from the process task to all changed items if any folders and files are changed. In addition, VCM attaches the session difference report, the update report, and an export of the committed session (a .vcmx file) to the task. If no files or folders are changed in a session, no items are linked and pinned to the process task. However, this is rarely the case.

If you promote, rebase, or replicate one or more process items (instead of the entire view), the process item or items are linked to the process task, which in turn, is linked and pinned to the files and folders that are changed in the session.

How Process Items Affect VCM Default Session Names

In a couple of cases, VCM default session names have changed: If you define the scope of the session with just a process item, the session name identifies the process item. For example, a default session name might be Promote Change Request 5,321 from Sandbox#1.

If you define the scope of the session with just a revision label, the default session name includes the label name. For example, a default session name might be Replicate label 'My Changes' from Development to Test.

Enabling the Use of Process Tasks

For this release, the use of process tasks in check-in and add-file operations is set for the entire server. One user, usually a StarTeam administrator, enables the use of process tasks.

To enable the use of process tasks and enhanced process links:

1. From the StarTeam 2006 R2 Cross-Platform Client, choose Project > Properties for one project on each server configuration.
2. At the Project Properties dialog box, check the Enable enhanced process links by default for all projects on this server check box.

Alternatively, if the administrator installed the Server Administration tool along with the StarTeam Cross-Platform Client, the administrator can do the following:

1. Select the server configuration.
2. Choose Configure Server.
3. In the General tab, choose the Enable enhanced process links by default for all projects option.

Either method causes StarTeam to create a custom field in the Task component called Usr_TaskProcessUsage with the display name Process Usage and these enumerated values: Other, Checkin, Promote, Rebase, and Replicate. For manually created tasks, the value of this field defaults to Other. For process tasks, the value indicates what operation caused the task to be created. The Checkin value is used for both added and checked-in files.

Important: Enabling process tasks and enhanced process links results in the creation of a custom field. Make sure that no other users are on the system when the custom field is created.

Note: Borland recommends that you enable the enhanced process links option so that the custom field is created. This field makes it easier to obtain information about the process tasks used in VCM. Once the field is created if you do not want to use process tasks when checking in or adding files, you can turn the option off.

Use of Task Fields

StarTeam uses the Status field for process tasks. This field uses enumerated values from 0 to 5 to control process tasks. When StarTeam creates a process task, it sets the Status field for the process task to In Progress (or whatever value currently corresponds to the field’s enumeration number 2).

If the process item linked to a process task is marked Fixed, Finished, or Complete, StarTeam sets the Status field to Finished (or whatever value currently corresponds to enumeration value 3). At the end of the VCM session, StarTeam sets the Status field to Finished.

In addition, StarTeam assigns the value of the Name field to custom text fields. To custom User ID fields, it assigns the user ID for the current user. StarTeam sets all other task fields to their defaults.

Filtering Out Process Tasks from Other Tasks

If you use other types of tasks in addition to process tasks, we recommend that you modify your task filters to exclude process tasks. If you do not filter the tasks, users may process one or more of the process tasks inappropriately, resulting in a status assignment that interrupts the process task’s automatic operation.

As you create or edit filters, remember that a Process Usage field contains the value (0) Other when it is not a process task. If the field’s value is greater than Other (0), it is a process task.

If the enhanced process links option is not enabled, no Process Usage field exists. In this case you can still separate process tasks from your other tasks by searching the Notes field for “VCM session options.”

If you use workflow with tasks, especially if you use the Status field as your workflow control field, you may need to adjust your workflow to exclude process tasks. However, in most cases it is enough to update your filters to exclude them.

Link Pane Changes

Changes to the Link tab make it easier to review process tasks and enhanced process links. StarTeam does not recognize tasks and links as process tasks and enhanced process links in the Link tab unless the Process Usage field exists. To access the link information, click the Link tab in the lower pane.

Note: StarTeam displays enhanced process links only from the view in which the process task resides.

Changes to the Link tab include:

• New radio buttons that allow you to see all links or only the enhanced process links. Enhanced process links always have one end connected to a process task.
• A new drop-down list box called Linked Item that identifies the item for which links are displayed.
  Initially, the item displayed is the one selected in the upper pane. To select a different linked item, click the arrow beside the Linked Item list box.
• The icon for a process task has a gear (for process) on it.

Note: You can drag any link displayed in the Link tab to the Linked Item list box. This action changes the linked item as well as the links displayed in the tab. This feature is especially helpful in viewing the links to process tasks. If you switch to a different tab and then return, the list box reverts to displaying only the item selected from the upper pane.

When you select a process item in the upper pane, the only link displayed on the Link tab may be the link to a process task. To see the items that are linked to the process task (and are therefore linked indirectly to your process item), drag the process task link from the list on the Link tab onto the Linked Item list box. The Linked Item list box now displays the process task, and the Link tab list now displays the process task links. For example, the Link tab could show a link to each file checked in using the previously selected process item as well as a link to the process item itself.

Fixes

• History selection no longer being reset.
  A selection in the History tab now remains selected after you view it in the item's Properties dialog box.  Previously, the selection would automatically change to the last row of the History tab.
• Read-only attribute problem.
  If you checked the Mark unlocked working files read-only check box, unlocking a file should make the working file read-only and locking the file should make it read/write. This option now works correctly for files that have the Current status.
  
• In the Labels dialog box, the Detach and Properties buttons are now disabled once you detach a label from an item. To access the Labels dialog box, choose Folder Tree > Labels from the menu bar.  Previously, these buttons remained enabled after you detached a label and selecting one of these buttons resulted in an internal application error.
• Faster display time for tasks in a tree format.
  When opening a project view that has tasks in the upper pane displayed in a tree format, the time to display the items in the tree is dramatically improved, regardless of the number of tasks in the project. Display performance of the tree format for tasks is now comparable to that of topics and requirements.

View Compare/Merge (VCM) Changes

• When merging individual properties in the VCM Merge Properties dialog box, the Use Source and Use Target buttons are disabled if the user has already chosen one of those options for the selected property.  Previously, both Use Source and Use Target buttons remained enabled regardless of the selection making it difficult to distinguish which option may have already been chosen.
• VCM now recognizes situations where an item is being shared, reverse-shared or moved into a target folder that has active floating child shares, and will disallow the operation. This prevents propagating the unwanted change to other locations. VCM provides a new difference type called Target folder has floating child shares for this situation. You can review each failed difference and change the action (for example, to Ignore) before committing the session, or correct the floating share problem and redo the VCM session.

SDK Changes

• Enhanced performance.
  When the SDK first connects to a StarTeam server, it uses fewer server commands. As a result, applications start up faster and there is less data transferred from the server during refresh operations.

Getting Help

Link to Technical Support page on Borland Web site

Installation Instructions

To install StarTeam 2006 R2 for CPC, SDK, Notification Agent, or StarTeam Extensions:

1. Go to the Borland StarTeam trial downloads site at http://www.borland.com/downloads/download_starteam.html.
2. Choose StarTeam 2006 and 2006 Release 2.
3. Fill out the form to register for the trial download and click Submit.
   The StarTeam 2006 and 2006 R 2 page is displayed.
4. For CPC, locate the product and the language version to install.
   For Notification Agent and StarTeam Extensions, locate the StarTeam Extensions Complete area.
   Note: The runtime SDK is automatically installed with each of the other products.
5. Click the link for the download method (HTTP or FTP ). HTTP is faster.
6. Start the installation.
   
   1. For CPC Windows platforms, double-click the executable file (see table).
      For CPC on Linux and Solaris platforms, you may need to unzip and run the StarTeamCP.bin file. After installation, run the StarTeamCP executable file in the StarTeamCP/bin directory, or use the shortcut with the same name located in the directory selected during installation.
      For CPC Universal Edition, run the setup script in the installation's ./bin folder in order to create more executable scripts in that directory. To start CPC, run the starteam script.
      For StarTeam Extensions and the Notification Agent, double-click the executable file and then choose a product from the menu of WorkFlow Extensions products.
      
      

      Installation Filenames

      Product	Platform	Language	Filename
      CPC	Windows	English	2006R2StarTeamCPWin32.exe
      		Japanese	2006R2StarTeamCPWin32_ja.exe
      		German	2006R2StarTeamCPWin32_de.exe
      		French	2006R2StarTeamCPWin32_fr.exe
      	Solaris	English	2006R2STCPSolaris.tar.gz
      		Japanese	2006R2STCPSolaris.ja.tar.gz
      		German	2006R2STCPSolaris.de.tar.gz
      		French	2006R2STCPSolaris.fr.tar.gz
      	Linux	English	2006R2STCPLinux.tar.gz
      		Japanese	2006R2STCPLinux.ja.tar.gz
      		German	2006R2STCPLinux.de.tar.gz
      		French	2006R2STCPLinux.fr.tar.gz
      Universal Client	All	English	2006R2STCPUniversal.tar.gz
      StarTeam Extensions and Notification Agent	Windows	English	2006R2STWorkflowExtensions.exe

   2. Follow the onscreen instructions.
      
7. Repeat these steps for each product you want to install.

Default Windows Installation Folders

The default location for StarTeam Client is C:\Program Files\Borland\ StarTeam Cross-Platform Client 2006 R2

The default location for StarTeam Notification Agent is C:\Program Files\Borland\StarTeam Notification Agent

The default installation folder for StarTeam Extensions is C:\Program Files\Borland\StarFlow Extensions, but Borland recommends copying the runtime files to a different folder for each server configuration. You must check the files in the Client, Projects, and Utilities subfolders into the StarFlow Extensions project for each StarTeam server configuration.

For more information about CPC, StarTeam Extensions, Notification Agent installations, see the StarTeam Installation Guide (Install_en.pdf).

StarTeam 2006 Patch Release 9. 2 Features/Fixes in this Release

This release also includes the StarTeam 9.2 patch release features and fixes:

1. The Label tab in the lower pane now refreshes, correctly showing new revisions.
2. When using both VCM and File Compare/Merge, enabling the Test perspective no longer maximizes the File Compare/Merge pane.
3. Sample Task and LinkTask custom forms (APEs) now display work records correctly. They no longer disappear until the view is reopened.
4. Makes the use of floating views and items, which is not recommended, less likely. The following view types are not displayed when users create new views unless they select the Show advanced types check box.
   • Branch All, Floating
   • Branch None
5. A warning prompt has also been added to the New View wizard when using the following view types:
   • Branch All, Floating
   • Branch None
6. Also resulting in warnings are:
   • Configuring a folder to a floating configuration
   • Unchecking the view property “Set items shared into view to branch on change”
7. StarTeam client will now perform reverse shares when appropriate and when the Move/Share confirmation option is set in the Personal Options dialog.
8. New SDK methods for reverse sharing include Item.smartShareTo, Item.ReverseShareTo, and Item.isReverseShareRecommended.
9. StarDraw sample repository now includes StarFlow Extension project.
10. Files can now be checked out from the test perspective in VCM Utility.
11. VCM Utility now correctly restores sessions that used the “- check-out preview files all” option.
12. BCO now correctly returns code 1 for connection errors.
13. Documentation added for undocumented .NET methods for StarTeam .NET SDK.
14. Changes were made to the documentation for method File.Checkout exception. Now states System.IO.IOException instead of java.io.IOException.
15. Changes were made to the documentation for method IStCatalog.IDs and IStCatalog.PropertyIDs. They now include exception messages.
16. Delete operations performed on a shared item that has a deleted root share no longer results in an internal server error.
    

StarTeam 2006 Patch Release 9.1 Features/Fixes in this Release

This release also includes the StarTeam 9.1 patch release features and fixes.

VCM issues

1. VCM matches root folders of child views correctly even when root folder of child view is non-derived or when differing from the root folder of the parent view.
2. The merge preview accurately determines when a parent folder has been deleted in the target view.
3. When duplicate folders (two shares of the same folder at the same branch and revision level) exist, VCM no longer misidentifies one of them as new (which used to result in unnecessary sharing of the folder and its contents).
4. Refreshes occur after reverse sharing so that file statuses are accurate.
5. Rebasing and promoting via a process item that is linked to a file that is not the tip revision of the file in the source view now work correctly.
6. Files marked for delete-and-reverse-share now appear in the VCM session’s test perspective.
7. Auto file merge no longer adds an EOL to the last line of a text file unnecessarily.
8. The case where an existing folder becomes a child of a new folder now promotes correctly.
9. StarTeam VCM engine now continues when an archive is missing.

Other issues

1. User accounts created by Server Administration tool no longer are created with a Date/time stamp of 12/29/99 at 6:00 PM instead of the current date/time.
2. The cancellation of the add operation for a file whose size is greater than 2GB can now be done within reasonable time.
3. Project refresh commands used to be sent for all classes upon login. Now these commands are sent when the metadata is needed, reducing the overall load on the server and improving performance.
4. A change to how IDs are refreshed when MPX is turned on makes performance better.
5. Slow CR form load times when there are lots of users and groups has been significantly improved.
6. The stcmd delete-local command has been optimized to get properties it needs from all folders at once.
7. The file status no longer remains "modified" when the file is checked in via 'Linked File>Check in' on the Link tab.
8. Cache Agent can now use ports > 32,767.
9. Miscellaneous tightening of command use for performance benefits, particularly involving refreshes.
10. Miscellaneous reductions of memory usage.
11. Unnecessary error message no longer displays when CPC attempts to open a deleted project or view on startup.
12. Personal Option added so that users can stop Custom Tools from loading: improves performance for those who do not use custom tools.
13. When using shortcut key to access "Lock" dialog, the lock action is now performed.
14. Folder component access rights can now be set.
15. Cache Agent is now used for all checkout operations like compare contents, APE form and custom form checkout, etc.
16. In a Task’s Link tab, selecting Linked File -> Compare Contents to compare a linked file against the working file, the Compare window no longer opens behind the main StarTeam window.
17. Double-clicking on a view in the Open Project Wizard, or in the Select View dialog, now takes you to the view.
18. It is now possible to open a file whose name includes double byte white space.
19. Altering the Behavior and the Configuration dialogs while multiple items are selected now displays the same error messages as in the Win32 client.
20. Miscellaneous navigation fixes to make the product easier to use.
21. Change to .jar file used by APEs so that default task APE displays work records correctly.

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