Customizing HP ALM projects

New and existing HP ALM projects require some customization to integrate with CLM projects and the HP adapter. You can customize a project, or where shared workflow customization is required across multiple projects, you can use a project template. For more information about project templates, see the HP ALM documentation.

Before you begin

Previous post-installation tasks are complete.

About this task

By customizing your HP ALM project workflow script and toolbar buttons, users can click a toolbar button in the Requirements, Test Plan, Test Lab, Manual Run, or Defect module to open the selected artifact in the HP adapter, open the associated Rational® Requirements Management project dashboard, or open the associated Rational Change and Configuration Management project dashboard. Sample HP ALM workflow code is provided with the adapter to complete this customization.

Tip: The adapter includes a sample exported HP ALM project that works with HP ALM 11.5 and an SQL server. For new or existing projects with no workflow customization, you can copy the sample project into your HP ALM project by using the Script Editor tool. You can download the 11.5 sample project from the Rational Adapter for HP ALM home page. A sample exported project that works with HP ALM 11 and an SQL server is available at the Deployment wiki for the HP adapter.

Procedure

Download the HP ALM workflow code that is provided with the adapter.

  1. Point your browser to https://fully qualified hostname:port/hpqm. Log in to the Rational Adapter for HP ALM server.
  2. Click the help button on any Rational Adapter for HP ALM page. Click About This Application.

    Location of About This Application on the adapter banner.

  3. In the HP ALM Workflow section, click Download Workflow Script

    Location of Download Workflow Script

    The file opens in the browser.

  4. Save the file LIA_ALM_workflow.txt to a local directory.

Go to your project workflow code and make a backup copy.

  1. Open the workflow script editor and create a backup of the Common script.

Add the workflow procedures (subs and functions) that are prefixed with GB_

  1. If you are updating a workflow script that contains sample code from a previous version of the adapter, delete the old GB_ procedures. Any modifications that you made to these procedures must be manually merged back in from your backup.
  2. If you have your own custom procedures that start with GB_, ensure that there are no collisions with the procedures in the adapter sample code. If collisions occur, refactor your code or the adapter sample code to address the collision.
  3. Add all GB_* functions from the downloaded HP ALM workflow script to the project's Common script.

Change the ActionCanExecute function in the workflow code to provide the action to perform when a user clicks a toolbar button.

  1. If no customized code exists in the ActionCanExecute function, replace the function with the following code
    '--------------------------------------------------------------
    '- ActionCanExecute
    '-
    '- DESCRIPTION: Built in function that handles all actions
    '-       INPUT: ActionName (system provided)
    '-              Name of action that has been triggered
    '-      OUTPUT: Return True if an action should execute, False if not
    '-     EXAMPLE: Not called from script - invoked by QC program
    '--------------------------------------------------------------
    Function ActionCanExecute(ActionName)
    
      '- set error handler
      On Error Resume Next
    
      '- default return value
      ActionCanExecute = DefaultRes
    
      '- handle events based on ActionName
      Select Case ActionName
        '- execute any existing customer functions
    
        Case Else
          '- if the ActionName event was not handled above then test for HPQM actions
          GB_HPQM_Action ActionName '- handle HPQM functions
    
      End Select
    
      '- handle events based on ActiveModule
      Select Case ActiveModule
        '- execute any existing customer functions
    
        Case Else
          '- if the ActiveModule event was not handled above then test for HPQM actions
          GB_HPQM_Action ActiveModule '- handle HPQM functions
    
       End Select
    
    End Function
  2. If customized code exists in the ActionCanExecute function, add the Case Else section that is shown in bold to the end of the Select Case code block. If the Select Case ActionName code block does not exist, you can add the entire code block shown here.
      Select Case ActionName
        '- execute any existing customer functions
    
        Case Else
          '- if the ActionName event was not handled above then test for HPQM actions
          GB_HPQM_Action ActionName '- handle HPQM functions
      End Select

Update the function GB_AdapterURL to specify your adapter URL.

  1. In the GB_AdapterURL function, replace the value of GB_AdapterURL with your adapter Public URI Root. For example,
    Function GB_AdapterURL
    
       '- change GB_AdapterURL here to your Rational HPQM adapter URL
       'GB_AdapterURL= "https://<adapter_host>:<port>/hpqm/"
       
       GB_AdapterURL= "https://gearbox-hpqm-stable.rtp.raleigh.ibm.com:9443/hpqm/"

Add the custom toolbar buttons that when clicked open the Rational Adapter for HP ALM or the relevant CLM dashboard. Add these buttons for the following modules: Requirements, Test Plan, Test Lab, Manual Run, and Defects.

  1. From the Project Customization page, access the Toolbar Button Editor.
    1. Add the following two buttons to open the RM and CM dashboards. Add these buttons to the command bar for all five modules.
      Table 1. Toolbar buttons to open RM and CM dashboards for all five modules
      Caption Hint Action Name Button
      RM Dashboard Open Rational Requirements Management RM_Dashboard 145
      CM Dashboard Open Rational Change and Configuration Management CM_Dashboard 12
    2. Add the following button to open the Resource Landing Page. Add the button to the command bar for each module.
      Important: The Action Name for each module is unique and must be exactly as shown to call the correct workflow function.
      Table 2. Toolbar button to open the Resource Landing Page for each module
      Command Bar Caption Hint Action Name Button
      Requirements Resource Landing Page Open in Rational Adapter for HP ALM Resource_Landing_Page_REQ 223
               
      TestPlan Resource Landing Page Open in Rational Adapter for HP ALM Resource_Landing_Page_TP 223
               
      TestLab Resource Landing Page Open in Rational Adapter for HP ALM Resource_Landing_Page_TL 223
               
      ManualRun Resource Landing Page Open in Rational Adapter for HP ALM Resource_Landing_Page_MAN 223
               
      Defects Resource Landing Page Open in Rational Adapter for HP ALM Resource_Landing_Page_DEF 223

    The result of adding a toolbar button for the Resource Landing Page:

    Resource Landing Page

    The result of adding a toolbar button for the RM Dashboard:

    RM Dashboard

    The result of adding a toolbar button for the CM Dashboard:

    CM Dashboard

  2. Test that each button either opens the Rational Adapter for HP ALM or the relevant CLM dashboard

Results

You customized one or more HP ALM projects to integrate with CLM projects and the HP adapter.

What to do next

Create a suspicion profile to identify a set of link types, artifact types, and attributes to watch for changes, see Setting up suspect links (Optional).

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