Getting Started With Automated Build Studio 5 - KESSLER Software

Copyright Notice
Automated Build Studio, as described in this on-line help system, is licensed under the software license
agreement distributed with the product. The software may be used or copied only in accordance with the
terms of its license.
Automated Build Studio is Copyright © 2002-2008 AutomatedQA Corporation.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No part of this help can be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, copied or modified, transmitted in
any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for purposes
others than the purchaser’s personal use.
All AutomatedQA product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of AutomatedQA
Corporation. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names mentioned in this Help system or
elsewhere in the Automated Build Studio software package are the property of their respective owners.
Automated Build Studio includes the UnzDll.dll library that is supplied by Info-Zip. This library is
copyright © 1990-2005 Info-ZIP. This software is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, expressed
or implied. In no event shall Info-ZIP or its contributors be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental,
special or consequential damages arising from the use of or inability to use this software.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................7
Overview..................................................................................................................................................7
System Requirements.............................................................................................................................10
Supported Tools .....................................................................................................................................11
What’s New in Automated Build Studio 5 ............................................................................................16
Getting Support......................................................................................................................................21
Automated Build Studio Samples ..........................................................................................................22
Automated Build Studio and Windows Firewall ...................................................................................23
GETTING STARTED .............................................................................................................................26
Basic Concepts.......................................................................................................................................26
User Interface – Overview .....................................................................................................................31
Creating a Macro....................................................................................................................................37
Adding, Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro ....................................................................40
Modifying Operation Properties ............................................................................................................43
Saving and Loading Macros ..................................................................................................................47
Using Macro Configurations..................................................................................................................47
Running Macros.....................................................................................................................................55
Logging Macro Runs .............................................................................................................................56
Analyzing Results of Macro Runs .........................................................................................................57
Getting Started – Further Steps..............................................................................................................58
Sending Notifications .........................................................................................................................58
Exporting Results of Macro Runs ......................................................................................................59
Handling Errors in Macros................................................................................................................60
Incrementing the Build Version Number............................................................................................65
Scheduling Macro Runs .....................................................................................................................67
BUILD STRATEGIES ............................................................................................................................70
Continuous Integration...........................................................................................................................70
Continuous Integration Support.........................................................................................................70
Tracing Task Triggers........................................................................................................................74
Distributed Builds ..................................................................................................................................77
Distributed Builds – Overview...........................................................................................................77
Distributed Build Scenarios...............................................................................................................78
Creating Distributed Builds...............................................................................................................79
Operation Dependencies ........................................................................................................................85
About Dependent Groups...................................................................................................................86
Dependent Groups Usage Example ...................................................................................................87
Concurrent Execution of Operations......................................................................................................91
USING VARIABLES AND CONSTANTS IN MACROS ...................................................................94
About Variables .....................................................................................................................................94
About Constants.....................................................................................................................................96
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Table of Contents
Creating Variables and Constants and Modifying Their Attributes.......................................................97
Using Variables and Constants in Operation Properties ........................................................................99
Using Variables and Constants in Script Operations ...........................................................................101
Initializing Variables via Command Line............................................................................................102
MACRO LIBRARIES ...........................................................................................................................104
Macro Libraries....................................................................................................................................104
Using a Library – Example ..................................................................................................................105
INTEGRATION WITH MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO AND MSBUILD .................................111
Overview..............................................................................................................................................111
Integration With Microsoft Visual Studio............................................................................................111
Running Automated Build Studio Macros From MSBuild Projects....................................................113
Running Automated Build Studio Macros From Visual Studio Team Explorer .................................114
AUTOMATED BUILD STUDIO CLIENT/SERVER AND WEB INTERFACE ...........................119
Overview..............................................................................................................................................119
Using the Client/Server Functionality..................................................................................................119
Automated Build Studio Client/Server – User Permissions ................................................................125
Connection Parameters ........................................................................................................................127
Automated Build Studio Client/Server Web Interface.........................................................................133
Automatic Build Notifications.............................................................................................................135
Automated Build Studio Gadget for Windows Sidebar.......................................................................139
About absControl .................................................................................................................................142
Build Requests .....................................................................................................................................154
About Build Requests .......................................................................................................................155
Preparing Macros for Request Processing......................................................................................155
Submitting, Editing and Deleting Requests......................................................................................157
Types of Request Triggers................................................................................................................160
Description of the Requests Section.................................................................................................161
Managing Build Nodes.....................................................................................................................162
Viewing Reports on Build Requests .................................................................................................164
CHARTS.................................................................................................................................................165
Charts – Overview ...............................................................................................................................165
Charts Panel .........................................................................................................................................165
Chart Types..........................................................................................................................................168
Viewing Charts Data Stored on Another Computer ............................................................................169
Moving Charts Data From One Computer to Another.........................................................................169
DEBUGGING MACROS......................................................................................................................170
Debugging Macros in Automated Build Studio...................................................................................170
Stepping Through the Macro ...............................................................................................................172
Running Macros Partially ....................................................................................................................172
Running to the Cursor..........................................................................................................................173
Using Breakpoints................................................................................................................................173
Conditional Breakpoints ......................................................................................................................174
Watches Panel......................................................................................................................................175
Breakpoints Panel ................................................................................................................................176
Evaluating Expressions........................................................................................................................177
SCRIPT WRITING ...............................................................................................................................179
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Table of Contents
Script Writing – Basics ........................................................................................................................179
Object Model .......................................................................................................................................180
Handling Exceptions in Scripts............................................................................................................181
Working With Operations in Scripts....................................................................................................183
AUTOMATED BUILD STUDIO COMMAND-LINE INTERFACE...............................................189
Command-Line Arguments..................................................................................................................189
Exit Codes............................................................................................................................................191
MISCELLANEOUS ..............................................................................................................................193
Working With Source Control Systems...............................................................................................193
Working With Automated Build Studio via COM ..............................................................................195
Sounds for Automated Build Studio Events ........................................................................................202
OPERATIONS REFERENCE..............................................................................................................204
Operation Categories............................................................................................................................204
.NET Tools Category ...........................................................................................................................207
Archivers Category ..............................................................................................................................208
Authenticode Category ........................................................................................................................208
AutomatedQA Tools Category ............................................................................................................209
Borland Compilers Category ...............................................................................................................210
Build Tools Category...........................................................................................................................211
Burn CD/DVD Category......................................................................................................................211
Communication Category ....................................................................................................................212
Concurrent Versions System Category ................................................................................................212
Execute Category .................................................................................................................................213
Files and Directories Category.............................................................................................................213
Frequently Used Category ...................................................................................................................214
FTP Category .......................................................................................................................................214
Help Compilers Category.....................................................................................................................215
HTTP Category....................................................................................................................................216
Installers Category ...............................................................................................................................216
Interactive Category.............................................................................................................................217
Internet Information Services (IIS) Category ......................................................................................217
Issue Tracking Category ......................................................................................................................218
JediVCS Category................................................................................................................................219
Logging Category ................................................................................................................................220
Microsoft Compilers Category.............................................................................................................220
Microsoft Compilers for Smart Device Category ................................................................................221
Microsoft Source Server Category.......................................................................................................221
Microsoft Virtual PC Category ............................................................................................................222
Microsoft Virtual Server Category ......................................................................................................222
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Category................................................................................................223
Misc Category......................................................................................................................................224
MySQL Category.................................................................................................................................224
Oracle Category ...................................................................................................................................225
Other Compilers Category ...................................................................................................................225
Patch Management Category ...............................................................................................................226
Perforce Category ................................................................................................................................226
Prepare Code Category ........................................................................................................................227
PsTools Category .................................................................................................................................227
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Table of Contents
PVCS Category....................................................................................................................................228
Rational ClearCase Category...............................................................................................................228
Read/Write Category............................................................................................................................229
Remote Macro Execution Category.....................................................................................................229
Source Code Tools Category ...............................................................................................................230
SourceGear Vault Category .................................................................................................................230
SourceOffSite Category .......................................................................................................................231
SQL Category ......................................................................................................................................232
Standard Category................................................................................................................................232
StarTeam Category ..............................................................................................................................234
String Manipulation Category..............................................................................................................234
Subversion Category............................................................................................................................235
Surround SCM Category......................................................................................................................236
Team Coherence Category...................................................................................................................236
Team Foundation Version Control Category.......................................................................................237
Unit Tests Category .............................................................................................................................238
VMware Server Category ....................................................................................................................238
VMware Workstation Category ...........................................................................................................239
Wait Category ......................................................................................................................................240
WMI Category .....................................................................................................................................241
XML Category .....................................................................................................................................242
INDEX.....................................................................................................................................................243
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Overview
Introduction
Overview
Automated Build Studio by AutomatedQA Corp.
Automated Build Studio is a powerful build and release management system that provides an easy
way to automate the build, test and release processes of software projects. Its intuitive interface and
unprecedented flexibility allows even inexperienced users to create complex visual macros which can
automate repetitive or day-to-day tasks with the single click of a button.
This topic is devoted to the main functions of Automated Build Studio. It provides you with a simple
conceptual map of the product. To learn how to use these functions, see Getting Started. A good way to learn
how to use the product is to explore samples that come with Build Studio. See Automated Build Studio
Samples for more information on them.
Why Automated Builds?
In the current state of software development, with projects becoming more and more complex, building,
testing and releasing of software projects consumes an ever-increasing amount of time and resources.
Building the application manually quite often becomes tedious, prone to errors and inefficient both in terms
of time and money. A typical build process includes a number of steps:
• Getting latest versions of source files from a version control system,
• Specifying build options,
• Recompiling libraries and packages that are used by the application,
• Building the application,
• Building the installation,
• Notifying co-workers that a new build is available,
• Starting the testing process, and so forth.
It is quite easy to make a mistake when performing these steps. For example, you may specify wrong
build version number or compile the application using inappropriate options.
Automated Build Studio lets you optimize the build, test and release processes and allows you to focus
on more important issues. Using Build Studio, you spend a certain amount of time on a task only once: on
creating a macro for that task. A macro unifies elementary operations, for example, Copy File(s), Get Latest
Version From VSS, Compile Visual C# 2005 Project, Send E-Mail, etc., that let you perform each step of the
process you are automating. After the macro is ready, you can run it either manually, or at certain points in
time. That is, you commission Build Studio with all the work and responsibility: it will automatically run the
macro whenever you need.
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Major Features
Introduction
Among the many features that make Automated Build Studio the ultimate build and release management
tool are:
• Visually constructed macros. As we have said above, a macro includes operations each of
which is responsible for a separate step of the process you want to automate. Even if you are not
familiar with programming, you will find creating macros very easy with the visual macro
designer of Automated Build Studio.
• Support of popular modern compilers, installation building tools, testing tools, version
control systems, etc. See Supported Tools.
• Wide range of available operations. Automated Build Studio includes over 450 built-in
operations that let you automate almost any task. You can extend the functionality available with
the standard operations by writing scripts or by creating new custom operations (see Creating
Custom Operations in on-line help).
• Distributed builds. Automated Build Studio provides you with the ability to distribute the
execution of macro operations among multiple computers. Using this feature, you can
dramatically reduce the project build time, perform multi-platform builds, start automated tests
on multiple computers in parallel and so on. See Distributed Builds - Overview.
• Concurrent execution of operations. Automated Build Studio lets you organize concurrent
execution of macro operations and thus performs different tasks at the same time. This can
greatly reduce the macro execution time, especially on computers with more than one CPU. For
complete information, see Concurrent Execution of Operations.
• Operation dependencies. Automated Build Studio lets you configure the macro execution flow
similar to makefiles: you can specify dependencies between macro parts that correspond to
different build tasks, and Build Studio will determine their execution order on the fly and, where
possible, execute macro parts concurrently. See Operation Dependencies.
• Scheduled macro runs. Automated Build Studio includes the Task Scheduler that lets you
schedule macro runs at your desire. This is a key feature for creation of automated daily builds.
With the Task Scheduler you can schedule and control macro runs not only on your computer,
but also on other computers in your local network.
• Continuous integration support (event-triggered macro runs). You can configure Build
Studio so that it automatically runs an appropriate macro (say, the macro that builds your project
and tests it) not only at specified time, but also when a definite event occurs, for instance, when a
source file of your project is changed under source code control (Visual SourceSafe, CVS, etc.).
This will ensure that you always have a thoroughly tested build that is compiled with the latest
versions of source files and decrease the number of errors that may arise upon integrating source
code modifications made by different team members. See Continuous Integration Support.
• Macro configurations. Quite often, it is needed to build several versions of an application from
the same sources; for example, the debug, demo and release versions of the product. Using
macro configurations, you can have a single macro that will generate all the desired versions.
There is no need to create three macros. You can create only one macro and choose the desired
configuration before the run. See Using Macro Configurations.
• Automatic notifications. Automated Build Studio can automatically notify you about the build
results. You can specify which users should be notified of which events (for example, successful
or failed builds) and via e-mail, MSN or ICQ.
Your build macros can also inform you about the results of their execution. Automated Build
Studio offers several operations that can be used for sending notifications. These operations can
notify the users via e-mail, newsgroups, Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger, Windows Live
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Overview
Messenger, ICQ or the “net send” command. You can also attach execution logs to e-mail or
news messages to help the developers quickly identify and fix build issues. See Sending
Notifications.
• Macro debugger. Automated Build Studio includes a macro debugger that supports breakpoints,
stepping over operations, watches, expression evaluation and other debugging features. Using
the macro debugger you can trace errors in your macros and fix them. See Debugging Macros.
• Scripts in VBScript, JScript and DelphiScript. Even though the built-in Automated Build
Studio operations are enough to perform most of the steps for building your applications, you
may need to perform some specific actions, which cannot be accomplished using the standard
operations. Automated Build Studio includes a Script operation that allows you to create
powerful custom script routines using one of the supported scripting languages - VBScript,
JScript or DelphiScript. You can use custom scripts to perform actions that can not be performed
using the existing standard operations. For more information on creating scripts, see Script
Writing - Basics.
• Macro libraries. You can create libraries of commonly used submacros and easily reuse these
submacros in different macros. Libraries help you reduce the complexity of your build macros
and simplify the maintenance of common submacros. Libraries can be shared between the team
members, so you can work on them together with your colleagues. For more information, see
Macro Libraries.
• Remote Macro Execution Control. Automated Build Studio includes special features that let
you easily run macros located on remote computers and monitor such macro runs. No other
third-party tools needed to control macros located on remote computers. Using Automated Build
Studio Web Interface you can control the remote macros through your web browser, even
without installing Automated Build Studio on your workstation. See Automated Build Studio
Client/Server for complete information.
You can also control remote builds from your macros. The Remote Macro Execution category
provides operations that let you start, pause and stop macro runs on remote computers and
control the state of remote macros directly from your macro.
• Advanced monitoring of macro runs. Automated Build Studio generates detailed logs of
macro runs. These logs help you isolate errors that occur during the macro execution. Automated
Build Studio automatically compares results of the current macro run with the last successful
run, thus letting you know if something is going wrong. See Logging Macro Runs.
• Charts. Automated Build Studio collects information about macro runs performed on your
computer or other computers within your network, and displays this information in a graphical
form within the Charts panel. Charts can help you analyze the ratio of successful and failed runs,
the duration of macro runs and the frequency of macro runs over a desired period of time (day,
week, month or other). For more information, see Charts - Overview.
• Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio. For developers who use Microsoft Visual Studio
.NET, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Automated Build Studio
can be tightly integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE. This integration offers developers
full control over Automated Build Studio from within the Visual Studio IDE. You can also run
Build Studio macros directly from MSBuild projects and Visual Studio Team Explorer.
• Access to operation properties from scripts. Using scripts you can read and change operation
properties. For instance, you can write a script that will increase the build version number in
options of a Compile Delphi Project operation. See Working With Operations in Scripts.
• Tight integration with TestComplete, AQtime, AQtime .NET Edition and AQdevTeam.
Imagine if you could take your project source files from a version control system, build the
project and its installation package, test it for memory leaks and performance bottlenecks,
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Introduction
perform a comprehensive regression test across the entire application, log all defects and issues,
and send an e-mail notification to all relevant teams within your company in relation to new
issues discovered since the previous build. Sounds outrageous? It is not - with Automated Build
Studio you can. Build Studio offers native integration with AutomatedQA’s Testing, Profiling
and Team Collaboration products, including AQtime, AQtime .NET Edition, TestComplete,
TestExecute and AQdevTeam, thus allowing you to fully automate your organization’s build,
profile, test and deploy processes.
• Assistant. Automated Build Studio includes a context-sensitive Assistant that displays
commands, hints and links to help topics. If you are new to Build Studio and not quite sure how
to get started, the Assistant is the perfect place to begin. If you are experienced with Automated
Build Studio, the Assistant panel is still helpful since it groups important links in one easily
accessible location.
• Source Code Control integration. Automated Build Studio is tightly integrated with any source
control system that is compatible with the Microsoft Source Code Control API specification (for
example, Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, CVS, Borland StarTeam, and many others). This lets you
add the current macro to a source control system installed on your computer, check out or check
in the macro, and so on, without leaving Automated Build Studio. See Working With Source
Control Systems.
• Command-line arguments. A file that holds a macro can be specified on the command line
when calling Automated Build Studio. By default, Build Studio will simply open on this macro,
but other arguments can make the Studio run the macro, and close after that. Through the
command line, Automated Build Studio can be executed in a completely hands-off fashion,
inside a make file, a batch file, etc. In addition, the Automated Build Studio installation includes
a console executable, AutomatedMacroPlayer.exe that simply runs macros constructed with
the help of Build Studio’s user interface. When your macros are complete, you can play them
back using this simple and resource efficient executable.
• Using as a COM server. Due to the fact that Automated Build Studio is an OLE server, you can
run it and its macros via OLE/COM interfaces, for instance, from scripts defined in other
AutomatedQA’s tools, thus making the integration between Build Studio and these tools even
closer.
Plug-Ins
Like other AutomatedQA products, Automated Build Studio has an open, COM-based architecture. Most
of the features you see in the product are supported through plug-ins. When the plug-in is meant to remain
for the life of the current version, it is made an internal part of the product executable. When it is possible
that the plug-in could be updated, it is left external (such as the database-access plug-ins). Others will be
added to AutomatedQA Web site (http://www.automatedqa.com), and users can write their own plug-ins
using the supplied interface documentation and libraries (for instance, user can create plug-ins that will add
certain operations to Build Studio).
System Requirements
Minimal System Requirements
• Intel Pentium II 450 MHz or higher (Pentium III 800 MHz recommended).
• Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 with Service
Pack 4 or later, or Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later.
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Supported Tools
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later.
• 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or more recommended).
• 100MB hard disk space.
• VGA or higher resolution monitor.
• Mouse or other pointing device.
Web Interface Requirements
To install Automated Build Studio Web Interface, the following software need to be installed on the
computer:
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or
Microsoft Windows Vista.
• Microsoft Internet Information Services ver. 5.0 or later.
• Microsoft Data Access Components 2.8 or later.
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
• Adobe Flash Player 8 or later.
Microsoft Internet Information Services should be installed prior to Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
The demo version of Automated Build Studio includes all the features available in the registered version
but has a 30 operations per macro limit and can be used only during a 30 day trial period.
Supported Tools
Automated Build Studio supports the most popular modern compilers, installation building tools, testing
tools, version control systems, etc.
Supported compilers
• All compilers that are included in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.x: Visual C# .NET
Visual Basic .NET
Visual C++ (both managed and unmanaged projects and modules)
Visual J# .NET
Compiler operations for Smart Devices are also supported.
• ASP.NET compiler
• Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0
• CodeGear RAD Studio 2009 (CodeGear Delphi 2009, CodeGear C++Builder 2009, CodeGear
C# 2009)
• CodeGear RAD Studio 2007 (CodeGear Delphi 2007 for Microsoft Windows, CodeGear
C++Builder 2007)
• Borland Developer Studio 2006 (Borland Delphi 2006, Borland C++Builder 2006, Borland C#
2006, Borland VB.NET 2006)
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Introduction
• Borland Developer Studio 2005 (Borland Delphi 2005, Borland C# 2005, Borland VB.NET
2005)
• Borland Delphi 8 for Microsoft .NET Framework
• Borland Delphi ver. 3 - 7
• CodeGear C++Builder 2007
• Borland C++Builder ver. 3 - 6
• Borland JBuilder ver. 6.0 and later
• GCC
• Intel C++ Compiler ver. 7.0 - 9.1 for Windows
• Intel C++ Compiler ver. 2.0 for Windows CE
• Intel Fortran Compiler ver. 8.0 and later for Windows
• Java Compiler
• MSIL Assembler
• RemObjects Software Chrome
• Resource compilers by CodeGear and Borland
Supported build tools
• Apache Ant
• IncrediBuild by Xoreax Software Ltd.
• Microsoft MSBuild
• NAnt (Gerry Shaw and others)
Supported version control systems
• Borland StarTeam
• Concurrent Versions System (open-source network-transparent version control system)
• Jedi Version Control System
• Merant PVCS Version Manager
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe ver. 6.x and 8.0
• Microsoft Team Foundation Version Control
• Perforce by Perforce Software Inc.
• Rational ClearCase ver. 2002.05.00 or later
• Seapine Surround SCM
• SourceGear Vault
• SourceOffSite by SourceGear
• Subversion by Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, C. Michael Pilato.
• Surround SCM
• Team Coherence by Quality Software Components
Supported installation building tools
• Advanced Installer by Caphyon Ltd.
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Supported Tools
• ExpertInstall v. 3.7 by Tarma Software Research
• Ghost Installer Studio
• Inno Setup
• InstallAnywhere.Net by Zero G Software, Inc
• InstallAnywhere Enterprise by Zero G Software, Inc
• InstallAware Studio 2005 by InstallAware Software Corporation
• InstallShield ver. 7 - 2009 of Professional, Enterprise or Express edition
• InstallShield Express Borland Limited Edition ver. 3.0 or later
• InstallShield Professional ver. 6.1 - 7.x
• InstallShield Universal
• Microsoft Setup Project (from Visual Studio 7.0, 7.1, 2005 and 2008)
• MSIStudio ver. 4.0 by Avatar Software GmbH
• Nullsoft Scriptable Install System 2.0 or later
• SetupBuilder ver. 6 by Lindersoft
• Setup Factory ver 1.1 by Indigo Rose Software Corporation
• Installation authoring tools by Wise Solutions, Inc.:
Wise Installation Studio ver. 7.0
Wise Installation System ver. 9.0 or later
Wise for Windows Installer ver. 5.0 or later
Wise Package Studio ver. 5.0 or later
• WiX Compiler
• WiX Decompiler
• WiX Linker
Supported virtual machines
• Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 and 2007
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
• VMware Server 1.0 or later
• VMware Workstation 5.5 or later
Supported testing, profiling and issue-tracking tools
• Aivosto Project Analyzer
• AQdevTeam ver. 1.x by AutomatedQA
• AQtime .NET Edition ver. 1.x by AutomatedQA
• AQtime ver. 3 - 5 by AutomatedQA
• Borland CaliberRM ver. 5.0 or later
• Borland StarTeam
• Bugzilla
• CodeHealer by SOCK Software
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• JUnit
• Microsoft Application Center Test scripts
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System
• MSTest
• NUnit (James W. Newkirk and others)
• Peganza Pascal Analyzer ver. 3.0 or later
• Perforce by Perforce Software Inc.
• Team Coherence by Quality Software Components
• TestComplete ver. 2 - 6 by AutomatedQA
• TestExecute ver. 2 - 6 by AutomatedQA
Supported help compilers
• Doc-O-Matic ver. 4-6 by ToolsFactory Software, Inc.
• Doc-To-Help 2008 by ComponentOne
• Fast-Help v.4.4.5.6 by DevHost Ltd.
• Help & Manual 3 and 4 by EC Software
• HelpScribble v.7.7.4 by Just Great Software
• Microsoft Help Compiler
• Microsoft HTML Help Compiler
• NDoc
• RoboHelp ver. 7 and later
• Sandcastle by Microsoft
Supported .NET-specific tools
• ASP.NET IIS Registration Tool (aspenet_regiis.exe) by Microsoft
• Assembly Linker (al.exe) by Microsoft
• Assembly Registration Tool (regasm.exe) by Microsoft
• CLRxLint by Software4net, Inc.
• Demeanor by WiseOwl, Inc.
• Dotfuscator by PreEmptive Solutions
• FxCop by Microsoft
• Global Assembly Cache Tool (gacutil.exe) by Microsoft
• ILMerge by Microsoft
• Installer Tool (installutil.exe) by Microsoft
• Manifest Generation and Editing Tool (mage.exe) by Microsoft
• Native Image Generator (ngen.exe) by Microsoft
• Resource File Generator (resgen.exe) by Microsoft
• Strong Name Tool (sn.exe) by Microsoft
• XenoCode by Code Systems Corporation.
Introduction
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Supported Tools
Automated Build Studio also supports AQtime, AQtime .NET Edition, NUnit and TestComplete. These
.NET-supporting tools are mentioned in the section Supported testing, profiling and issue-tracking tools.
Supported database management systems
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 3
• MySQL Server 5.0
• Oracle Database 10g
Supported archivers
• 7-Zip
• WinRAR by Eugene Roshal
Automated Build Studio can also compress files to and extract them from ZIP and ZLib archives. To
work with these archives, no external tools are needed.
Supported messaging tools
• ICQ by Mirabilis Software
• MSN Messenger by Microsoft
• Windows Messenger by Microsoft
• Windows Live Messenger by Microsoft
Automated Build Studio also supports notifications via e-mail and NNTP newsgroups. This functionality
is not dependent on the default mail client registered in the system.
Other supported tools
• AQtrace ver. 1.x by AutomatedQA
• Armadillo by Silicon Realms Toolworks
• ASPack
• ASProtect
• Beyond Compare 2.0 or later by Scooter Software
• EurekaLog ver. 4 - 6 by Fabio Dell'Aria
• IncUpdate Builder ver. 2.53 and later by Sunisoft
• madExcept ver. 2 and 3 by Mathias Rauen
• Microsoft Robust File Copy (Robocopy)
• Microsoft Source Server
• Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer
• PsTools utilities by Mark Russinovich & Bryce Cogswell
• Smart device emulators by Microsoft
• SQLMaint
• Themida ver. 1.0 or later by Oreands Technologies
• UPX by Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer & László Molnár
• Visual Patch 2.0 and later by Indigo Rose Corp.
• WinLicense ver. 1.0 or later by Oreands Technologies
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• XCopy by Microsoft
What’s New in Automated Build Studio 5
Introduction
Automated Build Studio 5 includes a great number of new operations, introduces new functionality and
supports more software tools. Below is a complete list of changes.
Overall Improvements
• Macro libraries. You can now organize your common submacros into libraries, and call these
submacros from other macros by using the new Run Library Submacro operation. Libraries can
be stored on a local computer, or in a shared network folder, so that they can be used by macros
running on different computers in your network. See Macro Libraries for details.
• Operation dependencies. In earlier versions, macro operations were executed in their sequence
order in the macro. You had to manually arrange the operations in the needed order, specify
which operations should be run concurrently (if any), and so on. Now, Automated Build Studio
can determine the operations’ execution order and parallelize operations for you, based on the
operation dependencies.
Using the new Dependent Group operation, you can divide your macros into several parts, each
of which can be a prerequisite or dependant of another part. For each Dependent Group
operation, you can specify the list of groups that need to be completed in order for the given
group to start. Build Studio analyzes dependencies between the groups when you launch the
macro, and runs the groups in the order that follows from the dependencies. To learn more, see
Operation Dependencies.
Also, Build Studio macros now contain two additional properties - Check dependencies and run
macro and Maximum thread count, which let you control execution of dependent groups in the
current macro.
• Improved support for virtual machines. Automated Build Studio 5 includes three new
operation categories – Microsoft Virtual PC, VMware Server and VMware Workstation that let
you manage virtual machines from macros: run and stop virtual machines, capture and release
devices, create and restore virtual machine snapshots, enumerate through virtual machines
installed on the host and perform other tasks.
The Microsoft Virtual Server category also has two new operations for working with virtual
machine devices – Capture/Release Virtual Machine’s Device (Virtual Server) and If Virtual
Machine’s Device Is ... (Virtual Server).
• Local variables. A new type of macro variable has been added - local variables. These variables
can be defined in the Group, Dependent Group and Submacro operations, and only exist at the
scope of this group or submacro. For example, you can define variables used in a submacro, such
as loop counters or variables storing enumerator results, as local to this submacro. This way, you
will make it easier and more convenient to manage these variables, and will also eliminate them
from the available variables list in other macro operations, where they are not supposed to be
used. See Using Variables and Constants in Macros for more information.
• Remote macro execution under interactive desktop. The Remote Execution Stack, Remote
Group and Remote Macro Command operations include a new option – Run Interactive. It
enables you to run macro operations on the remote computers in the interactive mode. So, you
can now easily run interactive operations, for example, operations that run GUI tests or dialog
with the user, on the remote computers.
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What’s New in Automated Build Studio 5
• Support for CodeGear RAD Studio 2009. Automated Build Studio 5 adds support for
CodeGear RAD Studio 2009. The Borland Compilers category now includes five new operations
for compiling CodeGear RAD Studio 2009 projects and project groups directly from Automated
Build Studio macros:
Compile Delphi 2009 for Win32 Project
Compile Delphi 2009 for .NET Project
Compile C++Builder 2009 Project
Compile CodeGear C# 2009 Project
Compile CodeGear RAD Studio 2009 Project Group
• Secure connections to E-mail, news and FTP servers. The e-mail, news and FTP operations
can now establish secure connections to the servers using SSL and TSL protocols. The
operations have an additional set of properties that let you select the security mode to be used,
specify digital certificates to be used for the server and client authentication and other security
settings.
Client/Server and Web Interface Improvements
• Build requests. Automated Build Studio Web Interface now lets the users request builds instead
of starting them directly. This feature enables the users who are not authorized to run builds
trigger builds on demand. You can set up special build triggers that will process the submitted
requests and run builds upon certain conditions (for example, after a specific number of requests
have been received). You can monitor and manage the submitted requests directly in the Web
Interface, and quickly determine which requests triggered which builds. See Build Requests.
• Information on users who started builds. The Server now collects information about the way
the build macros were started - manually by the user, via the Web Interface, by the scheduler,
and so on. This information is displayed in the Launched By column in the Client panel, the
Web Interface and Automated Build Studio’s Vista gadget. When the build was initiated by the
user, the Server remembers the user name, so you can see exactly which user started the build.
• Client/Server API. Automated Build Studio now provides a special ActiveX control,
asbControl, that lets you develop custom client applications for managing Automated Build
Studio Servers. This control lets you connect to the build server from your application, list all
registered macros, check the macro status, run, pause, resume and stop macros, as well as
retrieve the history of macro runs. See About absControl.
• Automatic build notifications. Automated Build Studio Server can now automatically notify
the users when the macros’ status is changed. Notifications can be sent via e-mail, MSN or ICQ.
For more information, see Automatic Build Notifications.
• Build scheduling via Web Interface. The Web Interface includes the new Tasks section that
can be used to schedule server macros and manage scheduled tasks.
• Automated Build Studio’s Windows Vista gadget can now be used not only to monitor server
macros, but also to run them as well as pause and stop them.
• In addition to the EVERYONE group, the Server now includes the pre-defined WINDOWS
USERS group, which contains all unregistered users logged on using Windows authentication.
The EVERYONE group, in its turn, now contains all other user accounts that are not registered
on the server.
• Also, it is now impossible to directly add users to the EVERYONE group as well as to the
WINDOWS USERS one.
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Introduction
The users’ property set has been extended. Now you can specify the user’s display name that
will be shown among other information in the Client panel, the Web Interface and the gadget.
Also, you can now specify the user’s contact information, such as e-mail address, MSN address
and ICQ identifier. This information is needed for the user to receive automatic build
notifications from the server.
Changes in Operations
• Easy string manipulation. Automated Build Studio 5 provides an easy way for you to
manipulate string values in macros. A new String Manipulation category includes eleven
operations to perform various actions over strings: concatenate strings, replace characters in a
string, extract substrings, change letter case, manipulate path strings and so on.
• Enhanced support for XML files. Using eleven operations of the new XML category, you can
easily work with XML files: create and merge XML files, create and delete nodes and attributes,
enumerate through nodes and attributes, apply XSL transformations to XML files and so on.
The Get XML Value, Set XML Value and Validate XML File operations were moved to the new
XML category from other categories.
Also, the Wait category include a new Wait For XML File operation, which lets you delay the
macro execution until an XML file is changed or the timeout elapses.
• MySQL Server support. A new MySQL category contains five operations to execute queries
and scripts over MySQL databases, back up and import data and check the databases for errors.
• Improved Subversion support. Support for the Subversion version control system has been
improved:
Automated Build Studio 5 adds support for Subversion 1.4.6.
The Subversion category includes three new operations:
- Subversion Copy – Copies folders between the Subversion repository and the working
copy.
- Subversion Info – Iterates through the specified files or folders and get information about
each item.
- Subversion Version – Obtains the version information for a folder in a working copy.
The Subversion Export operation includes a new Recursive property that controls whether to
export the specified directory only or its subdirectories as well.
You can now specify custom switches to be used for the Subversion Status operation using
its new Switches property.
• Enhanced support for installation build tools. The Installers category includes five new
operations for building installation packages with the following tools:
ExpertInstall
MSI Factory
MSIStudio
Setup Factory
SetupBuilder
In addition, the Wise operation now supports Wise Installation Studio ver. 7.
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What’s New in Automated Build Studio 5
• Better support for help compilers. The Help Compilers category includes four new operations
for compiling help projects created in the following help authoring tools:
Doc-To-Help 2008
Fast-Help
HelpScribble
HelpStudio
• Xenocode Postbuild support. A new Xenocode Postbuild 2008 operation has been added to the
.NET Tools category. This operation enables you to obfuscate and optimize your .NET
assemblies with Xenocode Postbuild directly from Automated Build Studio macros.
• Improved support for Team Foundation. The Issue Tracking category includes two new
operations for working with work items stored in a Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation
database:
Team Foundation Work Item Enumerator – Enumerates work items in a Team Foundation
database.
Team Foundation Work Item State Change Filter – Enumerates work items whose state was
changed during the specified time period.
• Bugzilla support. Automated Build Studio 5 introduces support for Bugzilla and adds three
operations for managing items stored in a Bugzilla database:
Bugzilla Create Item – Creates a new item in a Bugzilla database.
Bugzilla Edit Item – Modifies an item stored in a Bugzilla database.
Bugzilla Item Enumerator – Iterates through items in a Bugzilla database.
• Enhanced support for AQdevTeam. Four new operations have been added to make it easy to
manage items stored in an AQdevTeam database. These operations are:
AQdevTeam Create Item – Creates a new item in an AQdevTeam database. This operation is
a re-designed and improved version of the AQdevTeam Create Issue operation, which now
became obsolete.
AQdevTeam Edit Item – Modifies an item stored in an AQdevTeam database.
AQdevTeam Item Enumerator – Iterates through items in an AQdevTeam database.
AQdevTeam History Enumerator – Iterates though items whose state was changed during the
specified time period.
• Enhanced support for archivers. The Archivers category includes four new operations for
creating and unpacking archivers using ZLib and 7-Zip.
• Microsoft Source Server support. A new Microsoft Source Server category provides seven
operations for indexing PDB files for various source control systems, reading index streams from
and writing them to PDB files.
• Improved CD/DVD burning. Two new operations have been added to the Burn CD/DVD
category:
Check CD/DVD Ready – Checks whether your CD/DVD drive is ready for burning.
Erase CD/DVD – Erases a rewritable CD or DVD disk.
• Resource compiler support. A new Compile Resource Script operation added to the Borland
Compilers category lets you compile resource script files directly from Automated Build Studio
macros.
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Introduction
• Disk mapping support. Using three new operations, Map Network Drive, Unmap Network
Drive and Substitute Drive, which have been added to the Misc category, you can easily manage
mapped virtual drives on your computer directly from Build Studio macros.
• Better macro control flow support. A new Break operation enables you to exit loop and
enumerator operations, for example, if a condition is met.
• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition. Operations for compiling Visual Studio
2005 and 2008 projects have a new property – Express edition. You should check this property if
you use Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition.
• The TestComplete 6 and TestExecute 6 operations have been enhanced. Now they allow you to
specify multiple test projects to be run.
• The Advanced Installer operation now has the option to directly specify the commands to be
executed by Advanced Installer.
• Operations of the Interactive category now show the time remaining until the end of the
operation timeout in the dialog caption.
Also, if Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro Player) is running in silent mode, the
Interactive operations do not display any dialog boxes. In this mode, the operations simply store
the default response to the resulting variable.
• The E-mail Enumerator, Receive E-mail Message and Receive News Message operations now
have the Replace existing files option. You can use it to specify whether the operation should
replace existing files when saving the message attachments.
• You can now specify files to be included to or excluded from synchronization performed by the
Synchronize Directories operation.
• The File Enumerator operation can now sort the files before iterating through them.
• The Connect to HTTP operation has a new Proxy type property. It allows you to specify the type
of proxy server that the operation uses to access the Internet.
• The Remote Execution Stack operation now lets you specify the priority of remote build servers.
At run time, Automated Build Studio will choose the remote computers to run operations on
according to their priority rather than their order in the list.
• The Connections page of the Setup Connections operation properties dialog now contains the
Test Connection button, which can be used to verify the connection parameters.
• The source file adding interface in the Java Compiler operation was improved.
Changes in Programming Objects
• The ABSUtils object has new methods and properties:
The GetToolPath and SetToolPath methods let you get or set the path to third-party
tools used by your macros from scripts. This way, for example, you can choose which tool
version among those installed on your computer should be used by the macro.
The SetVariableValue and ResetVariableValue methods let you set and reset values
of macro variables from scripts. These methods differ from ordinary assignment operations
in that they let you modify stored variables in the current macro configuration as well as in
all macro configurations at once.
The Macro property provides a scripting interface to the hierarchy of macro operations and
lets you access properties of any operation.
• Using a new BuiltIn.Delay method, you can pause the macro execution from scripts.
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Getting Support
• Objects that provide scripting access to operation properties holding an array of values, have a
new Insert method. This method lets you insert a new item at a specific position in the array. In
earlier versions, you could only append items at the end of the array using the Add method. For
more information about configuring operations from scripts, see Working With Operations in
Scripts.
Miscellaneous
• The logic of the File Change and FTP File Change triggers has been changed. When working in
the recursive mode, these triggers now monitor not only the files in the specified folder and its
subfolders, but the subfolders themselves as well. This means that the triggers will fire when a
new subfolder is created in the folder being monitored, or when an empty subfolder is removed
from it.
• The File Change trigger now lets you specify the user account to be used for accessing the folder
or files to be traced. This lets you monitor network resources that require different login
credentials.
• Automated Build Studio includes a new group of settings – Source Control Options. Macros can
now be automatically checked out from or checked in to a version control system when you open
or close them in Build Studio.
• In earlier versions, you could only set the timeout value for the macro operations in seconds.
Now you can specify the timeout in seconds as well as in minutes or hours. The same applies to
the common timeout value, which is set in the Macro Properties dialog.
• A new system constant, LAUNCHEDBY, has been added to let you determine the launch type of
your macros. During the macro run, this constant holds a value that indicates the way the given
macro was launched - by a particular user, by the scheduler, by a continuous integration trigger,
and so on. You can utilize the value of this constant, for example, in notifications sent by your
build macros (see Sending Notifications).
• Automated Build Studio can now be registered in the system as the default editor for MSBuild
projects. So, you can now open MSBuild project files in Build Studio by double-clicking them in
Explorer or your favorite file manager.
• Now, when the macro is run in Automated Macro Player, error messages are output to the
console in red, warning messages – in yellow.
Getting Support
If you have questions, problems or just need help with Automated Build Studio, contact our support
team. You can submit your question on-line at:
http://www.automatedqa.com/support/message.asp
Or you can send an e-mail message to our support team at:
support@automatedqa.com
For information on our support policies, please visit our web site www.automatedqa.com/support.
You can also ask questions, search for answers, exchange comments and suggestions on our newsgroup
and on the Community web site:
news://forums.automatedqa.com/automatedqa.public.automatedbuildstudio
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http://www.automatedqa.com/community
All your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Introduction
You may find answers to your question in the list of the frequently asked questions which is available at:
http://www.automatedqa.com/products/abs_faq.asp
Make sure you regularly visit the AutomatedQA Web site, http://www.automatedqa.com, where you
will find:
• News
• More recent support options including frequently asked questions on our products
• Technical papers from AutomatedQA
• Downloads, such as plug-ins and free tools, from AutomatedQA
• Hot Stuff contributed by experienced users and the AQA team (hands-on solutions, code, plugins,
etc.)
Automated Build Studio Samples
A good way to get started using Automated Build Studio is to explore sample macros that are included
with the Build Studio installation. Here is a list of all samples:
CompileDelphiProject.bxp
\Samples\Macros\CompileDelphiProject
Demonstrates how you can perform typical major steps when building an application (in this instance, it
is a Delphi application):
• Getting source files from a version control system (in this macro it is Visual SourceSafe)
• Opening the project in the development tool
• Compiling the project
• Incrementing the version number (it will be used for the further builds)
• Sending notifications that the application has build successfully
In addition, the sample macro demonstrates how to handle errors in the macro.
CompileCPPProject.bxp
\Samples\Macros\CompileCPPProject
Does the same as CompileDelphiProject.bxp, though it builds a Visual C++ .NET application.
Integration.bxp
\Samples\Macros\Integration
Resembles the CompileDelphiProject.bxp macro but upon compiling the Delphi project it also runs the
VCL Class profiler of AQtime 3 for the compiled application and then runs a TestComplete script to simulate
user action in the application.
BuildLogic.bxp
\Samples\Macros\BuildLogic
Is similar to CompileDelphiProject.bxp but its main purpose is to demonstrate how you can control the
logic of macro execution by initializing macro variables via the command line.
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Automated Build Studio and Windows Firewall
Notifications.bxp
\Samples\Macros\Notifications
Demonstrates how you can send a notification if an operation failed to execute successfully. To send
notifications, the macro uses submacros which run when an operation fails.
ReadWriteFile.bxp
\Samples\Macros\ReadWriteFile
Demonstres how you can write and read data to or from text files using Windows File System Object
(FSO).
ReadWriteXMLFile.bxp
\Samples\Macros\ReadWriteXMLFile
Demonstrates how you can write and read data to or from XML files using MS XML.
ABS_RSS_Demo.bxp
\Samples\Macros\RSS
Demonstrates how you can create an RSS feed from ABS log summaries.
MakeSample.bxp and DelphiSamples.bxp
\Samples\Operations\Delphi
The first of these macros compiles a sample Build Studio operation written in Delphi. The second macro
demonstrates how to use this operation, Text File Iterator (Delphi), in macros. For more information on
how to create custom operations for Automated Build Studio, see Creating Custom Operations in on-line
help.
MakeSample.bxp and DotNetSamples.bxp
\Samples\Operations\DotNet
The first of these macros compiles a sample Build Studio operation written in Visual C# .NET. The
second macro demonstrates how to use this operation, Text File Iterator (.NET), in macros. For more
information on how to create custom operations for Automated Build Studio, see Creating Custom
Operations in on-line help.
Automated Build Studio and Windows Firewall
The latest versions of the Windows operating system (Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server
2003 and Windows Vista) include a Windows Firewall. It is special software that controls data transfers
between your computer and other computers. Using Windows Firewall you can allow only certain programs
and services to exchange data with certain computers only; requests that are sent by other applications or to
other computers will be blocked.
There are several operations in Automated Build Studio that require that your computer be connected to
the network. For instance, operations that work with source control systems or operations that send e-mail
messages. In order for these operations to execute successfully, you may need to modify Windows Firewall
settings.
To modify Windows Firewall settings:
• Open Control Panel and select Windows Firewall there. This will open the following dialog:
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Introduction
• If the Off setting is selected, Windows Firewall is inactive and it does not block any network
requests. In this case, Automated Build Studio will be able to connect to the network.
• If the On setting is selected, Windows Firewall is active and it controls data transfers. In this
case, you should modify Windows Firewall settings to enable Automated Build Studio to
connect to the network. Namely, you should add Automated Build Studio to the list of
application that will not be blocked by Windows Firewall. To do this:
Uncheck the Don’t allow exceptions box. In this case, Windows Firewall will block any
network requests from all the programs and services except for those that are mentioned on
the Exceptions tabbed page.
Switch to the Exceptions tabbed page.
Press Add Program. This will call the Add a Program dialog in which you can specify the
application to be added to the exceptions list. Use this dialog to add Automated Build
Studio.exe (\bin\AutomatedBuildStudio.exe) to the exceptions list.
If you use Automated Macro Player, add it to the exceptions list as well
(\bin\AutomatedMacroPlayer.exe).
In the Add a Program dialog, you can also specify IP addresses of computers, with which
Automated Build Studio can exchange data. To do this, press Change scope and use the
subsequent dialog.
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Automated Build Studio and Windows Firewall
Automated Build Studio can run applications from macros. If the application launched from
a macro
receives data fro m other computers in the network, you should modify Windows Firewall settings for this
application. You can do this in the same manner as you would for Automated Build Studio.
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Getting Started
Getting Started
The Getting Started topics describe actions you may need to perform to create macros with Automated
Build Studio.
General Information
Basic Concepts
User Interface - Overview
Creating Macros
Creating a Macro
Adding, Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro
Modifying Operation Properties
Saving and Loading Macros
Using Macro Configurations
Running Macros
Logging Macro Runs
Analyzing Results of Macro Runs
Further Steps
Sending Notifications
Exporting Results of Macro Runs
Handling Errors in Macros
Incrementing the Build Version Number
Scheduling Macro Runs
Basic Concepts
Automated Build Studio is a tool that is used to create macros. A macro includes a sequence of
operations to be executed as well as variables and constants that can be used by operations. A macro is an
analogue of a project in development tools like Microsoft Visual Studio
or Borland Delphi. You can save and
load macros into Automated Build Studio, insert one macro into another, run macros, debug them, check the
results and perform other actions.
Note: Besides editing macros, you can also use Automated Build Studio to modify MSBuild projects.
When you open an MSBuild project in Automated Build Studio, the latter switches into a
special edit mode. This mode only supports MSBuild-related features; it disables all other
features. This special mode is used because the differences between the tools are significant,
and some of the Automated Build Studio features cannot be implemented in MSBuild projects.
For information on editing MSBuild projects, see the Working
With MSBuild Projects
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Basic Concepts
document or the Working With MSBuild Projects section in on-line help.
Automated Build Studio – Basic Concepts
Automated Build Studio macros consist of operations.An operation performs an elementary action, such
as copying files or compiling a project. We use the word “operation” as a general term. For some operations,
it would be better to use the term “statement”, for others – the term “function” or “procedure”. All the
operations
that you can use in your scripts are displayed in the Operations panel. (In Build Studio running as
a standalone application, this panel is displayed on the left of Automated Build Studio’s main window by
default. In Build
Studio integrated into Visual Studio .NET, this panel is docked to Visual Studio’s Toolbox
panel by default.
If Toolbox is auto-hidden, the Operations panel is also hidden. To make it visible, press the
button.)
Automated Build Studio standalone
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Automated Build Studio integrated into Visual Studio .NET
Getting Started
All of the operations displayed in the Operations panel are organized into categories. For instance, the
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, PVCS and Concurrent Version System categories include operations that deal
with version control systems. Among
operation categories, there is a special Frequently Used category that
holds the top 20 operations that you have most frequently used when creating your macros. For more
information
about categories and operations they hold, see List of Operations.
Build Studio includes a lot of operations, so some categories can be invisible within the Operations
panel. You can reach them by scrolling the panel or by using the Categories item at the top of the
Ope rations panel. You can hide or display operations and categories in the Operations panel, change the
categories order, move operations between categories, create custom categories and perform other
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Basic Concepts
customizing actions over operations in the Operations panel. For more information on this, see Customize
Operations Palette Dialog.
Note: We would like to point out the Script operation of the Standard category. This operation allows
you to create custom script routines in one of the supported scripting languages - VBScript,
JScript or DelphiScript. Custom scripts extend the functionality provided by standard
operations. They can perform certain actions that could not be done by existing operations. For
more information on creating scripts,
see Script Writing - Basics.
To find an operation quickly, you can type the operation name in the edit box at the top of the Operation
panel. Automated Build Studio will search for the operation while you are typing and display operations that
match the search criterion in the Operation panel. To cancel th e search, select the Cancel Search item at
the panel toolbar.
Besides Operations, Build Studio’s main window holds six more panels: Macro, Log, Summary, Charts,
Client and Assistant (Build Studio Assistant in Visual Studio).
• The top-right panel, Macro, holds operations that you added to the macro. For each operation,
it
displays the operation name, description and two check boxes: the left box specifies if Build
Studio will execute the operation; the right check box specifies whether the macro stops running
if an error occurs during execution of this operation.
Some operations can have child operations. For example, child operations of the For Loop
operation will be executed as the loop “body”. Child operations are displayed as child nodes of
their parent operation. Child operations can also have child operations, which, in turn, can also
have their child operations, etc. That is, the operation list in the macro has a tree-like structure.
When running a macro, Automated Build Studio
executes the operations in the order of their
appearance in the Macro panel, from top to bottom.
For more information on how to add, remove and
arrange operations in the macro, see Adding,
Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro.
By default, Automated Build Studio
executes the operations in the same order as they appear in
the Macro panel, from top to bottom.
This is called serial execution. But you can also configure
the macro so that Build Studio executes some
operations or groups of operations concurrently.
This lets you perform different tasks
at the same time (for example, one group of operations
uploads files to an FTP server, whereas at the same time another group of operations cleans
working folders). For more information on how to run macro operations concurrently, see
Concurrent Operations
Execution.
• The Log panel displays results of the macro execution. Automated Build Studio monitors every
macro run and logs the name of every operation that was executed (the Message column) as well
as the time spent on executing each operation along with all of its child operations (the Time
with Children column). Besides the results of the operation execution, the log can also contain
custom messages. The Standard category includes the Log Message operation that lets you post a
custom message to the log. See Logging Macro Runs for more information.
• Like the Log panel, the Summary panel displays results of the macro execution but in the
comparative form: you can simultaneously view results both of the current macro run and of the
previous run that was finished without failures in the macro. Thus if the macro fails or an error
(warning) occurs in an operation, you can quickly see what caused this malfunction in
comparison with the run where there were no such problems.
• The Charts panel displays statistics on macro runs performed on your computer. For
more
information on this, see Charts - Overview.
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Getting Started
• The Client panel is used to control the macro run on remote computers. See Automated Build
Studio Client/Server – Overview for more information on this.
• The Assistant panel (in Visual Studio .NET,
this panel is called Build Studio Assistant) helps
you get started with Build Studio's user interface and provides a quick way to perform common
tasks that arise when you are working with Build Studio.
As we have said above, a macro can also hold variables and constants that you can use to set
values for
operations properties. Variables, for instance, can store values that should be shared between several
operations: one of the operations can store its result to a variable and another operation can use this variable
as a parameter.
This topic contains only brief overview of variables and constants. For complete information,
see Using Variables
and Constants in Macros.
To create or check values of variables and constants, use items of the Variables menu.
Automated Build Studio standalone
Automated Build Studio integrated into Visual Studio . NET
There are three types of macro variables: global variables, local variables and stored variables. Global
variables and stored variables are available to all macro operations, while local variables are defined only
for a particular group of operations. Global and local variables are reset once the macro run is over. Stored
variables, on the contrary, store their values between subsequent macro runs. A common task for stored
variables, for example, is to store the build version number.
Global and stored variables have the environment attribute. If it is set for a variable, this variable
becomes an environment variable for the processes launched by the macro. For instance, such variables are
passed as environment variables to the process that is started by the Execute Program operation.
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User Interface – Overview
Automated Build Studio also provides easy access to the operating system’s environment variables.
However, these variables cannot be changed in macros. They are used as constants.
As for constants, they can be used in macros similarly to variables. A constant can be user-defined or
system. User-defined constants are ordinary constants, which you create and which value you specify.
System constants hold predefined values such as paths to compilers, archivers, etc.
Note that both variables and constants can be used in scripts. For more information on this, see Using
Variables and Constants in Macros.
Editing MSBuild Projects
You can use Automated Build Studio to modify MSBuild projects. The MSBuild editing feature only
works if you use Automated Build Studio as a stand-alone application. It does not work when Automated
Build Studio is integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio.
Editing MSBuild projects is similar
to editing macros.
When you are editing MSBuild projects, the Operations panel displays
the elements that can be added to
the project. Note that since there are not a lot of elements, the panel’ s search functionality is turned off.
You add an element to your project by selecting this element
in the Operations panel and then clicking
on the element that you would like to be
its parent, in the Macro panel.
The Macro panel displays the project elements in the same order, in which they are in the project file.
You can change the order, if needed, by using the
disabled if the element’s
position cannot be changed.
, , and toolbar items. These items can be
The Macro panel contains two columns that specify the element’s name and the contents of the element’s
Condition property. If the Show Details item in the context menu of the Macro
panel is checked, the panel
also displays elements’ properties
under the elements’ names.
To modify an element's properties, right-click this element in the Macro panel
and select Properties
from the context menu, or double-click the element in the Macro panel. This displays the Properties dialog,
where you can modify the properties of the element. For more information on properties, see MSBuild
Project Elements Reference in the Working With MSBuild Projects document or in on-line
help.
When yo u are editing MSBuild projects, many Automated Build Studio features are turned off. This
happens because the differences between the tools are significant, and some Build
Studio features cannot be
used in MSBuild projects. For instance, the concept of configurations and stored variables does
not work for
MSBuild, so the appropria te Build Studio dialogs are disabled. Also, Automated Build Studio does not allow
running and debugging of MSBuild projects, so all of the run and debug specific menu items
are disabled.
Note that Automated Build Studio only turns off those features that cannot be used in MSBuild projects.
Non-specific features are available. For instance, you can use the Client panel to manage remote macro runs
and you can use the Charts panel to view build statistics.
For more information on editing MSBuild projects, see the Working With MSBuild Projects document or
the Working With MSBuild Projects section in on-line help.
User Interface – Overview
Automated Build Studio Standalone
The user interface of Automated Build Studio consists of panels, the main menu and toolbars. The
general layout is as follows:
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Getting Started
Most of Build Studio’s screen area is occupied by panels: Operations, Macro, Log, Summary and
Assistant. Each panel serves a separate purpose in your work
with Build Studio. The purpose of panels and
how they work together is explained in a separate topic which you should read: Basic Concepts.
The size and layout of panels are not fixed. You can change panel sizes by dragging the separator
between them. But the most important point about handling panels is how they can be moved around -
docking. Panels are where you do your actual work and get your results in Automated Build Studio. Docking
is our way of providing you with the most flexible workspace for the particular task you are interested in. It
means that the entire work area can be reconfigured at will, even beyond what is possible with toolbars
(moving, hiding, etc.). Docking of panels in Build Studio is similar to docking windows in Microsoft Visual
Studio. For instance, you can hide panels by clicking the button in the panel caption. This will minimize
the panel along one of the sides of Build Studio's window, so only the panel caption remains visible:
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User Interface – Overview
The panel pops up when you move the mouse over the caption. For more information on auto-hiding and
docking panels, see Docking in on-line help.
In the Macro, Log and Summary panels, you can –
• Resize columns by dragging the separator between column headers.
• Swap columns by dragging
their headers from one location to another.
• Add and remove columns to the panel:
Select the Field Chooser menu item from the panel's context menu. The Columns dialog
will appear. To add a column, drag it from the Columns dialog onto the panel. To remove a
column from the panel, drag it from the panel and drop onto the Columns dialog:
The Macro, Log, Summary and Assistant panels have a number of options that can be modified via the
Options dialog. The general view and behavior of panels can be modified in the User Interface dialog.
To save the current panel layout to a file, select Options | Desktop | Save Docking to File from Build
Studio’s main menu (by default, these files have the .qtdock extension). To load the panel layout from a file,
select Options | Desktop | Load Docking from File. To restore the default panel layout, select Options |
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Getting Started
Desktop | Restore Default Docking. The Save Desktop As and Load Desktop items of the Options |
Desktop su bmenu will save and load the panel layout along with the toolbar settings.
The Automated
Build Studio interface receives commands in four ways:
• through
menus
• through popup
menus (right-click, context-dependent)
• through toolbars • through keyboard
shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can be customized via the Customize
Keyboard dialog. You can define your own
shortcuts or select one of the predefined key mapping schemes: MS Visual Studio IDE or Borland IDE.
As in Microsoft Word or Excel, menus are a type of toolbar, and
both can be customized at will. You can
also create your own toolbars. By default, toolbars are docked at the top of Build Studio’s window. You can
easily dock them to any other edge by dragging them to the left, right or bottom edge of the window. To
remove or add buttons, you can either call the Toolbar Customization window or use the Quick
Customization feature.
For complete overview, see Toolbars Customization in on-line help.
To save or load the current layout of toolbars and toolbar items, use the Options | Desktop | Save
Toolbars to File and Options | Desktop | Load Toolbars from File menu items. To restore the default
toolbar layout, select Options | Desktop | Restore Default Toolbars. To save and load the layout of panels,
menus and toolbars, use the Options | Desktop | Save Desktop As and Options | Desktop | Load Desktop
menu items.
Automated Build Studio Integrated Into Visual Studio .NET
Build Studio’s user interface consists of panels, the main menu and toolbars. Once Build Studio has been
integrated into Visual Studio, the Build Studio project node appears in the Solution Explorer under the
solution node; the Automated Build Studio panels - Macro, Operations, Log, Summary and Assistant -
become comp onents of Visual Studio (the Assistant panel is called Build Studio Assistant in Visual Studio):
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User Interface – Overview
Pan els are where you do your actual work in Build Studio. Every panel serves a different purpose. For
more detailed
information on the different purposes and on how the panels work together, see Basic
Concepts.
You can
change the panel size and location in the same way you do other Visual Studio windows. To
bring up a panel,
select Build Studio | Panel List from Visual Studio’s menu and then choose the panel from
the ensuing Select Panel dialog.
Panels have a number of options that can be modified via the Options dialog.
The Build Studio panels have a toolbar at the top. The toolbar items allow you to perform certain
operations over data displayed in panels. For instance, the Show Operation Details item of the Macro
toolbar let you preview the operation properties directly in the Macro panel:
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Getting Started
Even more operations are available in the context menu for each panel. For instance, the context menu of
the Log panel holds the Export item that can be used for exporting the results of a macro run to text, html or
xml files:
You can dock a “panel” toolbar to any side of the panel that holds this toolbar. There is also a way to
hide or display items of these toolbars. For more information, see Toolbars Customization in on-line help.
Unlike toolbars, the panel’s context menu is not customizable.
Besides the “panel” toolbars, Automated Build Studio also adds a toolbar, Automated Build Studio, to
Visual Studio. You can display this toolbar by right-clicking somewhere in the toolbar area and checking the
Automated Build Studio item in the subsequent context menu. The toolbar holds the following items:
The toolbar items are displayed or hidden depending on the current context. For instance, the Sto p
item will not be visible until you start the macro execution.
Automated Build Studio also adds the Build Studio item to Visual Studio’s main menu:
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Creating a Macro
The menu holds the same items as the Automated Build
Studio toolbar does plus the following extra
items: Batch Run, Append Macro From, Options, Tasks (Windows Scheduler), Tasks (Continuous
Integrat ion ) and Tools. Batch Run lets you run the macro using several macro configurations at once. Using
the Append Macro From item, you can add operations stored in another macro to your macro. The Options
item provides access to Build Studio options, to the Install Extensions dialog and to the properties of the
Build Studio project. The Tasks (Windows Scheduler) item allows you to schedule the macro execution.
The Tasks (Continuous Integration) lets you create time- and event-triggered tasks that run your macro; an
example of such a task is running a macro that builds your project when the project files are modified under
source code control. The Tools item provides access to the Tools dialog.
You can manage the Build Studio menu and the Automated Build Studio toolbar in the same manner as
you manage other Visual Studio menus and toolbars.
Creating a Macro
Your macro is simply your current “work site” in Automated Build Studio. It unifies operations to be
executed and variables and constants that will be used by the operations.
Automated Build Studio supports creating and editing of two types of files:
•
Automated Build Studio macros
• MSBuild projects
If you use Automated Build Studio as a standalone application, then to create a new macro or an
MSBUild project, simply use the corresponding command of the File | New:
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Getting Started
If you want to modify a file that
already exists, you should open it in Automated Build Studio first. To do
this, select File | Open from the main menu. This will call the standard Open File dialog where you can
select the desired file.
After the macro is created (opened),
you can add operations to it and modify their properties, and create
and modify macro constants and variables, and so on. You can edit MSBuild projects in a similar way, by
adding targets, tasks and other elements
and configuring their properties.
In Build Studio integrated into Visual Studio .NET, you can only work with Build Studio
macros – the
integrated version does not support
editing of MSBuild projects.
You can create a new macro in
the same way as you create new projects in Visual Studio:
• Select File | New | Project from Visual Studio’s
menu or press the New Project button on the
Start page.
This will call the New Project dialog.
• In the dialog:
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Creating a Macro
Select Automated Build Studio Projects from the list on the left of the dialog and then select
Automated Build Studio Project or Automated Build Studio Project (XML Format) on the
right.
Note: The difference
between these options is the format the macro file will have. (A
macro
can be stored either in binary or xml format. For more information, see
Saving
and Loading Macros).
Specify the project name, location and solution.
Press OK.
Also, the New Project
dialog appears when you select Build Studio | Add ABS Project
from Visual Studio's menu, or press the Add ABS Project from the Solution
Explorer:
If a solution is open in Visual Studio .NET when you select Add ABS Project, upon pressing OK in the
New Project dialog the new Automated Build Studio project will be added to the solution. In addition, you
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Getting Started
will also be asked for which of the solution's projects you want to add the corresponding Compile operations
to the macro. To do this, the Add Projects to ABS Project dialog is used.
A macro added to a Visual Studio solution should not contain the Compile Visual Studio .NET
Solution operation that compiles the parent solution itself. Such an operation causes a circular
reference and leads to an error.
You can open an existing Automated Build Studio macro in the Visual Studio .NET in the same manner
as you open any other Visual Studio project: just select File | Open Project.
After the macro is created (opened), you can add operations to it and create and modify constants and
variables.
Adding, Removing and Arranging Operatio ns in a Macro
Before adding an operation to the macro, locate that operation in the
Operations panel (by default, this
panel is on the left side of the Automated Build Studio window).
The contents of the Operation panel depend
on whether you are editing an Automated Build Studio macro or an MSBuild project:
• If you are editing an Automated Build Studio macro, the Operations panel displays a list of
available operations grouped by their categories.
• If you are editing an MSBuild project, the Operations panel displays a list of elements that can
be used in MSBuild projects. For information on these elements and modifying MSBuild
projects in Automated Build Studio, see the Working With MSBuild Projects document or the
Working With MSBuild Projects section in on-line help.
This topic explains how you can work with macros’ operations in the Operations panel. Working with
MSBuild project elements in the panel is similar to working with operations. For information on adding
elements to and removing them from MSBuild projects, see the Working With MSBuild Projects document or
the Working With MSBuild Projects section in on-line
help.
Automated Build Studio offers a lot of operations that can be used in macros. Before adding an operation
to a macro, you should locate that operation in the Operations panel. You can do this in either of the
following ways:
• Expand the category holding the desired operation in the Operations panel. Some categories may
be invisible within the panel, so to reach them, you should scroll the panel or press the
Categories item from the toolbar of the Operations panel and then select the category from the
ensuing popup list.
– or –
• Search for the operation by typing the operation name in the edit box at the top of the Operations
panel. Automated Build Studio will search for the operation while you are typing and display
operation that match
the search pattern in the Operations panel. For instance, the following
imag e illustrates the situation when a user has typed Set and Automated Build Studio has
displayed
all operations, which names include the substring Set:
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Adding, Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro
To stop the search and restore normal categories display, select Cancel Search from
the panel toolbar.
Note: The search functionality is off when you are editing MSBuild projects.
There are not a lot of MSBuild project
elements, so you can quickly find
the desired element within the Operations
panel.
Once yo u have located the desired operation in the Operation panel, you can add it to the macro in any of
the following ways:
•
Double-click the desired operation in the Operations panel. The new operation will be added to
the macro below the currently selected operation.
• C lick the desired operation in the Operations panel, then switch to the Macro panel. If you place
the mouse cursor over an operation
in the macro, the cursor will include an arrow that points
upwards or downwards depending upon over which part (upper or lower) of that operation the
mouse cursor is currently located. If you click that operation, the new operation will be added
before or after it according to the arrow direction in the mouse cursor. If you click below the list
of operations, the new operation will be added to the end of the macro.
Once you have added an operation to the macro, you can modify the operation’s properties. Property
values are defined via the Operation Properties dialog. If the Show Properties dialog when adding a new item
option is enabled in the macro options, this dialog is called automatically upon adding an operation.
Otherwise you should call the dialog manually. To do this, either right-click the desired operation and select
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Getting Started
Properties
from the context menu, or simply double-click the operation in the Macro panel, or press Enter
when that operation is selected in the Macro panel. For instructions on how to specify operation properties
see Modifying Operation Properties.
Some operations may have child operations. For instance, While Loop, For Loop or If … Then. For loop
operations it means that child operations will be run within the loop “body”. For If … Then, it means that
child operations will be executed provided that the if condition is True. To make an operation a child one,
simply drag the operation from the left (or right) panel and drop it over another
operation you want to be the
“parent”. To change operations’ “relationships”, you can also use the Indent and Un-Indent items of
Build Studio’s Edit toolbar or Edit menu or of Visual Studio’s Macro panel toolbar. In addition, you can
press Ctrl-Right or Ctrl-Left in Build Studio running as a standalone
application (these shortcuts can be
customized in the Customize Keyboard
dialog).
You can select operations within the macro and drag them along the tree: move the selected operation to
another place, copy the operation, or make
one operation a child of another.
Once you have added an operation to the macro, you can modify
the operation’s properties. To do this,
either right-click the desired operation and select Properties from the context menu, or simply double-click
the operation in the Macro panel, or press Enter when that operation is selected
in the Macro panel. This will
open the Operation Properties dialog where you can specify the property values. For more information
about this, see Modifying Operation Properties.
Note that by default, operations are executed in the same order they are displayed
in the Macro panel of
Build Studio – from top to bottom (except for Initialization, Finalization and Submacro operations). It is also
possible to run certain operations or groups of operations concurrently.
To learn more, see Concurrent
Execution of Operations.
Note that operations are executed in the same order they are displayed
in the Macro panel of Build
Studio - from the top to bottom (the only exception is the Submacro
operation). To change the order of
operations in the macro, use the Move Up and Move Down items on Build Studio’s Edit toolbar or the
Edit
menu, press Ctrl-Up or Ctrl-Down (this is available only if Build Studio is running as a standalone
application), on Visual Studio’s Macro panel toolbar or simply drag and drop an operation to
the desired
location.
The operation being dragged is placed before or after the operation on which it is dropped: the exact
new location of the dragged operation is indicated by an arrow in the mouse cursor which is displayed when
you hover the cursor over an existing operation before dropping. You can copy the chosen operation to
another location: just keep Ctrl pressed when dragging the operation.
To remove the chosen operation from the macro, either select Remove Operation from the context
menu, from Build Studio’s Edit menu or from Visual Studio’s Macro panel toolbar, or press Del. To delete
all the operations at once, select Clear All from the context menu or from Build Studio’s Edit menu.
To select several operations in the macro, hold down Shift or Ctrl when selecting the needed operations.
If the selected operations meet all of the following conditions, you can change their position in the macro or
remove them at once:
• The selected operations belong to the same level in the tree.
• There are no unselected operations between them at the same level.
• The selected operations do not belong to different parents.
You can copy or cut an operation to and paste
it from the clipboard. To do this, use the Edit menu's
Copy, Cut and Paste items of the Edit menu (or the Macro panel toolbar, if you use Automated Build
Studio integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio). You can also copy, cut and paste several operations located
at the same level.
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Modifying Operation Properties
To undo or redo changes you made in the macro or in operation properties, either use the Undo and
Redo items of the Edit menu (the Macro panel toolbar in Visual Studio) or press Ctrl-Z or Ctrl-Y
respectively.
You can also save the modified macro to a file and load it later (see Saving and Loading Macros).
Modifying Operation Properties
Each operation or MSBuild project element has a number of properties that let you specify the actual
actions that the operation (or element) performs. For instance, if you want your macro to compile a C#
project, you should at least specify the project name in the operation properties. Therefore, once you have
added an operation (or element) to your macro (or MSBuild project) your next step is to modify the
properties of this operation (or element).
Note that editing MSBuild projects is only supported in Automated Build Studio Standalone. Editing of
these
projects is not supported by Automated Build Studio integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio.
Modifying Properties of Automated Build Studio Macro Operations
You can modify operation properties via Automated Build Studio’s user interface or programmatically
from scripts. In most cases you will change the operation properties via the user interface. For information on
how to get or set property values in scripts, see Working With Operations in Scripts.
The operation’s properties are set in the Operation Properties dialog. To call the dialog, do one of the
following:
• Right-click the desired operation in your macro and then select Properties from the context menu
• Double-click the operation in the Macro panel.
• Select the desired operation and press Enter.
• If the Show Properties dialog when adding a new item option is enabled, Automated
Build
Studio automatically displays the dialog once you have added a new operation to your macro.
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Getting Started
The dialog holds several tabbed pages. The first page holds properties common for all operations; other
pages hold properties specific to the selected operation. The common properties are:
Property Description
Description Description of the operation. This property has no effect on macro
execution. It is used for notes. This property is required if the Begin a
progress group property is enabled.
Automated Build Studio stores and displays descriptions using
regional settings that are currently selected on your computer. If
the description includes non-Latin characters, for instance,
characters with diacritical marks, the description may be
displayed incorrectly on other computers, which regional
settings differ from regional settings selected on your machine.
You can also comment the macro using the Comment operation.
Enabled Specifies if the chosen operation is run when the macro is run using the
active configuration. Otherwise, the operation is excluded from macro
execution.
Run submacro if operation fails Specifies the submacro which runs if an error occurs when executing the
operation.
You can either set the submacro specific for the operation, or use the
default submacro, which is common for all operations (the latter can be set
in the Macro Properties dialog). See Handling Errors in Macros.
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Modifying Operation Properties
Stop execution if operation fails Allows you to stop execution of parent operations or the entire macro if an
error occurs during the execution of the operation or its child operations.
For more information on this, see Handling Errors in Macros.
If the Run submacro if operation fails property is not set to None,
Automated Build Studio runs the submacro first and then handles an error
according to the Stop execution if operation fails property.
Unique name Identifier of the operation. This identifier can be used to address
the
operation from scripts. See Working With Operations in Scripts for more
information on this.
In addition, Unique Name cannot be empty for the Submacro
and Label
operations, because it is used by other operations to call these operations.
The Unique Name must start with a letter or an underscore character
and
contain only alphanumeric characters and underscores.
Begin a progress group Sets whether the operation is the first operation of a new progress group in
the current macro. Progress groups let you organize your macros
logically.
A progress group is just a logical unit that includes several operations in
the macro hierarchy, starting from the one for which this property is on. In
other words, using progress groups you can divide your
macros into
several logical parts. For instance, if your macro is intended to
build an
installation, you can create one progress group for operations that prepare
files for your build, another progress group for operations that com pile
these files, and the third for operations that compile your installation
program. A progress group's name is the value of the Description property
of the first operation in this group. Currently, progress groups are used to
indicate the macro execution progress: when running the macro, Build
Studio's status bar displays the name of the progress group that is currently
being executed. Therefore, you are informed which part of your macro is
currently running.
Log to summary Sets whether to collect statistics on this operation for the Summary panel.
Timeout This property is common for operations that run a program (for instance,
operations of the Execute category) or that use third-party applications (for
example, operations of the Compilers or Installers categories). It specifies
the maximum allowed execution time (in seconds, minutes or hours) for
the operation. The timeout purpose is to stop the operation if the
application which that operation has launched executes too long and
probably hung: if the application execution time exceeds the timeout limit,
Automated Build Studio terminates this application.
You can either set the timeout specific for the operation, or use the default
timeout, which is common for all operations (the latter can be set in the
Macro Properties dialog). If the timeout is 0, it will be ignored (as when
the Don’t check timeout option is selected).
By enabling the timeout for macro operations, you can handle errors that
occur during the macro run. For more information, see Handling Errors in
Macros.
For information on properties that are specific to an operation, see description of the desired operation.
See also List of Operations.
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Getting Started
You can modify the common properties on the Properties page of the Operation Properties dialog. Some
of the common properties are displayed as columns of the Macro panel. As for the specific properties, if the
Show Operation Details menu item is checked in the context menu or on the toolbar of the Macro panel,
Automated Build Studio displays them under each operation in the Macro panel. If this menu item is
unchecked, the properties are not visible. However, you can display these properties in a hint, which is
available if the Show details in hint option is enabled.
Note: When editing properties, you can either enter the property value or specify a constant or a
variable as a value. If you use constants or variables, you should enclose the name of this
constant (or variable) in the % signs. For instance, the file_name variable should be referred to
as follows:
%file_name%
Otherwise, Automated Build Studio will treat the name as an ordinary string.
If a property requires that its value must be saved to a variable, you should specify the
variable name without % signs. For complete information on macro variables and constants,
see Using Variables and Constants in Macros.
The toolbar at the top of the Operation Properties dialog holds the Previous and Next items that
let you quickly switch to the properties of the operation that follows or precedes the currently selected
operation in the macro.
The toolbar also holds the Run Selected Operation and Run Selected Operation with Children
items that let you execute the selected operation. For more information on this, see Running Macros.
Additionally, the toolbar includes the Macro Properties button which allows you to call the Macro
Properties dialog directly from the Operation Properties dialog.
Whenever you change an operation's properties using either the Operation Properties dialog or the
Macro
panel, you apply the changes to the active macro configuration only. See Using Macro
Configurations. The Operation Properties dialog lets you temporarily switch the active configuration of the
current macro without leaving the dialog. To do this, use the Configuration dropdown list box at the top of
the dialog. The active configuration will include all property values of the operation that is currently
available in the dialog.
After you finish editing operation properties, you can select Run | Check from the main menu of
Automated Build Studio (if it is running as a standalone application) or Build Studio | Check from Visual
Studio’s main menu (if Build Studio is integrated into Visual Studio .NET) to verify that the properties are
set correctly. Note that this command checks the macro using the data of the active configuration only. To
check the macro in a different configuration, you should first switch to that configuration. See Using Macro
Configurations.
Modifying Properties of MSBuild Project Elements
You modify properties of MSBuild project elements via the special Properties dialog. To call it, do any
of the following:
• Right-click the desired element in your macro and then select Properties from the context menu.
• Double-click the element in the Macro panel.
• Select the desired element in the Macro panel and press Enter.
• If the Show Properties dialog when adding a new item option is enabled, Automated Build
Studio automatically displays the dialog once you have added a new element to your MSBuild
project.
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Saving and Loading Macros
The Properties dialog displays the properties of the selected element, so the dialog’s contents depend on
the selected element. For information on elements and their properties, see MSBuild Project Elements
Reference in the Working With MSBuild Projects document or in on-line help.
To specify elements’ properties, you can refer to the Property, Item and Item Metadata elements of your
MSBuild project as well as to MSBuild reserved properties and the operating system’s environment
variables. For information on how to refer to them, see Specifying Element Properties in the Working With
MSBuild Projects document or in on-line help.
Saving and Loading Macros
In Build Studio running as a standalone application, to save changes made to your macro, select File |
Save from Build Studio’s main menu or press Ctrl-S (this shortcut can be changed via the Customize
Keyboard dialog). To save the macro under another name, select File | Save As. In Build Studio integrated
into Visual Studio .NET, you can save changes made to your macro in the same manner as you would save
any other project in Visual Studio: select the File | Save menu item or press Ctrl-S. To save
the macro under another name, select File | Save As . Automated Build Studio can save
macros
in one of the following formats:
Format Description
.bbp The Automated Build Studio project file. Stores data in binary form.
.bxp The Automated Build Studio project file. Stores data in XML format.
The MSBuild project files are stored in the XML format and typically have one of the following
extensions: .proj, .msbuild, .targets and .tasks.
Note that Automated Build Studio macros cannot be saved in the MSBuild project format and vice versa
(that is, conversion of these files is impossible).
To open a macro or MSBuild
project that you have previously saved, select the File | Recent item in the
main menu of Automated Build
Studio (if it is running as a standalone application) or the File | Open |
Project item in Visual Studio’s main menu (if Build Studio is integrated into Visual Studio). This will bring
up the standard Open File dialog where you can select the desired file. After you have selected the file,
Automated Build Studio will replace the currently edited macro or MSBuild project with that file. To append
an Automated Build Studio macro from a file to the currently open macro, use File | Append item in the
main menu
of Automated Build Studio (if it is running as a standalone application) or the Build Studio |
Append Macro From item in Visual Studio’s main menu (if Build Studio is integrated
into Visual
Studio) ..Operations of the chosen macro will be added to the end of the current macro. Note that you may not
append a macro to the currently
open macro, but run it using the Execute Macro operation.
In addit ion to .bbp and .bxp macro files, and MSBuild projects, Automated Build Studio can also open
.vmp files. The .vmp format is used by Visual Macro Builder to store macros (The Visual Macro Builder
is
part of AQdevTeam Client – AutomatedQA’s
bug tracking system). .vmp is an obsolete format. If you
command Automated Build Studio to open a .vmp file, it will convert that file to a macro format that is
currently used.
Using Macro Configurations
Often when you make a build or an installation by using Automated Build Studio, you need to create
different versions of the same build (installation): for instance, a debug (checked) version,
a demo version or
a release version. Typically, macros that generate these versions slightly differ from each other: just some
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Getting Started
changes in the logic, operation properties and values of constants and stored variables. For example, when
using the Compile
Visual C++ 6.0 Project operation you may want to enable properties that will generate
debug information
and disable all optimizations for the debug version, but turn on all the needed
optimizations
and not generate debug info for the release version. You can create an individual macro to
generate each version independently, but this is not an
efficient approach because in these macros you will
have lots o f identical parts. Of course, you could separate the reusable logic parts into submacros or external
macros. But
in this case, you would still have to manage several macros, which is not convenient either.
Since all of these versions pertain to the same product, it would be reasonable to have a single macro that
would generate all of the versions. However, this macro will inevitably have multiple conditional
branches
that are needed to ensure that your reusable macro parts are utilized as efficiently as possible.
Use of macro configurations allows you to create
a single macro and reuse it multiple times, changing
its nature by simply selecting a different configuration.
A configuration includes the following:
• propert y values of all operations that exist in the macro;
• values of all custom constants and stored variables that are defined in the macro (see Using
Variables and Constants in Macros);
• the Environment attributes of all custom constants and variables (including stored variables)
that are defined in the macro.
Note: The concept of macro configurations is used
for Automated Build Studio macros. It cannot be
applied to MSBuild projects.
A configuration (all the settings that are unified by a configuration) is part of a macro. By default, a
macro holds at least one configuration. Each macro can have any number of configurations. Therefore, if a
macro has N configurations, this means that the macro has N sets of operation properties and variable
(constant)
values and attributes. Using multiple configurations lets you have a single logic for all datasets. In
our example with multiple build or installation versions, you can create as many configurations as the
number of versions you want to get while the macro logic and the set of constants and variables will be the
same for all versions. This is like passing different parameters to a function to get different results.
As it was said above, the set of operations and their hierarchy as well as the set of variables and custom
constants in a macro is identical for all configurations. Therefore, if you add an operation to or remove an
operation from the macro in one configuration, this operation will appear or disappear in all the other
configurations as well. Likewise, if you add a variable or a custom constant to or remove it from the macro in
one configuration, this constant (variable) will also appear or disappear in all the other configurations.
Therefore, you can also compare the macro with the class declaration, while each configuration resembles a
class instance: a copy of the class structure populated
with unique data.
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Using Macro Configurations
As a result, you create the operation hierarchy and the set of variables and custom constants only once
and then, using individual configurations, work with data specific to a particular configuration.
Using operation properties you can even change the operation hierarchy to some extent, without adding
or removing operations. How is this possible? You can use the Enabled property to simply switch on or off a
definite operation in the operation flow. For instance, in the Debug configuration you may need a specific
check of assertions, which is not required in the Release configuration; so you can enable the corresponding
operation branch in the Debug configuration and disable it in Release. To see in which configurations the
given operation is enabled, refer to the Enabled in Configurations column that is displayed in the Macro
panel.
If the operation is enabled in all the configurations of the current macro, this column shows .
If you need to set the needed value to a variable in all configurations, you can use either Set\Reset
Variable Value, or Script operation
and enable it in all configurations as described above. For stored
variables, you can set their initial value in all configurations via the Stored Variables dialog.
Alternatively,
you can use the Set\Reset
Variable Value operation that is enabled in at least one configuration and whose
Set Value for All Configurations property is on. This is typically used to change the value of a stored variable
in all
configurations at once.
Automated Build Studio Standalone
To manage configurations
that belong to the given macro, use the Edit Macro Configurations dialog. To
call it, press the Edit Configurations button on the Configurations toolbar. By default, a newly
created
macro holds one configuration called Release. The dialog lets you create new configurations
as well as
rename and delete existing ones. You cannot delete all the configurations
from the macro; at least one
configuration must always be present in the macro. Each configuration
must have a unique name within the
macro. When adding a new configuration to the m acro (press Add in the
Edit Macro Configurations dialog),
you can copy all of the data of an existing configuration to the new one. This will save you from having to
pop ulating all the necessary properties as well as values and attributes of constants and variables in the new
con figuration if these two configurations do not differ too much. To do this, in the Copy data from box of
the New Configuration dialog, select the desired configuration whose data needs to be copied. If you select
, no properties of the new configuration will be specified or
set to their default values.
All of the configurations that belong to the current macro are displayed in the Select Active
Configuration dropdown list box on the Configurations toolbar.
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Getting Started
When you select a configuration in this box, you make the chosen configuration the active configuration
in the macro. This means that all of the changes you made in the operation properties will be applied to the
active configuration only. When you save the macro to a file, the active configuration is also saved there. A
similar dropdown list box, Configuration, is available in the Operation Properties, Constants, Variables and
Stored Variables dialogs, in order to let you switch between configurations without leaving the dialog. Note
however that the selection of the active configuration you make in any of these dialogs is temporary; it only
has effect while the dialog is open. In other words, if using the dialog you switch the active configuration,
when closing the dialog the active configuration selection will return to the configuration that was active
before calling the dialog.
If you want to see if the properties of the given operation have different or identical values in different
configurations of the current macro, see if there is a tick in the Different Configuration Settings column
of the
Macro panel. As a result, you can quickly see which of your operations have configuration specific
property values and which operations have the same property values in all the configurations.
The item that is available in the Select Active Configuration or Configuration
box lets you apply changes you made in the operation properties to all the available configurations at once.
For instance, if you want to set the unique name of the operation, which should be the same in all the
configurations, you can enter the desired name directly in the Macro panel grid or using the Operation
Properties dialog. At that, only the properties whose values you are modifying when is
selected will be applied to all configurations; the same concerns values and attributes of constants and
variables.
To illustrate this, imagine that you have the Get Latest Version From VSS operation where the
property that specifies location of the working folder (Working Folder) has different values for the Release
and Debug configurations,
while the other properties (Login, Password, etc.) have the same values in all
configurations.
If you select , change the value of the Login property in this operation
and then revert to a named configuration, only this property will be changed in all configurations. The other
properties will stay untouched. Therefore, the Working Folder property will still have different values in
different configurations.
Automated Build Studio Integrated Into Visual Studio .NET
In Visual Studio, there are two types of configurations: project configurations and solution build
configurations. A project configuration is a set of project properties that are specific for a particular build and
possibly platfo rm. Since an Automated Build Studio macro
is a special case of a Visual Studio project, a
macro configuration is a project configuration too. A solution build configuration determines whic h
configurations of the projects that are included in the solution should be used when building the entire
solution. A solution's
build configuration holds only references to configurations of its projects, while
configuration
settings themselves are stored within projects.
To manage configurations that belong to the given macro, use Visual Studio's Configuration Manager
dialog. To call it, select Configuration Manager from the Build menu. Alternatively, you can select
Configuration Manager from the Solution Configurations dropdown list box that is displayed on the
Standard toolbar.
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Using Macro Configurations
The Configuration Manager dialog lists all the projects that are included in the current solution. The
Active Solution Configuration dropdown list box displays all the build configurations stored in the
solution. The configuration that is currently selected in
the list is the active build configuration of the given
solution.
This is the configuration that will be used when you build or re-build the solution. You can also
select the active
solution build configuration from the Solution Configurations dropdown list box on the
Standard toolbar.
For each project listed in the Solution Manager dialog, you can specify the active project configuration.
To do this, locate the desired project in the Configuration column, press the down arrow button and in the
resulting dropdown list box select the needed configuration. The active project configuration is the
configuration that will be used when you run or build the project. You can also specify the platform for
which the project should be built and designate whether to build or deploy the project when using the given
solution configuration. For Automated Build Studio macros, the active project configuration is the active
macro configuration. This means that all the changes you make in the operation properties will be applied to
the active macro configuration only. The active macro configuration also determines which dataset will be
used in the given macro run. Macros cannot be built, they can only be
run. That's why there is no need to
specify
the target platform for the macro configuration.
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Getting Started
When y ou save the macro to a file,
the active macro configuration is also saved there. The Operation
Properties, Constants,
Variables and Stored Variables dialogs include the Configuration dropdown list box
which lets you
switch between macro configurations without leaving the dialog. Note however that the
selection of t he active macro configuration you make in any of these dialogs is temporary; it has effect only
while the dialog is open. In other words, if using the dialog you switch the active macro configuration, when
closing
the dialog the active macro configuration selection will return to the macro configuration which was
active before calling the dialog.
If y ou want to learn whether the properties of the given operation has different or identical values in
different configurations
of the current macro, check whether there is a tick in the Different Configuration
Settings column
of the Macro panel. As a result, you can quickly see which of your operations have
configuration
specific property values and which operations have the same property values in all the
configurations.
The item that is available in the Configuration box lets you apply changes you
made in the operation properties to all the available macro configurations at once.
For instance, if you want
to set the unique name of the operation, which should be the same in all the macro configurations, you can
enter the desired name directly in the Macro panel grid or using
the Operation Properties dialog. At that, only
the properties whose
values you are modifying when is selected will be applied to all
macro configurations; the same concerns values and attributes of constants and variables. To illustrate these
words, imagine that you have the Get Latest Version From VSS operation where the property that specifies
location of the working folder (Working Folder) has different values for the Release and Debug
configurations, while the other properties (Login, Password, etc.) have the same values in all macro
configurations. If you select , change the value of the Login property in this operation
and then revert to a named configuration, only this property will be changed in all macro configurations. The
other properties will stay untouched; thus, the Working
Folder property will still have different values in
different macro configurations.
By default,
a newly created solution holds only one solution build configuration whose name is Release.
To create a new solution build configuration, open the Configuration Manager dialog and select
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Using Macro Configurations
from the Active Solution Configuration dropdown list box. This will call the New Solution Configuration
dialog, where you can specify the configuration name. In addition,
you can set whether to copy all data of an
existing
solution configuration to the new one. To do this, in the Copy Settings from box of the New
Solution Configuration dialog, select the desired configuration whose data should be copied. If you select
, all properties of the new configuration will be set to their default values. If you enable Also create
new project configuration(s), the new configuration under the same name will become available for all
projects that belong to the given solution. Otherwise, this configuration will be added to the solution only.
To rename or remove an existing solution configuration, select from the Active Solution
Configuration dropdown list box of the Configuration Manager dialog. This will call the Edit Solution
Configurations dialog. In the dialog, select the configuration you want to rename or delete and press the
Rename or Remove button correspondingly. Each configuration must have a unique name within the
solution. You cannot delete all the configurations from the solution; at least one configuration must always
be present in the solution.
By default, a newly created macro holds the only macro configuration whose name is Release. To create
a new macro configuration, open the Configuration Manager dialog, locate the desired macro in the
Configuration column, press the down arrow button and select from the subsequent dropdown list
box.
This will call the New Project Configuration dialog, where you can specify the configuration name. In
addition,
you can set whether to copy all data of an existing macro configuration to the new one. This will
save you
populating all the necessary properties as well as values and attributes of constants and variables in
the new configuration if these two configurations do not differ seriously. To do this, in the Copy Settings
from b ox of the New Project Configuration dialog, select the desired configuration whose data should be
copied. If you select , all properties of the new macro configuration will be not specified or set to
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Getting Started
their
default values. If you enable Also create new solution configuration(s), the new configuration under
the same name
will become available for the solution to which the given macro belongs. Otherwise, this
configuration will be added to the macro only.
To rename of remove an existing macro configuration, open the Configuration Manager dialog, locate
the desired macro in the Configuration column, press the down arrow button and select from the
subsequent dropdown list box. This will call the Edit Project Configurations dialog. In the dialog, select
the configuration you want to rename or delete and press the Rename or Remove button correspondingly.
Each configuration must have a unique name within the macro. You cannot delete all the configurations from
the macro; at least one configuration must always be present in the macro.
Running a Macro with the Needed Configuration
When you run the macro or some of its operations, or check the macro, you only run or check the macro
in the active macro configuration. Therefore, if you need to run the macro in another configuration, first
make this configuration active. However, if you have a long list of configurations within a macro, running
them one by one is tedious. As you may recall, the idea of integrating multiple configurations within a macro
implies
that you must have the capability to run the macro in several configurations quickly. Of course, you
can do this in Automated Build Studio: simply select Batch Run from Build Studio’s Run menu or from
Visual Studio’s Build Studio menu and in the resulting Edit Batch Run dialog designate in which
configurations you want to run the macro.
Among the system constants that Build Studio adds to the system (see System Constants Dialog in online
help), there are the RUNCONFIGURATIONCOUNT, RUNNINGCONFIGURATIONINDEX and
RUNNINGCONFIGURATIONNAME constants. When running a macro, Build Studio dynamically changes
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Running Macros
values of these constants. The RUNCONFIGURATIONCOUNT constant will hold the total number of
configurations for which the macro has been run, while the RUNNINGCONFIGURATIONNAME and
RUNNINGCONFIGURATIONINDEX constants will correspondingly hold the name and zero-based index
of the configuration for which
the macro is currently running.
Running Macros
Once you have created a macro, you can run it:
• You can launch a macro at certain points in time by passing the macro name
to Automated Build
Studio via the command line. See Scheduling Macro Runs for more information.
• You can run your macro using the Automated Macro Player - a command-line utility
that was
specifically designed for running macros. See Command-Line Arguments.
• You can run your macro right in Automated Build Studio (if it is running
as a standalone
application).
• You can run your macro right in Visual Studio .NET (if Build Studio is integrated into it).
This topic describes how to run a macro from Automated Build Studio or from Visual Studio .NET.
Automated
Build Studio does not support running and debugging MSBuild projects. You can
execute
MSBuild projects from Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, or using the MSBuild
operation
from your Automated Build Studio macro.
Bef ore running your macro, you may need to specify
the options that affect the whole macro run. To
modify them, selec t File | Properties from the main menu of Automated Build Studio (if it is running as a
standalone applicat ion) or right-click the Build Studio project node in the Solution Explorer and select
Properties from the context menu (if Build Studio is integrated into Visual Studio). This will open the
Macro Properties dialog.
The options are on the General tabbed page of the dialog:
• Common Timeout - Specifies the timeout (in seconds, minutes or hours) for operations that run
external applications. An example of such operations is Execute Program, Pack Files with
WinRA R or Compile Microsoft Visual C++
6.0. If an operation is executed longer than the
specified timeout, Automated Build Studio will close the application, which that operation
launched, and stop the macro execution.
• Run submacro if macro fails - Specifies a submacro
that runs if an error occurs during the macro
execution.
For more information on these options, see Macro Properties Dialog in on-line help.
You can run your macro in Automated Build Studio or in Visual Studio in one of the following manners:
Automated Build Studio standalone:
• Press Run on the Standard toolbar.
• Select Run from the Run menu.
• Right-click within the Macro panel and select Run from the context menu.
• Press F5 (the shortcut for running macros can be changed via the
Customize Keyboard dialog).
•
Automated Build Studio integrated into Visual Studio .NET:
Press Run on the Macro panel toolbar.
• Select Run from the Build Studio menu.
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Getting Started
After that Automated Build Studio will start executing the macro. Note that it will execute only those
operations that are checked
in the Macro panel. Unchecked operations will not be executed. If you uncheck a
parent operation, its child operations will
not be executed either.
If the Highligh t Operation option of the Macro panel is enabled, the operation that is being executed at
that moment will be selected in the Macro panel.
Sometimes yo u may want to run only a part of macro rather that the whole macro. This may be useful,
for instance, for testing
or debugging purposes.
To run your macro from the selected operatio n to the end of the macro, select Run From Selected
from the context menu of the Macro panel, from Build Studio’s
Run menu or from Visual Studio’s Macro
panel
toolbar, or press Ctrl-F5 (this shortcut can be changed with the Customize Keyboard dialog). We
would like to note once again, that Automated Build Studio will run only checked operations. Unchecked
operations will be skipped. If the selected operation has a parent operation, you can run the macro only if the
parent is either a Group or If … Then operation.
You can also ru n only the operation currently selected in the Macro panel: choose Run Selected
Op eration from the context menu, from Build Studio’s Run menu or from Visual Studio’s Macro panel
tool bar, or press Alt-F5 (this shortcut can be changed with the Customize Keyboard dialog). If in addition to
the selected operation itself, you also would like to run its checked child operations, press Shift-F5 or choose
Run Selected Operation with Children from the context menu, from Build Studio’s Run menu or from
Visual Studio’s Macro panel toolbar. Note that these commands will execute the selected operation even if it
is unchecked.
You can also run the selected operation using the Run Selected Operation and Run Selected
Operation with Children items on the toolbar
at the top of the Operation Properties dialog.
Note:
Note that if you run a macro or its operations, they will use the data of the active configuration
only. To run the
macro or its operations in a different configuration, you should switch to that
configuration
first. To run the macro in several configurations, select Batch Run from
Build Studio’ s Run menu or Visual Studio’s Automated Build Studio toolbar or Build Studio
menu, and in the subsequent Edit
Batch Run dialog, select the configurations that should be
used during the run. See Using Macro
Configurations.
To pause the macro execution, select Pause from Build Studio’s Standard toolbar or Run menu or
from Visual Studio’s Macro panel toolbar or Build Studio menu. Pressing Stop will stop the macro
execution. If you stop the macro run by pressing this button, the Summary panel "assumes" that the run is
successful.
You can stop execution from the macro. To do this either use the Stop Macro Execution operation or
call the ABSUtils.AbortMacroExecution function in a script.
Automated Build Studio logs each macro run and displays the results in the Log and Summary panels.
For more information on this, see Logging Macro Runs.
Logging Macro Runs
Automated Build Studio generates full-detail logs of macro runs. These logs help you isolate the errors
that might arise during the macro execution.
Note: The logging concept is only used for macros.
It does not work for MSBuild projects since these
projects cannot be launched from within Automated
Build Studio’s IDE.
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Analyzing Results of Macro Runs
By default, when Automated Build Studio is executing a macro, it shows the name of each operation
being executed in the Log panel. If an operation has child operations, they are logged as child nodes of their
parent operation’s node. If an operation fails to execute, Automated Build Studio will log information
about
the error that has occurred.
You can disable the default logging,
by adding the Disable Logging operation to your macro. A macro
will not post messages to the log after it executed this operation. To enable the logging, use the Enable
Logging operation. Note that error messages are posted to the Log
panel even if the logging is disabled.
You can post your custom messages to the log. To do this, use the Log Message operation. The
operation’s properties let you specify what kind of message you would like to post: error, warning or an
informativ e message (default).
You can also post messages from the scripts. To do this, use methods of the Log object:
[VBScript] Log.Message "Message text" ' Posts an informative message
Log. Warning "Warning text" ' Posts a warning
Log.Error "Error text" ' Posts an error
[JScript]
Log.Message("Message text"); // Posts an informative message
Log.Warning("Warning text"); // Posts a warning
Log.Error("Error text"); // Posts an error
[DelphiScript]
Log.Message('Message text'); // Posts an informative message
Log.Warning('Warning text'); // Posts a warning
Log.Error('Error text'); // Posts an error
To save the currently displayed log to a text, HTML or XML
file, select Export from the context menu
and specify the name, location and format of the resulting file.
Build Studio can also post messages about execution of particular operations to the Summary panel:
simply enable the Log to summary property for all the operations you want to trace. The panel is used to
compare logs. For this purpose, it displays the logs of two macro runs (the current run and the
previous run
during which the macro didn’t fail) and displays the differences between the two logs. In addition, this panel
always log s all the errors and warnings that occur during the macro run. This lets you
quickly find the cause
of the problem. You ca n save the contents of the Summary
panel to an HTML file like you do this in the Log panel. For
this purpo se , select Export from the context menu or from the Summary panel’s toolbar and specify the
nam e and location of the resulting file. You can also configure whether the file will include the log of the
current run with or without the log of the previous successful run.
Analyzing Results of Macro Runs
When you run a macro in Automated Build Studio, the results of the macro run are shown in the Log
panel at runtime and after the run is over.
The Number of recent logs to keep option determines how many logs
of the recent macro runs (including
the latest one) the Log panel stores. These logs are displayed in the Recent Logs list, which is displayed
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when the Show History button is pressed on the Log toolbar the Log panel toolbar. Once the Recent
Logs list is displayed, you can switch between different logs. To load the contents of the focused log to the
panel, select Load from the context menu, or simply double-click the log. Other items of the context menu
let you rename the focused log (Rename), delete the selected logs (Remove) as well as remove all the logs at
once (the Clear menu item). If you hide the Recent Logs list, the Log panel will display the log you have
loaded last.
You can save the currently displayed log to a text, HTML or XML file. To do this, select Export from
the context menu and in the resulting dialog specify where to save the export file, under what name and in
which format.
By default, the Log panel shows all messages
that were posted to the log during the given run. To view
only messages of certain categories, use the Message Filter dialog. To call it, select Message Filter from
the context menu or from the Log toolbar the Log panel toolbar.
Using the Log Navigation toolbar
the Log panel toolbar you can quickly locate messages of a particular
type in the Log panel. This can be useful when the macro is complex and its log is extremely large. To do
this, first select the desired type of messages in the Select Message
dropdown list box on the toolbar (you
can select among errors, warnings, informative messages or messages from operations of a particular type).
Then, using
the Go to First Message, Go to Previous Message, Go to Next Message and
Go to Last Message buttons on the toolbar, navigate through messages of the chosen type until you find the
message you
need.
Instead of investigating the contents of one log in the Log panel you can use a different approach when
analyzing macro
runs. To do this, switch to the Summary panel which displays logs on two different runs at
the same time.
The first run is the current run where the macro might fail or an operation might be executed
with an error
or warning. The second run displayed is the previous run of the same macro where there were
no failures. Build Studio automatically compares the contents of the two logs and highlights the differences
between them
in the Summary panel. This lets you quickly find out why something went wrong in the macro.
Getting Started – Further Steps
Sending Notifications
In an automated build environment, it is essential that the development team is continuously informed
about the builds’
status. This helps to ensure that the problems, if any, are fixed as soon as possible. For
example,
when developers are notified of broken builds immediately, it takes them less time and effort to fix
the broken code.
There are
two ways to enable build notifications:
•
•
Configure the Automated Build Studio Server so that it notifies the users each time the build
status is changed. You can enable notifications for individual macros, and specify who, how and
which events should have a notification. This approach is discussed in the Automatic Build
Notifications topic.
– or –
Include notification operations directly in your build macros. In certain cases this approach may
be more convenient
than using server notifications, because it lets you customize the notification
text. The rest of this topic explains how this approach can be implemented.
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Getting Started – Further Steps
Automated Build Studio includes the following operations to inform the users about the build state:
• Send E-mail - Sends an e-mail message to one or several recipients.
• Send Message via ICQ - Sends an instant message to one or several ICQ users.
• Send Message via Windows Messenger - Sends an instant message to one or several Windows
Messenger, MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger users.
• Send News Message - Posts a message to an NNTP newsgroup.
In addition, Build Studio includes the Execute DOS Command and Execute Program operations that can
run external programs, which allows you to use custom notification tools as well. For example, you can use
the Execute Program operation to notify the users via net send:
You can insert notification operations in the appropriate places of your build macros - in the beginning,
the end or into a group or submacro that runs when build errors occur.
Note, that it is possible to attach macro execution logs to your e-mail or news messages in order to make
notifications more informative. These logs are especially useful in build breakage notifications, because they
can help the developers quickly identify the cause of errors. To attach a log to the e-mail (or news) message:
• Save the execution log to a file using the Export Log or Export Errors From Log operation. To
save the contents of the Summary panel to a file, use the Export Summary operation.
• Set up properties of the Send E-mail (or Send News Message) operation, so that the log file is
attached to the e-mail (news) message.
Automated Build Studio includes a sample macro that demonstrates how you can send notification
messages:
< Automated Build Studio>\Samples\Macros\Notifications\Notifications.bxp
Another
sample demonstrates how you can generate an RSS feed containing build log summaries, so that
the users can
be notified on the build status via their RSS readers:
< Automated Build Studio>\Samples\Macros\RSS\ABS_RSS_Demo.bxp
Exporting
Results of Macro Runs
After running a macro, you can export the macro run results to a file. You can export
the contents of both
Log or Summary panels. To do this:
•
•
Open the Log or Summary panel.
Right-click somewhere within the panel and choose Export from the context menu.
• In the ensuing Save File dialog, specify the file's location and name.
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• If you export the contents of the Summary
panel, the dialog also let you specify whether
Automated Build Studio should export results of the last run or results of the last run along with
results of the last successful run.
• After you specified the file name, location and export type, press Save. Built Studio will save
results to the specified file.
Note: Contents of the Log panel can be exported to a TXT, HTML or XML file. Contents of the
Summary panel can be exported to an HTML file only.
You can also export the log and summary data during the macro run. To do this, use the Export Log,
Export Errors from Log and Export Summary operations.
• The Export Log and Export Errors from Log operations save the contents of the Log panel to
a file or variable specified by the operations' Export to property. The difference between these
operations is that Export Log stores all messages posted to the log along with their execution
time, while Export Errors From Log only stores information about
errors. Both operations
export only those messages that were posted before these operations are executed. You can
export either the entire log or part of the log. Exporting the entire log does not need special
preparation. If you want to export part of the log, follow these steps:
Mark the part of the log you want to export by adding the Set Log Marker operation before
and after the desired operations in the macro.
Open the Operation Properties dialog for the Export Log (or Export Errors From Log)
operation and specify the names of the marker operations in the From position and To
position properties of the Export Log (or Export Errors From Log) operation. By
default,
these properties are empty and the operation will export the entire log.
If your macro sets the same marker several times (this is possible,
if you set the marker in a
loop or execute the Set Log Marker operation from a script), Automated Build Studio will
use the last marker for the export.
• The Export Summary operation saves the contents of the Summary panel to a variable or a file
specified by the operation's Export to operation property. Using the operation's Mode property
you can specify whether Build Studio should export the summary of the current run with or
without the summary of the last successful run.
All three operations can save results to the file or variable. After you save the log or summary contents,
you can, for example, include them into a notification message sent by your macro: to do this, include the
variable in the message body or attach the file to the message (see Sending Notifications).
Handling Errors in Macros
During the macro run an error may occur. For instance, the Script operation may fail to execute
successfully because
of an error in the script, or the Copy File(s) operation may fail because of an invalid file
path specifi ed in operation properties.
The way
Automated Build Studio processes errors during the macro run depends on the properties of the
macro operations and whether the macro contains error-handling operations. This topic describes how
Automated Buil d Studio handles errors by default and explains how you can handle errors in a custom way:
Common Error-Handling Mechanism
If an error occurs d uring the macro run, Automated Build Studio posts an error message to the Log
panel. Errors are posted to the log automatically. They are posted even if the logging was disabled by the
Disable Logging operation.
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Getting Started – Further Steps
If an error occurs i n a child operation, Build Studio “thinks” that the parent operations also failed to
execute successfully and posts an error message for the parent operations too. Then it walks up the operation
tree and posts an error message
for the grandparent operation, great-grandparent, etc. until it reaches the top-
level operation.
Automated Build Studio continues or stops running the macro according to the state of the Stop
execution if
operation fails property of the operation that failed (This is a common property that each
operation co ntains. You can modify it on the Properties page of the Operation Properties dialog).
Note:
Automated Build Studio handles errors in the following way:
1. It checks
the value of the Stop execution if operation fails property of the current operation:
•
If you use an error-handling sub-macro (see below), it will be run before Build Studio
analyzes the Stop execution if operation fails property.
• If this property is enabled, Automated Build Studio reports that the current operation failed to
execute correctly. Then it returns control to the parent operation of the current operation (step 2).
If the property is disabled, Automated Build Studio reports that the current operation failed to
execute successfully and then continues running the macro: it starts executing the next operation
in the operation
tree.
2. Automate d Build
Studio checks the value of the Stop execution… property of the parent operation.
• If the p roperty is enabled, Build Studio reports that the parent operation failed to execute
correctly and control goes up to the parent operation of the current parent operation (step 3).
• If the property is disabled, Automated Build Studio reports that the current operation failed and
switches to the operation that follows the current parent operation in the operation tree.
3. The process continues until Automated Build Studio reaches the
top-level operation. If the Stop
execution if operation fails property of this top-level operation is enabled, Automated Build Studio
stops macro execution. Otherwise, it continues running the macro: it starts executing the operation
that follows the top-level operation in your macro.
The following is an example for the described behavior. Suppose you have the following hierarchy of
operations:
If the Delete File(s) operation fails, Automated Build Studio will post an error message to the log and
then it will switch to the If … Then operation.
Since the Stop execution if operation fails property of this operation is on, Build Studio will also report
that the If … Then operation failed and will switch control to the For Loop operation.
The Stop execution if operation fails property of the For Loop operation is disabled, so Automated Build
Studio will post a message to the log reporting that this operation failed to execute correctly and then will
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Getting Started
continue running the macro: it will start executing the operation that follows For Loop in the operation tree
(in our example, this is the second Log Message operation).
Checking if Previous Operations Succeed
or Fail
If an error occurred and the macro
was not stopped, Build Studio runs other operations of the macro in
the usual order. However, if these operations depend on the operation that failed (for instance,
if they use
data output of that operation) they may fail to execute successfully themselves.
To see if the previous operation was executed successfully, use the If Previous Operation Fails or If
Previous Operation Succeeds operation.
It checks the result of the previous operation and if that operation
failed, it executes child operations. These child operations may perform various finalization actions and send
a notification about the error to the macro developer via e-mail. You can also perform finalization actions
and send a notification from an error-handling sub-macro
(see below).
Using Try...Catch...Finally Blocks
Automated Build Studio includes the Try, Catch and Finally operations that let you organize exception
handling blocks similar to the try...catch...finally blocks in C++ or Visual Basic code. Operations
that can potentially produce an error should be placed under the Try operation. The Catch operation is used
to specify operations that handle errors that can occur in the Try block. For example, the Catch block can
contain operations that send notifications about an error to developers. The Finally operation is executed
regardless of whether an error occurs within the Try block or not. Under the Finally operation, you would
usually place clean-up operations, for example, operations that close a connection to an FTP server or
remove temporary folders.
The Try operation must be followed by the Catch or Finally (or both) operations on the same level. This
means that the following combinations are possible: Try...Catch, Try...Finally and Try...Catch...Finally. If a
child operation of the Try operation raises an error, Automated Build Studio posts an error message to the log
and proceeds to the next sibling of the Try operation (it can be either Catch or Finally). If the macro does not
contain the Catch operation, further error processing depends on the Stop execution
if operation fails
property value of the Try operation (see the previous section).
Note:
If an operation that has raised an error uses an error-handling sub-macro (see below), it is
run before
Automated Build Studio executes the Catch or Finally operations.
The image below demonstrates an example of using the Try, Catch and Finally operations in macros:
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Getting Started – Further Steps
The execution flow of this macro depends on whether the operations under the Try operation execute
successfully or not:
• If all child operations of the Try operation succeed, Automated Build Studio skips the Catch
operation and proceeds to the Finally operation. That is, it will execute the Remove Directory
operation.
• If a child operation of Try raises an error:
Automated Build Studio posts an error to the log and reports that the Try operation failed
to execute correctly.
Then the control goes to the Catch operation and its child Export Errors From Log and
Send E-mail operations.
After the Catch operation children have been executed, Automated Build Studio
proceeds to the Finally operation.
It is also possible to create nested Try...Catch...Finally blocks, so that you
can organize sophisticated
multi-level handling
of exceptions in your macros. If a nested Try operation does not have a Catch operation,
the error will be handled in an upper-level Catch block.
Running Sub-macros on Errors
Each operation contains properties that specify submacros to be executed when an error occurs. These
submacros can, for example, export
errors or the whole log to a file and send this file with a notification to a
develop
er via
e-mail.
You can either specify an error-handling submacro for each operation, or use one error-handling
submacro common
for all operations:
• To specify an error-handling submacro for a single operation:
Right-click that operation in the Macro panel and select Properties from the context
menu. This will call the Operation Properties dialog.
Switch to the Properties page, enable the Selected submacro option and specify the
unique name
of the desired submacro in the appropriate box.
• To specify a common error-handling submacro:
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Getting Started
Select File | Macro Properties from Build Studio’s main menu or select Build Studio |
Options | Properties from Visual Studio’s main menu. This will call the Macro
Properties dialog.
Switch to the General page, enable the Run submacro if fails option and specify the
unique name of the desired submacro in the appropriate edit box.
Then open the Operation Properties dialog for the desired operation, switch to the
Properties page and enable the Global submacro option.
Simulating
Errors During Macro Runs
To check
if the error-handling operations function properly (for example, for debugging purposes), you
may need to simulate an error in your macro. You
can do this by submitting invalid parameters for the
operation. For
instance, you can specify a non-existing file name to the Execute Program operation. To make
the Script operation
fail, you can throw an exception within the script code (see the example below).
[VBScript]
Sub Main
E rr. Description = "Error description"
Err.Raise -1
End Sub
[JScript]
function Main()
{
throw "Error description";
}
[DelphiScript]
procedure Main;
begin
raise('Error description');
end;
You can
also simulate failing a macro by using the Stop Macro Execution operation or by calling the
ABSUtils.AbortMacroExecution function from a script. Note however, that since both approaches will
cause unconditional
macro termination, the error-handling operations as well as the Finalization operation
will not will not
be executed.
Specifying Timeout for Operations
Operati ons that run programs (e.g. Execute Program) and operations that use third-party applications
(e.g. Extract Public Key) have the Timeout property. The purpose of this property
is to close the application
that has been launches by an operation if that application executes too long
and is probably frozen. If the
applicat ion is closed due to the timeout, Automated Build Studio “thinks” that the operation failed to execute
successfully and processes the error as it is specified by the operation properties (see above). An exception
are operations of the Interactive category - Automated Build Studio counts them as successfully executed
even if they are terminated after a timeout.
You can specify a timeout for every single operation that has the Timeout property or use the timeout
common for
all operations.
To specify
the timeout for a single operation:
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Getting Started – Further Steps
• Right-click that operation in the Macro panel and select Properties from context menu. This will
call the Operation Properties dialog.
• Switch to the Properties page and choose the Set timeout for this operation option.
• Specify the timeout value in the appropriate edit box and choose the timeout unit - seconds,
minutes or hours.
To specify the timeout
common for all macro operations:
• Select File | Macro Properties from Build Studio’s main menu or select Build Studio | Options
| Properties from Visual Studio’s main menu. This will call the Macro Properties dialog.
•
•
Select Build Studio | Options | Properties from the main menu of Visual Studio. This will call
the Macro Properties dialog.
Switch to the General page, specify the desired timeout value in the Common timeout box and
choose
the timeout unit - seconds, minutes or hours.
• Then
call the Operation Properties dialog for each desired operation, switch to the Properties
page and enable the Use common timeout option.
Exporting Error Logs
When a macro
run fails, you may want to notify co-workers about this. To make the notification message
more informative,
you can attach an error log to it. Automated Build Studio includes two operations, Export
Errors From Log and Export Log, that
can save the log to a file or to a variable. The difference between
these variables is that the first operation saves only error messages while the second saves the whole log.
Another operation,
Export Summary, can save the two logs displayed in the Summary panel to a file. After
you save the log
you can attach the resultant file to a message or use the resultant variable to form the
message body. To
send a message, use the Send E-mail operation.
Sample macros
that are shipped with Automated Build Studio demonstrate how you can handle errors in
the Automated Build
Studio macros.
Incrementing the Build Version Number
The key point of incrementing the build version number of your product is to keep the current number
somewhere and to get the version number of the previous build during each successive build session. In
general, the process of incrementing the build version number consists of the following steps:
• Loading the version number into a macro variable.
• Specifying the version number
for project modules.
• Incrementing the version number stored in the variable.
• Saving the new version number.
The sections below
provide detailed information on implementing each step in your build macro.
Choosing the Version Number Source
We recommend that you keep the current version number in an external file. This can be a sample
INI
file, or a te xt file, in which individual parts of the version number are separated with commas or new line
(CRLF)
characters. At run time, you can read the version number from the file into a macro variable.
Alternatively, you can read each version number part (major version number, minor version number, release
version and build version) into an individual variable. To read the text file contents, you can use the Read
From File operation, to read INI files - the Get INI Value operation.
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Getting Started
Alternatively, you can store your build version number in one or several stored variables (these variables
preserve their current values after the macro run). However, this approach is not as safe because if your
macro resets the value of the stored variable somehow, you will lose your version number. To create a stored
variable in a macro, select Variables | Stored Variables from the main menu of Automated Build Studio
(if
it is running as a standalone application) or Build Studio | Variables | Stored Variables from
Visual
Studio’ s main menu (if Build Studio is integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio) and use
the resulting Stored
Variables
dialog. You can set the initial value of the stored variable directly in the dialog. In macros, you can
work with stored
variables like you would with global macro variables.
Specifying Product Build Version
There are two ways to specify the version number
for the project being built - you can either modify the
project properties before compilation, or you can set the version number for each
built module after
compilatio n. The former approach is compiler-specific (see below). The latter approach
is universal and does
not dep end on the compiler used.
Specifying Version Number in Project Properties
The place
where the current build version number is stored within the project you are building depends
on the compiler
you use:
• In Delphi and C++Builder projects, the version number is part of project options. You can
separately set the module version and file version as well as the product version. To set the
needed version number in your macro, you
can use the Module version number, FileVersion or
ProductVersion property that resides on the Version Info property page of the Operation
Properties dialog called for the corresponding Compile operation. For instance, if you have the
VER_MAJOR, VER_MINOR, VER_RELEASE and VER_BUILD variables that hold the corresponding
version number parts, you can set the
%VER_MAJOR%, %VER_MINOR%, %VER_RELEASE% and
%VER_BUILD% values to the Major version, Minor version, Release and Build properties
correspondingly (they are parts of the Module version number property). See the sample macro
\Samples\Macros\CompileDelphiProject\CompileDelphiProject.bxp.
•
In Visual Basic 6.0 projects, the version number is also part of the project properties. To set the
version number in your macro, use the Version Number property on the Make property page of
the Operation Properties dialog called for the Compile Visual Basic 6.0 Project operation.
This
property includes three subproperties used to keep individual parts of the version number
(Major, Minor and Revision). You can populate them using the way described above.
Note, that you can also get and set the version-related properties of the Compile operations via script (see
Working With Operations In Scripts).
• In Visual C++ 6.0 projects, as well as in .NET-connected projects, the version number is kept in
a resource file that is part of the project. To learn how to generate such a file, see the sample
macro --
\Samples\Macros\CompileCPPProject\CompileCPPProject.bxp.
In short, the technique is as follows. If you have the VER_MAJOR, VER_MINOR, VER_RELEASE
and VER_BUILD variables that hold the corresponding
version number parts, you can post the
#define directives that define constants with the names and values of these variables to a text
file. Next, you can concatenate these constants into the integrated version number of the file or
of the product. Finally, you can specify an appropriate version number constant
in the project’s
resource file.
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Getting Started – Further Steps
Usi ng the Set File Version Operation
An alternative way to specify the build version number
is to use the Set File Version Info operation after
the Compile operation. This way, you can set the version number for one or multiple built modules right after
compilation, without modifying project settings. You can specify the module version and product version
separately:
to set the module version use the Major File Version, Minor File Version, File Build and File
Revision, File Version keys; to set the product version - the Major Product Version, Minor Product Version,
Product Build, Product Revision and Product
Version keys. To specify the value for a key, check this key in
the list and enter the desired value in the Value field. For example, if you have the VER_MAJOR, VER_MINOR,
VER_BUILD and VER_REVISION variables that hold the corresponding version number parts, you can set the
%VER_MAJOR%, %VER_MINOR%, %VE R_BUILD% and %VER_REVISION% values to the Major File Version,
Minor File Version, File
Build and File Revision keys and the
%VER_MAJOR%.%VER_MINOR%.%VER_BUILD%.%VER_REVISION% value to the File Version key.
If you need to modify the version information for multiple files (for example, all product modules), you
can use the File Enumerator operation to iterate through the desired files and execute the Set File Version
Info operation on each of them.
Incrementing the Version Number
Value
After setting the product build version,
your macro should increment values of variables that hold
version number parts. For this purpose,
you can use the Script or Set/Reset Variable Value operation.
Saving the Version Number
I f you store the version number in an external file, then after modifying the version number you should
write it to that file. For example, you can write to a text file using the Write to File operation,
or modify the
INI file contents using the Set INI Value
operation.
If you use stored variables, you do not need to perform any additional actions - the values of these
variables are automatically saved between
macro runs. Note that if the Store values in separate file option in
the Stored Variables dialog is unchecked, values of stored variables are kept in the macro file, so you should
save the macro after its execution is finished, otherwise changes made to the stored variables will be lost.
Scheduling Macro Runs
Once you have created a macro and verified its functions properly, you can
use it in your work. One of
the common tasks for macros is running
at certain point in time, for example, every day at 8:00 p.m. You can
perform this task in any of the following
ways:
• You can run Automated Build
Studio using any scheduling program and pass the appropriate
command-line arguments to it (see Command-Line Arguments). For instance, you can run
Automated Build Studio
using
Windows Scheduling Tasks.
• You can schedule macro
runs on local or network computers using the Automated Build Studio
Service. With the Edit Tasks dialog, you can configure tasks that this service will perform. Each
task runs a macro. A task can
be triggered at the specified time or by an event like changing files
of a project in a Visual SourceSafe
repository. The latter lets you implement the continuous
integration strategy in your
projects. See Continuous Integration Support.
• You can schedule macro runs
using the built-in Task Scheduler of Automated Build Studio. This
Task Scheduler is similar to the Windows Scheduling Tasks component, but offers an extra
useful feature: it lets you schedule macro runs on other computers in the local network.
Note: The Task Scheduler uses the Windows Scheduling Tasks component.
Therefore,
to use the Task Scheduler, you must have that component of the operating system
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installed on your
computer.
Getting Started
The rest of this topic explains how you can schedule macro runs using the
built-in Task Scheduler. But
before we describe how to do this, we would like to note that you can run your macros using either
Automated Build Studio or Automated Macro Player. The Automated Macro Player
is a small commandline
resource-friendly utility that was
specifically designed for running macros. It uses the same commandline
arguments as Build Studio does.
Since the Macro Player has no visual user interface, it requires less
memory
for running and executes macros faster.
However, Build Studio may be more convenient for analysis
of macro
execution results: suppose that
an error (or a warning) occurred during the execution of your macro.
If th e macro was executed in Build Studio, you can use Build Studio’s Log or Summary panel to find the
cause of the problem. The Macro Player
does not have these panels, so if your macro was executed by the
Macro Player and if you wanted to obtain a log in case of an error, you should add some operations to the
macro that will handle the error and export
the log to a file. Later, you'll be able to analyze this file to find
the cause of the problem. Therefore, at first, you may use Build Studio to run your macro and after you make
certain that the macro works properly, you can start using the Macro Player.
To schedule a macro run using the built-in Task Scheduler, follow these steps:
• To schedule macro runs, Automated
Build
Studio needs to know the macro file name. Therefore,
before scheduling macro runs, you should save your macro to a file. See Saving and
Loading
Macros for more information on how to do this. Unsaved macros cannot be scheduled.
• If Build S tudio is running as a standalone application, select Tasks (Windows Scheduler)
from the Tasks toolbar of Automated Build Studio to call the Task Scheduler dialog.
• If Build Studio is integrated into Visual Studio .NET, Select Build Studio | Tasks (Windows
Scheduler) from the main menu of Visual Studio to call the Task Scheduler dialog.
• (Optional) By default, the Task Scheduler dialog lists all the tasks that have been created on your
computer (the computer name is shown in the dialog caption).
Before you create a new task, select the computer where the task will run. Note that selecting the
computer is optional and if you are going to run the task on your computer, you can skip this
step.
To select the computer:
Press the Connect To button in the Task Scheduler dialog. This will open the standard
Browse for Computer dialog where you can select the desired computer.
After you have selected the computer, Automated Build Studio will display the name of the
selected computer in the caption of the Task Scheduler dialog.
Note: To be able to manage scheduled tasks on a remote computer, you must have
appropriate permissions on that computer (the easiest way to achieve this is to add
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Getting Started – Further Steps
you to the
Administrators group on the remote computer).
Since the task you have created will run Automated Build Studio or Macro Player,
Automated Build Studio
must be installed on the remote computer.
The Task Scheduler uses the Windows Scheduling Tasks component, so the
remote computer must have this component installed.
• To create a new task, press Add in the Task Scheduler. This will call the Scheduled Task Wizard
that will assist you in creating a new task.
• On the first page of the wizard, select which application you would like to use to run your
macro: Automated Build Studio or Automated Macro Player. For information on the difference
between them, see above.
• Specify the other parameters the wizard asks you about (the wizard pages are similar to the pages
of the Windows Scheduling Tasks wizard).
• (Optional) At the last page of the wizard, you can check the “Open advanced properties for
this task” box and press Finish. This will call the Advanced Task Properties dialog. Here
you
can modify command-line arguments for Build Studio (or Macro Player) and modify other task
properties. For instance, you can specify whether the task should be deleted after it has been
executed.
If your task does not run on a remote computer, make sure that the path to the macro
file is specific to that computer. To do this, open the Tasks tabbed page of the
Advanced Task Properties dialog and specify the correct path in the Run edit box.
Now the task is ready for running.
To modify properties of an existing task, double-click the desired task in the Task Scheduler dialog and
modify tas k properties in the ensuing Advanced Task Properties dialog.
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Build Strategies
Continuous Integration
Continuous Integration Support
Build Strategies
When more than one developer is working on a software project, from time to time the team members
need to integrate their changes to the project's codebase and then run a build to see if the renewed code can
be built and, if the build succeeds, and if it works without errors. These builds (they indicate the "health"
status of the entire project) are called integrated builds. Normally, they are performed occasionally (e.g. right
before the deadline) or regularly (for instance, weekly or daily). It is hard to locate errors that arise in
integrated builds that are performed rarely, since the number of changes introduced between the previous and
current builds may be tremendous. To reduce the number
of errors revealed in integrated builds and to make
it is easier to find errors, you should perform these builds as often as possible. Ideally, builds should be
performed right after the source code of your project has been modified. This will help you continuously
maintain the integrity of your codebase - it will be much easier to find errors that appeared after modifying
the source code, because you will always know which source files were changed for this build. It is also
recommended that each build be tested and reported appropriately. By following this strategy,
you will
always
be able to provide developers and users with a working build compiled using the latest versions of the
source files. The strategy is called continuous integration
(http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/integrateoften.html). It works well if:
• Your code is stored in a central location, preferably a source code control product like Visual
SourceSafe. Build Studio macros can access different source control repositories. See Supported
Tools.
• You have automated your build process, say, by writing an appropriate Build Studio macro.
• You have included tests (unit, functional, regression, etc.) in the codebase as part of the project
(optional). These tests can be run as part of the build macro.
• Notifications about the build and test results are sent to respective users automatically. You can
do this by including
the appropriate operations in your macro. See Sending Notifications.
As you can see, Automated Build Studio supports all
of the prerequisites of continuous integration. In
addition, it includes facilities that allow you to practice continuous integration of your projects in full. The
main facility is a dedicated Windows NT service called Automated Build Studio Service (\bin\AutomatedBuildService.exe). You can configure this service via Build Studio’s user interface to
track all of the changes in files stored in a definite repository. This can be a folder on disk, a directory on an
FTP server or a source code control repository. To reduce the amount of time spent on interaction between
the service and the repository and to lower the use of resources, the service does not poll the repository
constantly, it does this at certain time intervals.
The process of continuous integration provided by the Build Studio can be divided into several stages
(we will illustrate this process using a Microsoft Visual
SourceSafe repository):
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Continuous Integration
Preliminary steps
First, you need to perform the following preparations:
• Make sure that the Automated Build Studio Service is running.
• Prepare an appropriate macro that will build the project out of the latest source files, run a set of
unit, functional, regression and
other tests, and then report the build and test results to the
respective users and to the log.
This macro must be saved to a file. See Saving and Loading
Macros for more information on how to do this. Unsaved macros cannot be used for continuous
integration.
Creating a task
If Build Studio is running as a standalone application, click Tasks (Continuous Integration) on the
Tasks toolbar of Automated Build Studio to call the Edit Tasks dialog. If Build Studio is integrated into
Visual Studio .NET, select Build Studio | Tasks (Continuous
Integration) from the main menu of the
Visual Studio to do this. The dialog lets you create several tasks
that the Automated Build Studio Service
should perform. Each of these tasks is intended to run an existing
macro in certain conditions. By default, the
Edit Tasks dialog lists all the tasks that were created on your computer
(the computer name is shown in the
dialog caption).
Before creating a new task, select the computer where the task will run. Note that selecting the computer
is optional and if you are going to run the task on your computer, you can skip this step. To select the
computer:
• Press the Connect To button in the Edit Tasks dialog. This will open the standard Browse for
Computer dialog where you can select the desired computer.
• After you have selected the computer, Automated Build Studio will display the name of the
selected computer in the caption of the Edit Tasks dialog.
To be able to manage time- and event-triggered tasks on a remote computer, you must have
appropriate permissions on that computer (the easiest way to get hem is to add you to the
Administrators group on the remote computer).
Since your task will run Automated Macro Player, Automated Build Studio must be installed on
the remote computer.
Since your task will be performed by the Automated Build Studio Service, the service must be
running on the remote computer.
Now let's create a new task:
• Click Add in the Edit Tasks dialog. This will call the Edit Task dialog.
• Choose the General
which is on the right.
Properties node on the left of the dialog and switch to the Details pane,
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• In the Name box, enter the name under which you want to save the task.
Build Strategies
• In the Macro file name box, specify the location of the existing macro file that the task will run.
If your task will run on a remote computer, make sure that the path to the macro file is specific to
that computer.
• In the Configuration dropdown list box, choose
which configurations of the macro to use when
running the macro. See Using Macro Configurations.
• To run the macro
defined in the task, the Automated Build Studio Service uses the command-
line utility called Automated Macro Player. Besides the macro file name and the configuration
names, this utility accepts some other parameters. You can specify these parameters in the
Additional options box. To learn more about them, see Command-Line Arguments.
• In the Description box, enter additional text that describes the task in detail.
• To make the Automated Build Studio Service trace the given task, turn on the Enabled
checkbox. If you want to temporarily exclude the task from tracing, turn the checkbox off.
• If you know that triggers that you will define in the task (see below) can be fired too frequently,
and you do not want each firing of a trigger to launch a task run, set an appropriate value to the
Tolerance period property. This will assign the wait interval, started after a trigger firing, during
which the task run will be postponed.
• If you want to terminate the task automatically in case it is running too long, enable the Use
timeout property and set a non-zero value to it. This value should be larger than the average time
needed to run the task’s macro.
• Choose the Identification node on the left of the Edit Task dialog and switch to the details pane.
• Here you can specify the user account under which the macro will run the task. This can be
either the account under which the Automated Build Studio Service will be running on the target
computer (the Run macro under the following account checkbox is disabled) or some other
account (the checkbox is enabled).
Creating the task's triggers
Now we are ready to specify triggers for our task. Each trigger defines conditions under which the task
that will run the macro will be launched. Read the Tracing Task Triggers
topic in on-line help to learn more
about
triggers and blocking triggers.
• Choose the Triggers node on the left of the dialog and switch to the details pane.
• Click Add to create a new trigger in the task.
• In the resulting New Trigger dialog, enter a name for the trigger in the Name box.
• Select Microsoft
Visual SourceSafe File Change from the Trigger Type dropdown list box. This
will make the trigger fire the task when the files of a definite VSS project are changed (modified,
added or deleted).
For list of triggers and for information on the properties of these triggers, refer to Tracing
Task Triggers and Trigger Properties topics in on-line help.
• Click OK to close the New Trigger dialog.
• Expand the Triggers node on the left of the Edit Task dialog, select the newly created trigger
there and switch to the details pane.
• Turn on the Enabled checkbox. This will activate the trigger.
• Turn on the Disable on Error checkbox. This will
deactivate the trigger if some parameters of
the trigger are incorrect.
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• In the VSS INI path property, specify the path to the srcsafe.ini file of the desired Visual
SourceSafe database.
• In the Login and Password boxes, specify the user
name and password used to authenticate you
in the VSS database.
The VSS user name must be given in the DOMAINNAME\USERNAME format, for instance,
CEDAR\SMITH.
• In the Project or file box, enter the path to the VSS project or to the
VSS file whose changes the
trigger will trace. If you specify a VSS project, the trigger will track changes in all of its files.
•
If you want the trigger to track changes of all subproject's of the specified VSS project, enable
the Recursive checkbox.
• In the Query interval box, enter a period that will define how often the trigger will poll the VSS
database.
• In the Delay after change box, enter a period that will define how long the trigger will wait after
detecting a change to start the task. If any changes happen during the waiting period, the timer
will start again. This is done in order not to trigger partial builds if the check-in operation
consists of several steps.
N ote: The values you use for Query interval and Delay after change will depend on several factors.
First, they depend on how big your builds are. If a single build takes only 30 seconds or so to
complete, then you can safely have a low number for Query interval,
since your build machine
will easily be able to keep up. If builds take hours to complete, you will want a relatively wellspaced
out value to give the machine a chance to complete everything before another build is
set to begin. Notice that the poll period is a regular timed interval, not an absolute time/date
stamp. To configure Automated Build Studio to run your build, for
instance, daily at midnight,
you should use other strategies rather than continuous integration:
you can schedule your
macro runs using the Windows Scheduling Tasks component or using triggers of the Specified
Time type (see above).
Similarly, the waiting period is useful if you have several developers coordinating a check-in
to the Visual SourceSafe repository. If one developer happens to complete his/her check-in
right as the poll period fires, while the second developer is still checking in, then the resulting
build will be based on incomplete code. With an appropriate wait period, once the poll period
fires and sees changes, it provides a window for other check-ins
to come in before the build
actually begins. This value should be relatively short (60 seconds or less), since check-ins to
the database ought to be relatively atomic and not spread out over hours or even minutes.
Creating the task's blockers
If you want to block the task execution in some cases (for instance, at night, when your developers do
not change the files under Visual SourceSafe), add appropriate blockers (blocking triggers) to the task. To
work w ith the task's blockers, first select the Blockers node on the left
of the Edit Task dialog. You can
manage blockers (create, delete and modify their properties) in the same way you do this with triggers. In
fact, blockers are blocking triggers.
Final steps
When a blocker is fired, all triggers defined for the task are ignored.
Upon configuring
the task properties:
•
Click OK to close the Edit Task dialog.
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• The new task will appear in the Edit
Tasks dialog. Click Close to close the dialog.
Build Strategies
Information about each task you create via the Edit Tasks dialog is saved
to a .task file (the name of the
file is the task nam e)
in the \bin\Tasks folder. This is actually an .xml file with a
definite structure . Thus,
you can modify the list of tasks and their properties by creating, deleting and
modifying these .task
files (provided that you keep the valid structure of each file).
To be able to run the prepared tasks, the
Automated Build Studio Service must be running. In this
instance, Build Studio's executable (\bin\AutomatedBuildStudio.exe) is not needed
until you wish to configure the task list again.
Upon running
a task, you can view the status of this run in Windows Event Viewer. To do this:
• Open the Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Event Viewer
console.
• (Optional.) If the task was run on a remote computer, select Connect to another computer from
the Action
menu, specify the desired computer in the subsequent Select Computer dialog and
click OK.
• Select Application under the
Event Viewer node on the left of the console window.
• Select Filter
from the View menu.
• In the resulting Application Properties dialog, switch to the Filter
page.
• Set the Event source property value to Automated Build Studio Service.
•
Click OK to close the dialog.
• In the details pane of the console window (it is on the right), click the
header of the Date
column. Depending on the sorting order, the last event posted by the service will appear either at
the top or at the bottom of the event list. This is the event of the last task run. To view its
properties, simply double-click the event.
Note: Windows Event Viewer will display those tasks that were executed. If a task is fired by a trigger, it
will be only displayed if the trigger fired.
Additionally, the Automated Build Studio Service can be configured via the command-line. A full list of
arguments that a service can accept is given in the Command-Line Arguments topic. Only those arguments
that relate to task execution are mentioned below:
• /trace:on and /trace:off - Enables or disables the logging of resource usage for the
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe File Change, PVCS File Change, StarTeam File Change,
Subversion File Change, Surround SCM File Change, Team Coherence File Change and Vault
File Change trigger types. Generally the logs contain the command line of the launched process
(it is used to check the state of the traced resource), the process response, the request date and
time and the latest date and time of the traced resource obtained during the check.
• /poolsize:N - Defines a number
of tasks that can run simultaneously. The N value must
range within the 1 - 30 interval, the defaul value is 5.
• /exit - Closes the AutomatedBuildService.exe
when it is launched as a stand-alone process
and stores the values of the /poolsize and /trace arguments to the registry.
Tracing Task Triggers
A task performs a macro run with the specified parameters. A task can be started automatically, it
is not
required that Automated Build Studio is running to begin a task execution.
A conception of a tasks allows to
implement a continuous
integration strategy that improves an integrity and consistency of an application’s
codebase. There are several ways to start a task automatically:
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• Via th e Windows Scheduling Tasks component that launches Automated Build Studio
or
Automated Macro Player along with the appropriate command-line arguments.
• Via the Automated Build Studio’s built-in Task Scheduler, that is using Windows Scheduler, but
provides
additional abilities for macro runs, for example allows you to start a macro on a remote
computer.
• Via th e Automated Build Studio Service - a Windows NT service that traces task triggers and
starts a task when trigger conditions are met.
This topic describes the third way to start a task, for information about the first two ways read the
Command-Line Arguments
and Scheduling Macro Runs topics correspondingly.
A trigger is a pre-defined set of conditions or events that should comply to perform a task.
A blocking
trigger, or blocker, is a set of conditions or events that cancels the task execution. When a blocker is fired,
all triggers defined for the task
are ignored.
Variou s types of triggers and blockers are available in Automated Build Studio, so that you can choose
those triggers and blockers that best suit your needs. The tables below list the available types of triggers and
blockers and give their descriptions.
Trigger Type Description
CVS F ile Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a Concurrent Versions
System (CVS) repository are changed (modified, added or deleted).
File Change Fires the task when certain files or folders are
changed. Such triggers
may help you build your
project automatically if you work on it alone
and do not use any source code controls.
FTP File
Change Fires the task when certain files or folders stored on an FTP server are
changed. Such triggers may help you build your project automatically
if you share its source files with other developers via an FTP server
and do not use any source code controls.
JediVCS File Change Fires the task when certain
files stored in a JEDI version control
system are changed (modified, added or deleted).
Low Disk Space Fires the task when the free space size of a particular folder or
logical
drive falls below the given threshold. You may need such triggers to
run a macro that cleans up unnecessary files in order to free some
space on disk.
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe File Fires the task when files of a particular Visual SourceSafe project are
Change
changed (modified, added or deleted).
Perfor ce File Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a Perforce repository are
changed (modified, added or deleted).
PVCS File Change Fires the task when certain files stored
in a PVCS repository are
changed (modified, added or deleted).
Rational ClearCase File Change Fires the
task when certain files stored in a ClearCase repository are
changed
(modified, added or deleted).
SourceOffSite File Change Fires the task when one or more files stored in a SourceOffSite
repository are changed (modified, added or deleted).
Specified Time Fires the task at the specified time at certain week days. You can limit
the week days when the task should be fired. If the task is not fired at
specified time
for some reason, you can specify a waiting period
during which you allow to run the task. Using such triggers is an
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Build Strategies
alternative to the tasks you run via the Windows Scheduling Tasks
component.
StarTeam File Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a StarTeam repository are
changed (modified, added or deleted).
Subversion File Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a Subversion repository are
changed ( modified, added or deleted).
Surround SCM File Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a Surround SCM repository
are changed (modified, added or deleted).
Team Coherence File Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a Team Coherence
repository are changed (modified, added or deleted).
Team Foundation Version Fires the task when certain files stored in a Team Foundation
Control File Change
repository are changed (modified, added or deleted).
Time Period Fires the task periodically every time the specified time interval
elapses.
Vault File Change Fires the task when certain files stored in a SourceGear Vault
repository are changed (modified, added or deleted).
Blocker Type Description
Date Range Blocks the task execution during the specified date range.
Days of Week Blocks the task execution at the specified week days.
Low Disk Space Blocks the task execution when the free space size of the needed
folder or logical drive falls below the given threshold.
Time Range Blocks the task execution daily during the specified time range.
Each task does not depend on other tasks. This means that when the Automated Build Studio Service is
running a task, it does not stop checking the other tasks and can run several or even all the tasks at once.
However, when an individual task is running, all of its triggers and blockers are ignored. That is, the task
cannot be run anew until it stops. The task properties as well as its triggers and blockers are specified in the
Edit Task dialog. The triggers' and blockers' properties are described in the Trigger Properties on-line help
topic.
To detect changes in a new resource, a trigger must have at least one access to that resource. This is
needed to get the trigger's initial timestamp. An attempt to get this timestamp is made right after the trigger is
enabled or re-enabled.
If the Disable on Error property is off, the trigger will keep trying to get the resource's timestamp with
the same query and delay intervals even if there are connection or other problems. If Disable on Error is on,
the trigger will be disabled as soon as the first error occurs and thus it will stop querying the resource. To
activate the trigger again, turn on the trigger's Enabled property.
Changing a trigger's query and delay intervals does not affect the trigger's capability of detecting
changes. This means that you can edit the Query interval and Delay after properties of the trigger are
changed while it is active. After you click OK in the Edit Task dialog, all time counters of all enabled
triggers of the given task will be reset, and then, right after that, they will start measuring their time anew. At
that, the changes made to the files during property editing will not be omitted.
However, when you modify any of the trigger's properties except for Query interval and Delay after
change, the trigger will reset its stored date of the last successful access to the resource, "thinking" that the
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Distributed Builds
user has selected another resource to monitor.
As a result, the changes made to the files during property
editing will be omitted.
Distributed Builds
Distributed Builds – Overview
A process of building an application includes several tasks, such as getting the latest version of source
files from a version control system, compiling the source files, creating
the installation package and others.
Some of these tasks (mostly, compilation
of source files) can be divided into smaller tasks, each of which can
be run on
a separate computer at the same time as other tasks. For example, an application may consist of a
number of independent modules, so these modules can be built independently on different computers
simultaneously. These build processes, whose workload is distributed among
several cooperative computers
within the network, are called distributed builds.
Distributed builds essentially reduce the project build time due to the fact that
the build tasks are
executed simultaneously on several computers. Using distributed builds, you can expect the build
performance to speed up depending on the number of computers you use in the build. In this way, you can
run your builds faster and more often, which
is an essential part of the continuous integration strategy.
Some third-party build tools supported by Automated
Build Studio, such as IncrediBuild or NAnt, can
distribute compilation among assigned network computers
themselves. If you do not use these tools or if you
need
to distribute tasks other than compilation, you can make use of distributed build capabilities provided
by Automated Build Studio.
In Build Studio, distributed builds can be organized by using special operations in the Remote Macro
Execution category:
• Remote Group – Executes a group of operations on a specific remote computer.
• Remote Execution Stack – Executes its child operations in parallel, on the specified remote
computers that
are available at that time.
• Remote Macro Command – Lets you execute a specific macro on a remote computer.
In addition to running operations on remote computers, you can take advantage of the standard Group
operation that can execute its children asynchronously (in parallel). For example, you can place several
Remote Group operations into an asynchronous
Group so that they will run simultaneously. For more
information
on executing operations in parallel, see Concurrent Execution of Operations.
Within the Remote Group and Remote Execution Stack operations, you can use the same operations that
are used in typical macros. The only difference is that the properties of these operations (such as file names
and paths) must be specified with regard to the remote computer on which they will be run. In properties of
these operations, you can also use variables and constants. In this case,
macro variables act like parameters
that are passed by reference. That is, before executing remote operations Automated Build Studio initializes
macro variables on the remote computer with their
current values on the host computer. Changes made to
variable
values in remote operations are applied to variables in the main macro once the execution returns to
it.
The remote operations’ logs are also transferred to the main computer once the execution returns to the
main macro. They are included in the macro
log, which is displayed in the Log panel, and taken into account
in the
macro summary.
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Distributed Build Scenarios
Build Strategies
The typical build process consists of several steps, including obtaining the latest version of source files,
building the application, creating the installation package, and so on. Some of these steps for example, the
compile process, can be split into several independent tasks that can be carried out in parallel by multiple
computers.
In this topic, we suggest some distributed build scenarios that you can use to improve the performance of
your
build process. To learn how you can create Automated Build Studio macros to implement these
scenarios, see Creating Distributed Builds.
Reduce Build Time
One of the main advantages of the distributed build strategy is that it dramatically reduces the project
build time, comparing to the builds run on a single build server. The most speedup is achieved by distributing
compilation tasks among build servers
specified in macro operation properties. However, this requires you to
determine the project parts (for example, sets of libraries) that can be built independently on several
machines. Once you have decided that, you can create and configure the corresponding build projects on
individual build servers. Note that unless you are building a multi-platform project (see the following
section), all build servers must have the same configuration.
Each set of built modules can be copied to a shared network drive. After the project modules
are
collected, you can create the installation package and perform additional tasks (for example, deploy the
product on test machines).
By using the distributed build strategy, you can build your projects faster and more often, which is an
essential part of the continuous integration strategy.
Build Multi-Platform Products
You can take
advantage of distributed builds to build multi-platform products. These are products that
have several versions built for different platforms (for example, versions for 32-bit and 64-bit platforms, for
different versions of the Microsoft .NET Framework, and so on) as well as products that provide different
version s of a set of libraries for different platforms or environments. The key point in this scenario is that you
need to create
several sets of modules from the same source files in different environments.
Usually,
you would implement this scenario by having a number of preconfigured build servers and
running an individual build macro on each of them. With the distributed build feature provided by
Automated Build Studio, it is a lot easier to maintain builds. You can have a single build macro
running on
the host computer
that will execute specific tasks on remote build servers. These tasks can include, for
example, getting
the latest version of source files from a particular location on each machine and compiling
the sources. The remote tasks can be run serially (that is, one build server after another), or on all build
servers in parallel. Like in the previous scenario, the built modules
can be copied to a shared network disk, after which you
can create the installation
packages. However, it is also possible to distinguish a number of common tasks,
for example,
sending notifications at the end of the build. These tasks can be carried out by the build macro
on the host computer.
Run Builds and Tests on Different Machines
It is a common
practice to run functional, regression and other kinds of tests on the newly built product
version to ensure its quality. Automated Build Studio supports many third-party testing
tools, so that you can
run automated tests as a part of your build macro. However, usually this assumes that builds and tests are run
on the same machine, which is often inconvenient.
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Distributed Builds
Using the distributed build feature, you no longer
have to use the same machine as a build and test
server. You can build a project on one machine and test
it on another one. Furthermore, it is possible to use
several
test servers to test the product behavior in different environments. The Build Studio macro can also
be configured so that the tests will be run in parallel.
This scenario requires a build macro that will build the project and then deploy it on test servers. The test
servers can be either
preconfigured, or configured by the corresponding macro operations (for example, you
can use operations of the Microsoft Virtual Server category to manage a virtual machine on the test server).
Results of automated tests will be transferred from remote machines to the host computer. Automated Build
Studio can parse the test tool’s output so that you can easily determine whether the tests passed or failed and,
based on this, mark the build as successful or broken.
Creating Distributed Builds
Macros that perform distributed builds are similar to other build macros, with the difference that some of
their tasks are split into smaller tasks that are distributed for running on multiple remote computers. The key
point in creating distributed build macros is to specify a set of computers that can participate in distributed
builds and to divide a single build task into several independent tasks.
This topic explains how to configure remote computers and create distributed build macros:
Configuring Remote Computers
Connecting to Remote Computers From Macros
Distributing Operations Among Remote Computers
Running Operations on a Specific Remote Computer
Running Operations on Several Remote Computers Concurrently
Running Macros on a Remote Computer
Running Distributed Build Macros
Possible Problems
Configuring Remote Computers
The computers that participate in the distributed build must be configured in a special way. First, the
remote
computers must have all of the needed software (such as compilers, build tools and helper utilities)
installed
and properly configured. For instance, if you are going to distribute the compilation of a Microsoft
Visual
Studio .NET project among several computers, this IDE must be installed and configured on that
com puter. Note that Build Studio cannot check whether the needed software is installed on a remote
computer
before running a macro like it does on local computers. So, you should run the macro to find
missing
or unconfigured applications.
Also, Automated Build Studio must be installed on these computers and the Automated Build Studio
Service
must be running on them (this service is used to transmit data between the host computer where the
build macro is running and the remote computers where the individual macro tasks are executed).
To connect to remote computers from the host
computer, Automated Build Studio can use the DCOM or
SOAP ( We b service) protocol. DCOM is typically used to connect to local computers that belong to the same
domain. In general, it works faster than SOAP and, since it is an integral part of the Windows operating
system, it does not require any additional software on remote
computers. However, SOAP lets you connect to
comput ers that do not belong to the domain containing the
host computer. Whichever connection type you
choose to u se to connect to a specific remote computer, you should configure it on that computer, as
described i n the Connection Parameters topic.
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Connecting to Remote Computers From Macros
Build Strategies
Automa ted Build Studio provides a special Setup Connections operation that can be used to specify a set
of remote computers for the distributed build and to adjust the connections to these computers. To configure
connections, follow these steps:
1. Add the Setup Connections operation to your macro. To learn how to add operations to the macro,
see Adding, Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro.
2. Double-click the Setup Connections operation, or right-click it and select Properties from the
context menu. This will open the Setup Connections Operation Properties dialog.
3. In the Operation Properties dialog, switch to the Connections
page.
4. Click the Add button under the Connections list box and enter the name for the connection of the
remote computer. This can be the remote computer name (for example, JohnSmithComp) as well as
an arbitrary name (for example, Connection1).
5. In the panel on the left, select the connection type that is used to connect to the remote computer:
SOAP or DCOM.
If you select the DCOM connection, specify the name of the remote computer (for example,
JohnSmithComp) in the Server name field.
If you select the SOAP connection, specify the URL of the Automated Build Studio Server on the
remote computer in the Server URL field. The Build Studio Server URL has the
http://ComputerName_or_IP/VirtualFolderName format, where ComputerName_or_IP is the name
of the remote computer or its IP address, and VirtualFolderName is the name of the virtual folder on
the remote computer where the Automated Build Studio modules reside (the default name is
AutomatedBuildStudio). Examples of Server URLs are:
http://JohnSmithComp/AutomatedBuildStudio and http://192.168.1.103/AutomatedBuildStudio.
6. If you want to use a specific account when connecting to the remote computer, make sure that the
Authenticate as the currently logged on Windows user option is disabled and fill in the
Username and Password fields. To connect using the account of the user currently logged into
Windows, enable the Authenticate as the currently logged on Windows user option.
7. (Optional). Press Test Connection to test the connection to the remote computer using the specified
parameters. If test connection fails, make sure the remote computer is available in your network, that
the DCOM or SOAP protocol is properly configured on that computer (see Connection Parameters)
and that the specified connection parameters are correct.
8. Repeat steps 4-7 to specify connections to other remote computers you want to use in the build
process.
9. Press OK to close the Setup Connections operation properties dialog and save the changes.
Distributing Operations Among Remote Computers
An essential part of creating distributed build macros is to decide which build tasks should be split into
smaller
ones and to distribute them among remote computers. For example, if your project consists of
multiple
independent modules, you can split the project build process into building each project module. The
process of building an individual module includes the same steps as building the whole project,
that is,
getting the latest version of source files, compiling the project, copying the build modules to a shared
network
disk, and so on.
Automated
Build Studio does not automatically distribute the compile process among remote
computers.
If you need to distribute the compile process, you should manually create and
configure individual projects for building each project module.
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Distributed Builds
You ca n distribute the remote build tasks among specific computers, or among those specified computers
that are available at that time. Again, these computers must have all of the needed software for performing
the corresponding operations. For example, if you want
to distribute the compile process among several
computers, the compiler
must be installed on all of them.
Running Operations on a Specific Remote Computer
If you wish to execute a group of operations on a specific remote computer, use the Remote Group
operation:
• Add the Remote Group operation to your macro.
• Double-click the Remote Group operation, or right-click it and select Properties from the
context menu. This will open the Remote Group Operation Properties dialog.
• In the Operation Properties dialog, switch to the Remote Group Details page.
• Check the Run child operations on remote computer property.
• In the Connection field, enter the name of the connection to the desired remote computer that
you have previously configured in the Setup Connection operation. For example, Connection1.
You can also press the ellipsis button and choose the desired connection from the list.
•
•
In the Working folder filed, specify the path to a folder on the remote computer where you want
to upload the macro. For example, D:\Work.
By default, the remote instance of Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro Player) is
launched under the same account as the Automated Build Studio service (usually, the SYSTEM
account). However, operations that will be executed remotely may require specific account data
in order to run successfully (for example, the operation that checks out files from the version
control system). You can either specify this account in the operation properties, or make the
remote instance of Automated Build Studio (Automated Macro Player) run under that account.
To do the latter, check the Run under the following account property and specify the needed
user name and password in the Username and Password fields.
• Check the Run interactive property to run the remote operations in interactive mode. If you
want the remote instance of Build Studio (or Macro Player) to stay hidden during the operations
execution, leave this property unchecked.
• Press OK to save changes and close the Operation Properties dialog.
• Add the operations that you want to execute on the remote computer as a child of the Remote
Group operation and configure their properties.
When specifying properties of operations that are executed on a remote computer, remember that
file names and paths must be specified in the terms of that computer.
Running Operations on Several Remote Computers Concurrently
If you want to execute several operations or groups of operations on multiple remote computers in
parallel, you can place several Remote Group operations under a concurrent Group operation (see
Concurrent Execution of Operations). In this case, the Remote Group operations are run simultaneously on
the corresponding remote computers.
However, you may also want to execute an operation or group of operations on any of the computers
available for this purpose. This can be achieved by using the Remote Execution Stack operation:
• Add the Remote Execution Stack operation to your macro.
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• Double-click the Remote Execution Stack operation, or right-click it and select Properties from
the context menu. This will open the Remote Execution Stack Operation Properties dialog.
• In the Operation Properties dialog, switch to the Remote
Execution Stack Details page.
• Check the Run child operations asynchronously on remote computers property.
• The Computers list specifies the network computers available for the remote build. During the
macro run, Automated Build Studio distributes child operations of the Remote Execution Stack
operation between those specified computers that are available at that time.
•
To add a new computer to the list:
Press the Add button. The Computer dialog appears.
In the Connection field, enter the name of the connection to the desired remote
computer that you have previously configured in the Setup Connection operation. For
example, Connection1. You can also press the ellipsis button and choose the desired
connection from the list.
In the Working folder field, specify the path of the folder on the remote
where you want to upload the macro. For example, D:\Work.
computer
Choose the remote computer’s priority in the Priority combo box. The default priority is
Normal. Other possible values are Low and High.
If you need the remote instance of Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro
Player) to be run under a specific account, check the Run under the following account
property and specify the needed user name and password in the Username and
Password fields.
Press OK to save the changes and add a new computer to the list.
You can add other remote computers to the list in a similar way.
Check the Run interactive property to run the remote operations in interactive mode. If you
want the remote instances of Build Studio (or Macro Player)
to stay hidden during the operations
execution, leave
this property unchecked.
• Press OK to save the changes and close the Operation Properties dialog.
• Add the operations that you want to execute on the remote computer as a child of the Remote
Execution Stack operation and configure their properties.
When
specifying properties of operations that are executed on a remote computer, remember that
file
names and paths must be specified in the terms of that computer.
Note th at when executing the Remote Execution Stack,
Build Studio will distribute its direct child
operatio ns among
the available computers. If you need to execute a group of operations rather than a single
operation on a remote computer, you should first add the Group operation as a child of the Remote Execution
Stack operation
and then add the desired operations as children of the Group operation, like on the image
below:
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Distributed Builds
You can also group operations to be run remotely
by using the Dependent Group operations. In this case,
however,
the Remote Execution Stack behavior will be a little different - it will not run all of the groups
concurrentl y,
but distribute and execute them in the order that is defined by the group’s dependencies. See
Operation Dependencies
for details.
Running Macros on a Remote Computer
Besides executing a group of operations on a remote computer, you can also run a whole macro
remotely. For this purpose, use the Remote Macro Command operation. Below is a step-by-step explanation
of how to configure this operation in your macro:
• If a macro that you wish to run on a remote computer has yet to be uploaded to that computer,
you should first upload it. In macros, you can do this using the Upload Macro operation:
Add the Upload Macro operation to the macro.
Double-click the Upload Macro operation, or right-click
it and select Properties from
the context menu. This will open the Upload Macro Operation Properties dialog.
In the Operation Properties dialog, switch to the Upload Macro Details page.
In the Connection field, enter the name of the connection to the desired remote
computer that you have previously configured in the Setup Connection operation. For
example, Connection1. You can also press the ellipsis button and choose the desired
connection from the list.
In the Macro file name field, specify the name of the macro to be executed on a remote
computer. You can press the ellipsis button and browse for the desired macro file.
In the Remote folder field, specify the path to the folder on the remote computer to
which the macro will be uploaded. For example, D:\Work.
Press OK to save the changes and close the Operation Properties dialog.
• Add the Remote Macro Command operation to your macro.
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• Double-click the Remote Macro Command operation, or right-click it and select Properties
from the context menu. This will open the Remote Macro Command Operation Properties
dialog.
• In the Connection field, enter the name of the connection to the desired remote computer that
you have previously configured in the Setup Connection operation. For example, Connection1.
You can also press the ellipsis button and choose the desired connection from the list.
• In the Macro file name field, specify the path to the desired macro file on the remote computer.
You can press the ellipsis button and browse for the desired macro file.
• In the Command property, select Start macro.
• If you want Automated Build Studio to wait until the remote macro is executed, enable the
Check the command to complete check box. Otherwise, if this property is unchecked, the
remote macro will be run in parallel with the rest of the local macros. (In this case, you can
check for macro completion by using the If Remote Macro State Is... operation.)
• In the Run macro in box, specify which tool, Automated Build Studio or Automated Macro
Player, should be used to run the macro.
• (Optional). Specify the command-line parameters to be passed to the remote instance of
Automated Build Studio or Automated Macro Player (see Command-Line Arguments).
• If you need the remote instance of Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro Player) to be
run under a specific account, check the Run under the following account property and specify
the needed user name and password in the Username and Password fields.
• Check the Run interactive property to run the remote macro in interactive mode. If you want
the remote instance of Build Studio (or Macro Player) to stay hidden during the macro execution,
leave this property unchecked.
• Press OK to save the changes and close the operation properties dialog.
Note: The logs of remote macro runs are kept on the remote computer.
Running Distributed Build Macros
Once you have configured the build servers that will participate in the distributed build and the computer
that will host the build, you can run the build macro. Automated Build Studio macros can be run in several
ways:
• You can run Automated Build Studio on the host computer and start the macro directly from
Build Studio (see Running Macros).
• You can run the macro on the host computer from the command line, using either Automated
Build Studio or Automated Macro Player (see Command-Line Arguments).
• You can schedule the macro to run at specific times on the host computer (see Scheduling Macro
Runs).
• You can start the macro on the host computer from another computer using the Automated Build
Studio Client/Server functionality.
• You can run the macro on the host computer via the Automated Build Studio Web Interface.
Possible Problems
There are a number of things that you should keep in mind when organizing a distributed build macro.
First of all, all build servers must have Automated Build Studio installed and the Automated Build
Studio Service must be running on them. If this service is disabled, Automated Build Studio will not be able
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Operation Dependencies
to transmit data between the host computer and the build servers. You can check that the service is running
and launch it in the Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services window.
Unless you are building a multi-platform project, make sure that the build servers used in the distributed
build have the same configuration (operating system, build tools, and so on). Differences in the build server
configurations may cause issues with functioning and interoperation of compiled modules.
During the macro execution, issues can occur if child operations of the Remote Execution Stack operation
use the same resources (for example, if they save results to the same file on a shared network disk or to the
same Build Studio variable). In this case, a resource may be blocked, or it may be accidentally changed by
another operation, which can cause errors during the operation’s execution. To avoid these errors, do not use
and modify the same resources
in child operations of the Remote Execution Stack. As a workaround, you can
make
a local copy of the resources and work with this copy.
Other type of issues can occur if remote instances of Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro
Player) are launched in non-interactive mode (which takes place if the Run Interactive
parameter of the
Remote Execution Stack, Remote Group or Remote Macro Command
operation is unchecked). In this mode,
Build Studio (or Macro Player)
does not display any windows or dialogs that would be shown if the
corresponding macro operations
were executed on the local computer, and third-party tools run by the macro
do no appear on screen. Thus,
if the macro includes operations that display dialogs or launch tools that
require use r input, these operations
will hang.
So, if the macro contains interactive
operations, it is recommended that they have a timeout limit
specified and a default value in case the user does not respond during the timeout period. For example,
operations of the Interactive
category meet both conditions, so they can be successfully used in distributed
build
macros.
If the remote macro hangs for some obscure reason, you can sort out and handle problematic operations
by specifying the timeout limit for them. You can either set the specific timeout for each operation, or use the
timeout common for all macro operations. If the operation’s timeout is enabled, the operation will be
terminated when its execution time exceeds the timeout value, and Automated Build Studio (Automated
Macro Player) will proceed to the next operation. For more information, see Handling Errors in Macros.
Another way to handle remotely executed macros or macro parts that hang is to specify the timeout for
the Remote Group, Remote Execution Stack and Remote Macro Command operations themselves. In this
case, Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro Player) will run the main macro, track the total run time
of the remote macro or macro parts, and, if this run time exceeds
the timeout limit, terminate the remote
macro execution. Operation
Dependencies
Typically, you configure the macro execution flow manually, by arranging operations that
perform
specific build tasks in a desired order and, if needed, specifying that some of them should be run
concurrently.
However, setting up the macro flow can be quite a tedious process with a sophisticated build
logic including
many alternate serial and parallel tasks.
Fortunately,
Automated Build Studio can help you manually adjust the operations’ execution order. You
only need to define the dependencies between macro operations and Build Studio will automatically
determine the order in which the operations should run.
The following topics
provide more information about this feature:
About Dependent Groups
Describes the Dependent Group operation, which is used to specify dependencies between macro
parts, and explains how to use this operation in macros.
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Dependent Groups Usage Example
Provides step-by-step instructions about configuring dependencies in a macro.
About Dependent Groups
About the Dependent Group Operation
Build Strategies
To let you set dependencies between macro operations, Automated Build Studio provides a special
Dependent
Group operation. The purpose of this operation is to separate a group of operations that need to be
executed prior to or after another operation group. The Dependent Group’s properties include a list of the
group’s prerequisites, that is, groups that need to be finished in order for the given group to start. In a way,
these dependencies are analogue to target dependencies in makefiles used by the make tools. However,
unlike
makefiles, Build Studio macros do not have targets, so all of the dependent groups in the macro
(unless some of them are disabled) will be executed when you run the macro. Dependencies only define the
groups’ execution order.
When you run the macro containing dependent groups, Build Studio analyzes the dependencies between
them, builds the macro flow graph and executes dependent groups according to this graph. Where possible,
groups are executed in parallel, in order to improve the macro performance and speed it up (see the How
Dependent Groups Work section for details).
Typically, the Dependent Group operations should be the top-level operations in your macro (so that the
macro “consists” of dependent groups). Optionally, they can be grouped by using the Group operations; this
grouping does not affect the execution order of dependent groups. Another possible configuration is to use
dependent groups as children of the Remote Execution Stack operation. In this case, they will be executed on
remote computers specified in the Remote Execution Stack properties.
Any other macro operations, except for Dependent Groups, their parents and children and operations
mentioned in the Remarks section, are ignored.
The order in which you arrange the Dependent Group operations in your macro does not matter and does
not affect their execution order, which is completely determined by the group’s interdependencies.
How Dependent Groups Work
When Automated Build Studio
(or Automated Macro Player) runs a macro that consists of dependent
groups,
it first forms the macro dependency graph and ensures that there are no circular references between
dependent groups. If Automated Build Studio finds a circular reference, it displays an error message that
notifies you about the found loop. In this case, you will need to correct the dependencies to be able to run the
macro.
If the macro structure is consistent, Build
Studio picks out those Dependent Group operations that do not
have
dependencies specified, and runs them concurrently. Once the execution of a particular Dependent
Group finishes, Automated Build Studio starts executing groups that depend on the finished group. If a
specific Dependent Group operation depends on several groups, it is only executed after all of the latter
groups have been completed.
If dependent
groups are children of the Remote Execution Stack operation, the situation is similar. In this
case,
Automated
Build Studio automatically distributes dependent groups among remote build servers
according to
the operation dependencies.
If the number of groups to be run at a certain moment exceeds
the Maximum thread count property of the
macro, the n only the first Maximum thread count groups are started; the rest are queued. For example, if the
Maximum thread
count is set to 1, dependent groups will be executed serially, one after another (of course,
according to their dependencies).
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Operation Dependencies
Setting the Maximum thread count property to a value greater than 1 (or to 0, which means an unlimited
number of threads) makes sense if you are running the macro on a computer that has several processors
or a
multiple-core
processor. In this case, you can improve the macro performance and reduce the macro
execution time.
Otherwise, setting too large of a Maximum thread count value may result in Automated
Build Studio
consuming a lot of operating system resources in order to keep track of all of the threads.
Another macro property - Check dependencies and run macro - allows you to enable or disable the
dependency mode. If this property is checked, the macro consisting of dependent groups is executed as
described above. Otherwise, if this property is unchecked, the Dependent Group operations behave in the
same way as ordinary groups and are executed in their sequence order in the macro. Turning the Check
dependencies and run macro property
off may be useful during macro debugging.
Remarks
There are a few limitations applied to macros that consist of dependent groups:
• Circular references
between dependent groups are not allowed. Automated Build Studio cannot
run a macro if it contains two or more Dependent Group operations that depend on each other.
To check the macro consistency, you can use the Run | Check command of Automated Build
Studio's main menu. If Automated Build Studio finds any circular references between dependent
groups, it will display an error message notifying you about the found loop “path”.
• If the macro contains dependent groups, any macro operations other than Dependent
Groups
(including their parents and children) are ignored.
However, there are a few exceptions to this
rule:
The Initialization and Finalization operations are executed before and after all of the
dependent groups, respectively.
The Submacro operation defines a submacro that can be run from within a dependent
group
through the Run Submacro operation.
The Setup Connection operation is used to establish connections to remote computers to be
used during the
build.
• The Run From Selected command cannot be used for macros that consist of dependent
groups. The Run to Cursor command, however, is still available.
Dependent Groups Usage Example
Let’s illustrate how you can set up the macro flow using the operation dependencies. Suppose, your
build process consists of a number of tasks that can be accomplished in the order shown on the image below.
As you can see, some tasks in this process should be run in a series, whereas some other tasks can be run
simultaneously.
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1.
Build Strategies
Add the macro operations that automate the build process steps, and group the operations that perform
individual build tasks into separate Dependent Group operations. For example, one group can contain
operations that clean source folders, another one
can include operations that obtain the latest version of
source files from a source control system,
one more group can hold operations that adjust the compiler
settings and perform compilation,
and so on. To learn how to add operations to the macro and change
their parent-child relationship, see Adding, Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro.
Note, that since the execution order of dependent groups is only defined by their dependencies, the
sequence order of Dependent Group operations in your macro can be arbitrary. For example, the
Depend ent Group operation that corresponds to Task 5 can precede the one corresponding to Task 1, and
so on. You
can arrange dependent groups in your macro in the order that are the most convenient to you.
2. Assign a unique name to each Dependent Group operation in your macro. For example, GetSources,
Compile, MakeInstall and so on. To do this:
• Double-click the desired Dependent Group operation in the Macro panel, or right-click it and
select Properties from the context menu. This will invoke
the Operation Properties dialog.
• In the dialog, switch to the Properties page.
•
Enter the operation name in the Unique name field.
• Press OK to save the changes made
to the operation’s properties.
– or –
• Type the group name in the Unique Name cell of the corresponding Dependent Group operation
item in the Macro panel.
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Operation Dependencies
3. Specify dependencies between the operation groups. Each Dependent
Group operation can have
prerequisites, which are groups that must have been completed in order for the given group to start. You
define th e Dependent Group prerequisites on the Dependencies page of the Operation Properties dialog.
For example,
in the build process shown on the image above, Task 5 depends on Task 3 and Task 4,
because it can only be run after both of these groups have been completed. So we check the
corresponding groups in the Depends on list of the Task5 group:
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Note again,
that circular references between dependent groups are not allowed. Automated Build Studio
cannot run a macro if it contains circular references (for example, if Group1 depends on Group2, which
depends on
Group1).
4. Check the macro correctness by using the Run | Check command of Automated
Build Studio main menu
(or Build Studio | Check command from Visual Studio’s main menu, if you
use Automated Build
Studio integrated into Visual Studio).
This command verifies that all of the required properties of macro
operations are specified and that there are no circular references between dependent groups.
5. Make sure that the Check dependencies and run macro property of your macro is checked. Build Studio
tracks the operation dependencies only if this property is on. To check the state of this setting:
• Select File | Macro Properties from Automated Build Studio main menu (or Build Studio
|
Options | Properties from Visual Studio’s main menu, if you use Automated Build Studio
integrated into Visual Studio).
– or –
• Right-click the macro node in the Solution Explorer of Visual Studio and select Properties
from the context menu if you use Automated Build Studio integrated into Visual Studio.
This will open the Macro Properties dialog.
• Switch to the General tabbed page and check the Check dependencies and run macro property.
6. Optionally, you can limit the number of threads available for running the dependent groups. You can do
this by using the Maximum thread count property of your macro.
By default, Maximum thread count is set to 0, which means that the number of threads is unlimited.
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Build Strategies
Concurrent Execution of Operations
Automated Build Studi o includes a lot of operations that you can use in your macros. By having a variety
of operations at y our disposal, you can create complex macros that perform several tasks that will be
executed simultaneously. With Automated Build Studio, you can organize concurrent execution
of macro
operations and thus perform
different tasks at the same time.
Concurrent ( or multithreading) execution lets you improve the performance of Automated
Build Studio
macros and reduce the macro execution time. When macro operations are run in a series, they
are executed
within the same thread, so the next operation only starts after the previous operation is finished. When a
group of operations
are run concurrently, Automated Build Studio starts the next operation in a separate
thread, without waiting for the previous operation to complete. As a result, the CPU is used more effectively
and less time is needed to execute macros.
Concurrent execution of operations can greatly improve performance in the following cases:
• A macro is executed on a multiprocessor computer. A processor can only execute one thread at a
time. So, on a computer with a single processor, only one thread can be executed at a time;
whereas a computer with ten processors can execute ten threads at a time.
• A macro contains operations that require a lot of time (for example, the Get Latest Version
operations for large projects, file uploads and downloads, database queries and so on). When this
type of an operation is being executed, other operations cannot be started until that operation is
finished. Putting an operation in a concurrently running group will allow other operations to run
simultaneously with this operation, and it will not block them.
• A macro contains operations that perform data transmission over a network (for example,
operations of the FTP, HTTP and other groups). When running concurrently, each operation uses
a separate connection so that the overall bandwidth is greater than the serial operation's
execution, when all operations use the same connection.
• Many others.
Generally, almost all operations provided by Automated Build Studio can be run concurrently (however,
there are technical
and logical restrictions described below). Here are some examples of the operations that
should
be run concurrently:
• To split long-running tasks into smaller tasks. For example, an operation that obtains source files
from a Source Control System (SCS) can be divided into several same operations, each obtaining
a certain part of the source files. Running concurrently, these operations
will take less time than
a single operation that performs the whole task.
• Run the operations, that do not depend
on each other and do not use the same resources,
concurrently. For example, if your macro contains the Remove Directory operation that cleans
temporary folders and the Upload File(s) to FTP operation that uploads one or several files to an
FTP server, you can group them so that they run concurrently.
Organizing Concurrent Execution of Operations
There are two ways to organize concurrent execution of macro operations:
• You can configure your macro so that Automated Build Studio automatically parallelizes the
operations’ execution.
• You can directly specify which operations should be run in parallel.
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Build Strategies
The former approach requires re-structuring your macro file and specifying the dependencies between
different operation groups. When running this macro, Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro Player)
automatically determines the macro execution flow and, where possible, parallelizes
the execution of certain
operation groups. This approach is discussed in the Operation Dependencies topic.
While the former approach affects execution of the whole macro, the latter one lets you adjust the
execution
of specific operations. These operations should be grouped into a Group operation with the Run
child operations asynchronously property turned on. Unlike the rest of the macro, where operations run stepby-step,
these grouped operations will be executed in parallel.
To organize a concurrent group:
1. Add the Group operation to your macro, and make the operations that you wish to run
concurrently the children of this Group operation. For more information on how to change
operations’ “relationship”, see Adding, Removing and Arranging Operations in a Macro.
2. Double-click the Group operation,
or right-click it and select Properties from the context menu.
This
will open the Group Operation Properties dialog.
3. I n the Operation Properties dialog, switch to the Group Details page.
4. Enable
the Run child operations asynchronously check box.
5. If the operations in the group are of the same kind, use the Delay before start new thread
property to specify the time interval for Automated Build Studio to wait before starting the next
child operation in a new thread. This delay lets you avoid issues caused by simultaneous
execution of the same actions by similar or identical operations (such as issues with accessing
the same resources, and others).
6. In order to prevent Automated Build Studio from creating too many threads for the given group
of operations, you can limit the number of threads using the Max thread count property.
(Possible issues with a large number of threads are described below). If this property is set to 0,
the number of threads is unlimited.
7. Click OK to close the dialog.
Note again
that you can organize concurrent execution of both single operations and groups of
operations.
In this case, you have to make the parent Group operation of each group a child of the common
parent Group operation. In their turn, operations in each group can be executed in a series or concurrently. If
child operations of the Group operation are executed concurrently, the Time with Child
values in the log
indicates the longest execution time of a child operation, not the sum of operation execution times.
Possible Issues with Concurrent Execution of
Operations
There are a number of things that you should keep in mind when organizing concurrent execution of
operations
in your macro.
Reasoning from the macro execution logic, you should not run concurrently those operations that depend
on each other. For example, an operation that prepares resources for a certain task and an operation that
performs this task should not be run concurrently, because
when the latter operation starts, it may turn out
that the resources are not prepared for it.
Issues may occur if you have concurrent operations that use the same resources
(for example, if the
operations save their results to the
same file or Build Studio variable). In this case, a resource may be
blocked, or it may be accidentally
changed by another operation. This can cause errors during the operation’s
execution. To avoid these errors, do not concurrently run
those operations that use and modify the same
resources. Another solution is to use “thread-relative” variables.
These variables allow you to have different
values
for different threads.
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Build Strategies
The issue described above, results in another restriction: if an operation’s API requires exclusive access
to a resource, then the operations implemented via the same API cannot run concurrently. Currently this
restriction applies to Team Coherence operations from the Issue Tracking and
Team Coherence categories.
These operations should
not be executed concurrently,
otherwise an error may occur.
Also, a great number of concurrently running operations
require a lot of operating system resources in
order to keep track of all threads. When switching between
the threads, the system saves the context of the
current thread and restores the context of the next thread.
These actions can take a significant part of the
processor’s time, which will eliminate the benefits of concurrent operation execution. Automated Build
Studio lets you limit the number of threads that can be started for a group of operations. An
optimal number
of concurrent operations
depends on the configuration of your computer.
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
Using Variables and Constants in Macros
About Variables
Variables let you make your macros more flexible and powerful. They can be used to specify values of
operation properties (such
as file names, build numbers, and so on) as well as to store the operation result and
output.
They are also accessible in scripts and serve as ordinary script variables.
There are four types of variables that can be used in macros:
• Global variables
• Local variables
• Stored variables
• Environment variables
Global Variables
Global variables are accessible from any operation in your macro. These variables are created and
managed via the Variables dialog. To call this dialog, select Variables | Variables from Automated Build
Studio’s main menu or Edit Script Form menu.
It is possible to provide default values for global variables – the variables will be assigned with these
values at the beginning of the macro run. If the default value is not specified, the variable defaults to an
empty string. Note that besides specifying the default value explicitly, you can initialize a variable by using
the Set/Reset Variable Value operation or from a script (see Using Variables and Constants in Script
Operations).
Additionally, global macro variables can have two attributes:
• Environment – This attribute determines how a variable is used. All variables that have the
environment attribute enabled will be passed to the process launched by the macro. For example,
they will be passed to the process that is launched by the Execute Program operation. These
variables will serve as environment variables for that process. Do not confuse global variables
having
the Environment attribute with environment variables (see below). The latter return
values
of the corresponding Windows environment variables and are constants in fact.
• Thread-relative
– This attribute is useful if the variable is supposed to be used in several
concurrently
executed operations. If the variable has this attribute set, each macro execution
t hread gets its own copy of the variable, so that the variable can be referred in different threads
without causing a resource conflict. For example, input and output parameters of the Submacro
operation are always thread-relative.
Local Variables
Local variables, as follows from their name, are available only in a particular local scope. They can be
defined in the Group, Dependent Group or Submacro operation and will be “visible” only to operations that
belong to that group (submacro). Outside the group (submacro) where a local variable is defined, it does not
exist and any references to it will cause an error.
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
Local variables are useful if your macro utilizes a large number of variables – by defining some of them
as local, you can make it easier to manage these variables
and also “hide” them from the variable list in
operations
where they are of no use.
Simila r to global variables, local ones can have default values, which you can specify in the properties of
the Group or Submacro operation. The variables are initialized with these values once they are
created at run
time (in other words, once Build Studio executes the Group or Submacro operation in which local variables
are defined). Note that you can also initialize local variables by using the Set/Reset Variable Value operation
or f rom a script (see Using Variables and Constants in Script Operations).
The Thread-relative attribute is also available for local variables. It commands Automated
Build Studio
to creat e a separate variable copy for each macro execution thread (see Concurrent Execution of Operations).
Store d Variables
Stored variables are very similar to global variables. The only difference is that the values of stored
variables are saved between
macro runs. That is, if you assign a value to a stored variable and then stop the
macro,
the variable value will not change while a global variable will be reset. Stored variables are useful, for
instance, to keep the build number, which could easily be incremented in any of the next runs.
Stored variables are managed in the Stored Variables dialog. To call this dialog, select Variables |
Stored Variables from Automated
Build Studio’s main menu or Edit Script Form menu. In the dialog, you
can specify the variable names, descriptions, their current values and the Environment attribute
To modify the values of a stored variable during the macro run, you can either use the
Set/Reset Variable
Value operation, or write a script (see Using Variables and Constants in Script Operations). Note that the
Set/ Reset Variable Value operation gives you the possibility to modify the stored variable’s value in all
macro
configurations at once by enabling the Set/Reset for All Configurations property. In scripts, the same
functionality is provided by the ABSUtils.SetVariableValue and ABSUtils.ResetVariableValue
routines with the ForAllConfigurations parameter set to True.
The values of stored variables can be saved either in the macro file, or in a separate .bvars file (this file
will be created in the same folder that contains the macro file). The latter can be useful, for instance, if you
need
to have computer-dependent values of stored variables. To specify where Build Studio should store the
variable values, use the Store values in separate file option in the Stored Variables dialog.
Environment Variables
Environment variables contain information
about the system environment and the currently logged on
user. These variables are defined by Windows,
programs and users and cannot be created in Automated
Build
Studio. Build Studio loads the list of environment variables when it starts. To view environment
variables defined in your system, select Variables | Environment Variables from Automated Build Studio’s
main menu or Edit Script Form menu.
You can change values of environment variables in your macros, however, these changes
will only be
“visible”
to Automated Build Studio (or Automated Macro Player) and applications started by your macro.
Also, Build Studio (or Macro Player) will restore original values of environment
variables at the end of the
macro run.
No te: If you add, modify or delete environment variables while Automated Build Studio is running,
the
changes will be “visible” to Automated Build Studio only after you restart it.
Three things
you should keep in mind about variables:
• Since variable names are used to address variables in scripts, the variable name must match the
naming rules used in the scripting language you chose for the
script. To make the variable name
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suitable for any supported scripting language, follow this simple rule when naming a variable: a
name can include only letters, digits and underscores and must begin with a letter.
• Variables and constants
use the same namespace, so you cannot create a global, local or stored
variable that has the same name as an environment variable, system constant
or an existing
ordinary constant.
• Neither global, local, stored nor environment
variables can be used as loop variables in scripts.
About Constants
Constants are
very similar to variables, however, their values cannot be changed during the macro run.
There are two types of constants: ordinary and system. Below are detailed description of each constant type.
Ordinary Constants
Ordinary constants specify arbitrary values that are supposed to remain unchanged during the whole
macro run. Examples of such constant values are: paths to the folder containing the application’s source files
and to the output folder, your company information to be written to the application modules, and so on.
You can create, view, edit and delete these constants in the Constants dialog. To call this dialog, select
Variables | Constants from Automated Build Studio’s main menu or Edit Script Form menu.
When creating a constant, keep in mind the following:
• Since constant names are used to address constants in scripts, the constant name must match the
naming rules used in the scripting language you chose for the script. To make the constant name
suitable for any supported scripting language, follow this simple rule when naming a constant: a
name can include only letters, digits and underscores and must begin with a letter.
• Variables and constants use the same namespace, so you cannot create an ordinary constant that
has the same name as a system constant, environment variable or an existing global or stored
macro variable.
As already mentioned, constant values cannot be changed during the macro run. You can only modify
ordinary constants at design time. Note that the values of ordinary constants are stored in the macro file, so
they are computer-independent.
Ordinary constants can have the Environment attribute, which defiles how a constant is used. All
constants that have this attribute set will be passed to the applications launched by the macro. For example,
they will be passed to the process that is launched by the Execute Program operation. Such constants will
serve as environment variables for that process. Do not confuse such constants with environment variables.
The latter return values of the corresponding Windows environment variables.
System Constants
System constants
specify paths to applications installed on the computer and provide information about
the current macro
file. Automated Build Studio loads values of system constants at startup. These values can
neither be changed
in Build Studio nor at runtime.
The main purpose of system constants is to make macros easier and portable. For example, if your macro
somehow utilizes the path to the folder where the macro file resides, you
can use the
ABSOPENEDPROJECTDIR constant to obtain this path, so that you will not have
to change anything in
your macro in order for it to be successfully run from another folder.
To vie w what system constants are available to you, use the
System Constants dialog. To call this dialog,
select Variables | System Constants from Automated Build Studio’ main menu or Edit Script Form menu.
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
Note:
If a system constant gets modified on the computer where you are running Automated Build
Studio, Build Studio will see the change only after you restart it.
Creating Variables and Constants and Modifying Their
Attributes
Creating a global variable
• Select Variables | Variables from Build Studio’s main menu or Build Studio | Variables |
Variables from Visual Studio’s main menu. If the Edit Script Form is currently opened, select
Variables | Variables from its menu. The Variables dialog will appear:
• In the dialog:
Press the Add button. This will append an empty line to the variables list.
Enter the variable name into the Name column and, if needed, specify the initial value in the
Default Value column and check the Environment or Thread-Relative boxes to enable the
corresponding attributes for the variable. For more information on these attributes, see
Variables and Constants - Overview.
Optionally, you can supply a variable with a description. To do this press the Description
button and enter the description in the ensuing dialog.
Press OK to save changes.
Using the Variables dialog you can also remove ordinary variables and modify their properties: just call
the dialog and then press the Delete or Edit button.
Creating a local variable
• In the Macro panel, select the Group, Dependent Group or Submacro operation in which you
want to define a local variable.
• Double-click the operation, or select Properties
from the operation’s context menu. This will
open the Operation Properties dialog.
• In the Group or Dependent Group properties dialog, switch to the Local Variables tabbed page.
In the Submacro properties dialog, go to the Variables page.
• Press the Add button.
This will append the empty line to the local variables list.
• Enter the variable name and, if needed, specify the default value
the variable (see Variables and Constants - Overview).
97
and the thread-relative flag for
• Optionally, you can specify the description for the variable. To do this, press the Description
button and enter the description in the ensuing dialog.
• Press OK to save the changes.
To dele te local variables or modify them, open the Group or Submacro operation properties,
select the
desired local variable and press Delete or Edit.
Creating a stored variable
• Select Variables | Stored Variables from Build Studio’s main menu or Build Studio |
Variables | Stored Variables from Visual Studio’s main menu. If the Edit Script Form is
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
currently opened, select Variables | Stored Variables from its menu. The Stored Variables
dialog will appear:
• In the dialog:
Press the Add button. This will append an empty line to the variables list.
Enter the variable name into the Name column and, if needed, specify the default value in
the Value column and check the Environment box to set the variable’s environment
attribute. For more information on this attribute, review the Variables and Constants -
Overview.
Optionally, you can supply a variable with a description. To do this press the Description
button and enter the description in the ensuing dialog.
Press OK to save changes.
Using the
Stored Variables dialog you can also remove stored variables and modify their properties: just
call the dialog
and then press the Delete or Edit button.
Note: Variables and constants share the same namespace, so you are not allowed
to create a global,
local or stored variable whose name coincides with the name of an
environment variable,
system constant or existing macro variable or constant.
We would like to note that since variables can be used in scripts, the
variable name must be a
valid identifier for the selected scripting language. To make the variable name suitable for any
supported scripting language, follow this simple rule: a variable name can include only
letters,
digits and underscores and must begin with a letter.
Viewing environment variables
Environment variables cannot be created or deleted. To check
what environment variables exist and to
check the ir values, use the Environment Variables dialog. To call this dialog, select Variables |
Environme nt Variables from the main menu of Build Studio (if it is running as a standalone application) or
select Build Studio | Variables | Environment Variables from Visual Studio’s main menu (if Build Studio
is integrated into Visual Studio).
Creating an ordinary constant
• Select Variables | Constants from Build Studio’s main menu or Build Studio | Variables |
Constants from Visual Studio’s main menu. If the Edit Script Form is currently opened, select
Variables | Constants from its menu. The Constants dialog will appear:
• In the dialog:
Press the Add button. This will append an empty line to the variables list.
Enter the variable name into the Name column,
specify the constant value in the Value
column and check the Environment box to set the constant’s environment
attribute (if
needed). For more information on this attribute, see Variables and Constants - Overview.
Optionally, you can supply a constant with a description. To do this press the Description
button and
enter the description in the ensuing dialog.
Press OK to save changes.
Note: Constants and variables share the same namespace, so you cannot create an ordinary constant
whose name coincides with the name of a system constant, environment variables or existing
macro variable.
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
We would like to note that since constants can be used in scripts, the constant name must be a
valid identifier for the selected scripting language. To make the variable name suitable for any
supported scripting language, follow this simple rule: a variable name can include only letters,
digits and underscores and must begin with a letter.
Viewing system constants
System constants cannot be created or deleted. To check what system constants exist and to check their
values, use the System Constants dialog. To call this dialog, select Variables | System Constants from the
main menu of Build Studio (if it is running as a standalone application) or select Build Studio | Variables |
System Constants from Visual Studio’s main menu (if Build Studio is integrated into Visual Studio).
Using Variables and Constants in Operation Properties
You ca n use variables and constants in almost any operation property. One of the common tasks for them
is to store t he file name, build number or specify the file path. The way you specify a variable or constant
name depends on the purpose of the variable (constant).
If y ou use a variable or
constant to specify a property value, you should enclose the variable
(constant) name with the % signs. Otherwise, Automated Build Studio will treat the variable (constant) name
as a string value. For instance, on the following figure we use the MyProjectName variable to specify
the
Visual Basic
project to be compiled:
Note: To specify the % character in the property value, use the %%% string. For instance, if you
specify %%%temp%%%, Automated Build Studio will use the string %temp%, but not the
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value of the temp variable.
Using Variables and Constants in Macros
Note that you need to replace the % character with %%% only in those cases, when the string
value can be considered as a variable name. Otherwise, you can use a single % character. For
instance, in the string Use % to separate values you can use the single percent character
since
% is surrounded by spaces.
If you use a variable
to save an operation result (for example, to save a file name returned by the File
Enumerator operation),
you should not use the % signs:
To concatenate values of two or more variables or constants, simply put them one after another. For
instance, if one variable holds the file name and another one holds the file path, the following string will
return the entire file name:
%File_Path_Var%%File_Name_Var%
If you need to specify a slash between the path and file name, and the disk name before the path, enter
the following:
c:\%File_Path_Var%\%File_Name_Var%
Note that we do not use pluses to concatenate variables (constants) and strings and do not specify spaces:
Automated Build Studio treats pluses and spaces as characters, so we would obtain an invalid path. If you
concatenate variables and strings in scripts, you must use pluses, of course.
You can concatenate two or more constants in the same way you concatenate variables. You can also
concatenate constants with variables and strings.
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
Using
Variables and Constants in Script Operations
You can set the value of a variable in your macro either by using the Set\Reset Variable Value operation
in your macro, or by writing a script (the stored variables can also be changed in the Stored Variables
dialog). Using the Set\Reset Variable Value operation is simple and does not require
explanations. Changing
variables from scripts is also simple, but it is not evident,
that is why we will tell you more about this.
From the script’s point of view, macro variables are public variables that are visible within the entire
macro. To address
a global, local, stored or environment variable, use the following syntax:
Variables.variable_name = value
Using the
Variables.variable_name format when referring to the macro’s variables allows you to
avoid confu sing variable names if your script holds local variables that are declared using the same names.
To address an ordinary or a system constant, use the Constants object:
LocalVar = Constants.constant_name
Note that
you can also address environment variables through the Constants object (see below). This
feature is supported for backward compatibility only. We recommend that you address environment variables
through the Variables object.
LocalVar = Constants.environment_variable_name
We would like to note once again that since variables
and constants can be used in scripts, their names
must comply
with the naming rules of the selected scripting language. To make the name suitable for any
supported scripting
language, follow this simple rule: a variable name can include only letters, digits and
underscores and must begin with a letter.
Macro variables cannot be used as loop variables in scripts. A loop variable should be a local
script
variable.
Also, macro variables cannot be used to store object references. They can only store ordinary
values: numbers, strings, dates and so on.
To change the
value of a macro variable, you can either assign the desired value to the variable directly,
or use the ABSUtils.SetVariableValue method:
ABSUtils.SetVariableValue("variable_name", value, for_all_configs)
The difference
from this method and the usual assignment operation is that, depending on the last
parameter ( for_all_configs) it only changes the variable value in the current configuration or in all of the
macro configurations
at once. The latter can be useful when modifying values of stored variables.
A similar method, ABSUtils. ResetVariableValue, lets you reset a macro variable to its default
value. As you
may notice, these two methods are scripting analogues of the Set/Reset Variable Value
operation.
To concatenate
values of two or more variables or constants in scripts, use the language-specific syntax.
For instance,
the following script assigns the full path to a file to a variable. The path is concatenated from
the path to the file's folder and the name of the file, which are also stored in variables.
[VBScript]
Variables.FolderPath = "C:\Work"
Variables.FileName = "myfile.txt"
Variables.FilePath = Variables.FolderPath & "\" & Variables.FileName
[JScript]
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Variables.FolderPath = "C:\\Work";
Variables.FileName = "myfile.txt";
Variables.FilePath = Variables.FolderPath + "\\" +
Variables.FileName;
[DelphiScript]
Variables.FolderPath := 'C:\Work';
Variables.FileName := 'myfile.txt';
Variables.FilePath := Variables.FolderPath + '\' +
Variables.FileName;
Using Variables and Constants in Macros
If you want to concatenate values of variables and constants using the syntax that is acceptable when
specifying operation property values via the Operation Properties dialog, use the
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression method in your scripts. For example:
[VBScript]
Variables.FolderPath = "C:\Work"
Variables.FileName = "myfile.txt"
Variables.FilePath =
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression("%FolderPath%\%FileName%")
[JScript]
Variables.FolderPath = "C:\\Work";
Variables.FileName = "myfile.txt";
Variables.FilePath =
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression("%FolderPath%\\%FileName%");
[DelphiScript]
Variables.FolderPath := 'C:\Work';
Variables.FileName := 'myfile.txt';
Variables.FilePath :=
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression('%FolderPath%\%FileName%');
Initializing
Variables via Command Line
Using the command line interface of Automated Build Studio, you can not only run a macro
but also set
app ropriate values to custom variables that exist in the macro. To do the latter, use the / or - argument. Its
format is either /variable_name=variable_value or -variable_name=variable_value,
where variable_name
and variable_value correspond to the name of the desired
variable and the value you wish to assign to it.
Two notes:
•
Only global and stored macro variables can be initialized via the command line.
• Variable initialization
via the command line requires that the /Run or /RunAndExit arguments be
used.
For instance, the following
command line sets 10 as the value of the IterationNum variable:
AutomatedBuildStudio.exe MyMacro.bbp /ns /RunAndExit
/IterationNum=10
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Using Variables and Constants in Macros
Since Build
Studio’s command line interface admits several / (-) arguments in one line, you can initialize
as many variables
as you want. If the string you wish to pass as a value of the specified variable includes
spaces, enclose
this string in double-quotes, as shown in the example below:
AutomatedBuildStudio.exe MyMacro.bbp /RE /Version=1.0.1 -
ReportFileDir="C:\My Projects\Temp"
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Macro Libraries
Macro Libraries
About Libraries
Macro Libraries
If you have
several macros for building different products, they may include identical operation blocks
and submacros. For example, each
of your build macros may contain a group of operations that archive the
applicat ion’ s source files and move this archive to a backup storage. Or, a submacro that sends notifications
on successful or failed build. Such duplicated blocks may be quite tedious to maintain when it comes to
making changes
in them. To avoid operation duplications in different macros and make it easier to manage
common submacros
and operation blocks, you can make use of libraries.
Libraries (or library macros) are special macros that provide collections of submacros to be called from
other macros. These submacros, called library submacros, can contain operation blocks that are common to
various macros you use. Library submacros can be run from other macros by using
a single Run Library
Submacro operation, instead of repeating the submacro
operations in each macro where you need them. Like
ordinar y submacros, library submacros can have input and output parameters, which allows you to
parameterize the submacro operations and return results for the parameters given. In this way, libraries
enable the reuse
of the same operations in different macros.
In most respects, libraries are similar to ordinary macros. For example, they can define global variables
and constants, which are visible to all operations within the library; they can use scripts to automate specific
actions and so on. However, besides common macro properties, each library must specify the submacros that
it “exports” to other macros. Only exported submacros are “visible” to other macros and can be run from
them.
All libraries are stored in a dedicated folder. To be able to create and use libraries, you need to specify
the path to thi s folder in Build Studio’s Library path option. This folder can reside on a local disk drive, or it
can be a shared network folder. The latter can be useful if you use Automated Build Studio on several
computers – in this case, all Build Studio instances
in your network will be able to access the libraries.
Note: It is possible to only create and work with libraries
in the standalone version of Automated
Build Stud io. The version that integrates into
Microsoft Visual Studio does not support working
with libraries.
However, to create macros that call library submacros, you can use the standalone as well as the
integrated version of Automated Build Studio.
Working With Libraries
To create a new library
To create
a new library macro, select File | New | New Macro in Automated Build Studio main menu.
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Macro Libraries
To open an existing library
To loa d an existing library in Automated Build Studio:
• Select File | Open Library from Automated Build Studio main menu.
• In the ensuing Select Library dialog, choose the desired library and press OK.
To
specify the exported submacros
To specify
which submacros the library “exports” to other macros:
• Select File | Macro Properties from Automated Build Studio main menu.
• In the ensuing Macro Properties dialog, switch to the Exported
Submacros page.
• Add the desired submacros to the list
of exported submacros.
To save a library
Bef ore saving the macro as a library, make sure you have specified the list of submacros it exports. Once
you have done it, File | Save Library from Automated
Build Studio main menu, enter the library name and
press OK. Automated Build Studio will save the library under this name to the folder specified by the
Library
Path option.
To save the changes you have made to the library, use the File | Save command of Automated Build
Studio main menu, the Save button on the Standard toolbar or the Ctrl+S shortcut.
To call a library submacro from a macro
To call library submacros in your macro, use the Run Library Submacro operation. In the operation
properti es, specify the name of the library that contains the desired submacro, the submacro name
as well as
input pa rameter values for the submacro and variables to store the submacro’s output parameters.
Example
For a step-through illustrated tutorial on creating libraries and calling library
submacros from external
macros, se e Using a Library - Example.
Using
a Library – Example
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create libraries
and how to call library submacros in your
macros.
We are going to create a sample library containing one submacro, which posts an informative
message to the log (the message text will be passed to the submacro as the input parameter). Then we will
create a macro that calls the library submacro and see
the results of the macro execution.
All library macros must be stored in a special folder. So, before creating the library, we need to specify
the path to this folder in Automated Build Studio settings. To do this:
• Select
Options | Options from the main menu of Automated Build Studio.
• In the resulting Options dialog, select the General | Libraries category from the tree on the left.
• Enter the path
to the library storage in the Library path edit box, or click the ellipsis button on
the right of the field and browse for the needed folder.
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• Press OK to save the changes and close the Options dialog.
Now we can create a new library macro. You can do this in any of the following ways:
• Select File | New | New Macro from Automated Build Studio main menu.
• Press New on the Standard toolbar and select New Macro from the drop-down menu.
• Press Shift-Ctrl-N.
Automated Build Studio will create an empty macro. Let’s create a submacro in it:
• Add a Submacro operation to the macro.
Macro Libraries
• To configure the submacro properties, right-click the Submacro operation in the Macro panel
and select Properties from the context menu, or simply double-click the operation.
Switch to the Properties tabbed page and enter the LogMessage into the Unique Name
field. This name will be used by external macros to call the submacro.
Optionally, you can enter a brief description of the submacro in the Description field. This
information will be displayed to the library users when they select library the submacro to be
run.
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Macro Libraries
To define the submacro parameters, switch to the Parameters page of the submacro’s
properties dialog. Our submacro will take only one input parameter - the text to be posted to
the log. To define this parameter, press Add, then enter Message in the Parameter Name
column and make sure that the Parameter Type is set to In:
Press OK to save the changes and close the Submacro
properties.
• Add a child Log Message operation to the submacro.
• Double-click the operation to open
its properties.
• To specify that the operation
should use the submacro’s input parameter as the message text, do
any of the following:
Enter %Message% in the Message Text field.
Press Add
category.
Variable and select the Message variable from the Input Submacro Parameters
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•
Press OK to close the Log Message properties.
Macro Libraries
In order for the created submacro
to be accessible from other macros, the library must “export” it. To
configure the library’s exported submacro
list:
• Select File | Macro
Properties from Automated Build Studio main menu. The Macro Properties
dialog appears.
• Switch to the Exported Submacros tabbed page and press Add.
• In the ensuing dialog, select LogMessage from the Submacro list and press OK.
•
Optionally, you can specify the description for the library, for example, information about the
submacros it contains and what they are
for. To do this, switch to the Comments page of the
Macro Properties dialog and enter the library information into the Comments field:
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Macro Libraries
•
Other users will see this description in the list of available libraries, so that it is easier for them to
understand what library contains the needed submacro.
The library
configuration is finished. To save the library to the library storage:
•
•
Press OK to save the changes and close the Macro Properties dialog.
Select File | Save Library from Automated Build Studio main menu.
In the ensuing dialog, enter the SampleLibrary name and press OK.
Now let’s create a macro that will call the LogMessage submacro from our library:
• Create a new macro file.
• Add a Run
Library Submacro operation to the macro.
•
Double-click the operation to open its properties.
• In the Library Name field, enter SampleLibrary. Or, you can press the ellipsis button on the
right of the Library Name field and choose the library visually:
• Enter LogMessage in the Submacro Name field, or press the ellipsis button and select the
LogMessage submacro from
the ensuing dialog:
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Macro Libraries
• Once you have entered the submacro name, the operation loads the submacro’s parameters list.
Our submacro uses only one input parameter - Message. Enter the Hello, world! value for this
parameter:
• Make sure that the Export log property is checked. This is needed to include the log of the
library submacro into the current macro log.
• Press OK to save the changes and close the Run Library Submacro operation properties.
•
Finally, we can run the macro and see how it will work. To run the macro, do any of the following:
•
•
•
Save the macro.
Select Run | Run from the main menu of Automated Build Studio.
Press the Run Macro button on the Standard toolbar.
Press F5.
When the macro run finishes, you will get the log like shown on the image below. As you
can see, it
includes information about all operations performed by the library submacro, like it was a part of the macro:
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Integration With Microsoft Visual Studio and MSBuild
Integration
With Microsoft Visual Studio and
MSBuild
Overview
Microsoft Visual Studio includes tools and technologies for all members of software development teams:
project architects, developers, testers and managers. Automated Build Studio integrates with and supports
these tools giving developers and project managers the possibility to –
• Create, configure and run Build Studio macros directly from Visual Studio’s user interface as
you would in Automated Build Studio when it is running as a standalone application.
For this
purpose, Automated Build Studio panels and toolbars are incorporated into Visual Studio and the
main menu of Visual Studio is extended with Automated Build Studio-specific items.
• Extend your Visual Studio projects and team system builds with Automated
Build Studio
macros.
•
Run Build Studio macros directly from your MSBuild projects.
You can also compile
Visual Studio projects, run MSTest unit tests, work with files stored in Visual
SourceSafe and Team Foundation Source Control and manage Team Foundation work items as a part of your
Build Studio macros using special macro operations. This way, you can take advantage of features provided
by both Visual Studio and Automated Build Studio and make your build and release process flexible and
powerful.
Note for Visual Studio Team System users: To work with Visual Studio Team System, Automated
Build Studio uses a special assembly that is installed during the Automated Build Studio installation. The
Automated Build Studio installation program automatically determines the Team System version you have
and installs the assembly that works with this version.
If you have both Team System 2005 and 2008, Build
Studio will include the assembly that works with Team System 2005. The assembly that provides support for
one Team System version does not work with other versions; for instance, the assembly for Team System
2005 does not support Team System 2008, and vice versa.
If you install or remove Visual Studio Team System or Team Explorer from your computer
while having
Automated
Build Studio installed, you should reinstall Automated Build Studio as well. This will let
Automated Build Studio determine the current Team System and Team Explorer version and install the
appropr iate assembly that works with
this version.
Integration
With Microsoft Visual Studio
Automa ted Build Studio can be tightly integrated into in the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE. Currently,
Automated Build Studio extends Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002, Visual Studio .NET 2003, Visual
Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008. This integration provides developers with full control over Automated
Build Studio without leaving the IDE.
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Note:
Integration With Microsoft Visual Studio and MSBuild
Currently, Automated Build Studio does not integrate into Visual Studio 2008. However,
Build Studio includes operations that let you compile Visual Studio 2008 projects,
manage
Team Foundation 2008 work items and work with files stored in Team Foundation 2008
Source Control from your build macros. See Operations Reference.
The integration
with Visual Studio means:
• Automated Build Studio panels (Macro,
Summary, Operations and others) are integrated
into Visual Studio’s IDE. When you open an Automated Build Studio macro in Visual Studio,
the layout of the Visual Studio panels and windows are extended with Automated Build
Studio-
specific panels. When an Automated Build Studio macro is closed, these panels are
automatically hidden within Visual
Studio.
• A new Automated Build Studio project type is added. You can create Automated Build
Studio macros or add them to an existing Visual Studio solution the same way that you create or
add other VS projects; by using the Create Project and Add New Project dialogs of
Visual
Studio. Automated Build Studio macros are displayed in the Solution Explorer along with
other
Visual Studio projects.
• Automated Build Studio integrates its menus and toolbars into the Visual Studio IDE.
Automated Build Studio adds the following menu items and toolbars to Visual Studio’s menu
and toolbar system:
Automated Build Studio adds the Build Studio menu to Visual Studio’s main menu. This
menu contains commands to start, pause and resume
macro runs, modify panel options,
schedule macro runs, and so on.
Automated Build Studio also adds the Automated Build Studio toolbar
to Visual Studio.
This toolbar contains the most frequently used commands: Run, Check Macro, Task
Scheduler, and others.
To enhance the functionality of Automated Build Studio and reduce the duplication of
commands, shared commands are widely used. For example, most of the standard commands
(Select All, Delete, Print, Find, and others) are also applicable to the Automated Build
Studio panels.
• Automated Build Studio integrates into Microsoft Visual Studio Team System. Build Studio
associates a macro with each team project. You can use this macro to build projects and
solutions that make up your team project, or to perform any other actions. To manage the macro
and macro runs, Automated Build Studio adds a new AutomatedBuildStudio
node type to all
team projects. For more information, see Running Automated Build Studio Macros From Visual
Studio
Team Explorer.
• Automated
Build Studio contributes to the Automation Model. The automation model of
Visual Studio provides users with the ability to create custom add-ins, wizards, and
to work with
macros. As a true VS-integrated product, Automated Build Studio provides program interfaces
for its internals. This allows third-party developers to create Visual Studio add-ins, wizards and
macros
that use Build Studio’s object model.
• Automated
Build Studio integrates into the Visual Studio Help system. F1 context-sensitive
Help
is provided for all Automated Build Studio panels, dialogs and project items. The Dynamic
Help window provides a list of help topics specific to the current Automated Build Studio
context or task you are currently working on.
• Further
integration with Visual Studio. In addition to the core integration, Automated Build
Studio
supports advanced integration that displays product information in the About dialog box
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Integration With Microsoft Visual Studio and MSBuild
and
on the splash screen, Properties window support, integration into Visual Studio’s Start Page,
and more.
Running Automated Build Studio Macros From MSBuild
Projects
The Automated
Build Studio package for integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 includes the
MSBuildABSTask.dll
assembly. This assembly lets you call Automated Build Studio macros from your
MSBuild projects.
The package
can be installed on the computer where Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System is
installed. To
install the package, select Program Files | Automated Build Studio & Server | Integration
into Microsoft
Visual Studio | Visual Studio 2005 when installing Automated Build Studio on your
computer. The
installation program automatically registers the assembly in the global assembly cache
(GAC).
Below is a typical example of executing an Automated Build Studio macro from an MSBuild project:
File: MSBUILD.proj
< ExecuteMacro
MacroFile="C:\Program Files\MyMacroFileName.bxp"
Configuration="Release; Debug"
StopIfFail="true"
AdditionalOptions=""
/>
The example i s simple, but it demonstrates two key points in calling an Automated Build Studio macro
from an MSBuild project:
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• Registration. In order to run Build Studio
macros from sample MSBuild projects, you should
registe r a special task type. The registration is done
via the UsingTask element whose attributes
specify the task
name and the name of the assembly that will perform the task. You should
always register the task type before using it in an MSBuild project. The registration string should
always be the same as it is specified in the sample. You can copy the UsingTask string and paste
it to your MSBuild project file. Do not modify
this string in your MSBuild project file.
• Execution. Upon registering the task type, you can use the ExecuteMacro element to initiate
execution
of the desired Automated Build Studio macro. To do this, use the ExecuteMacro
element. The UsingTask element associates ExecuteMacro with the assembly that will
perform
the tas k.
The attributes of ExecuteMacro specify the macro name and run parameters:
Attribute Description
MacroName [in] The full path and name of the macro file to be executed.
Configuration [in] A string holding
the configuration name(s) that will be used to
execute a macro. If you specify several configurations, the macro will be
executed in series, one time for each specified configuration.
To separate
multiple
configuration names, use semicolons.
StopIfFail [in] Indicates whether MSBuild
run will fail if Automated Build Studio
macro run fails.
AdditionalOptions
[in] A string of command-line arguments that are passed to Automated
Build Studio along with the macro file name.
For more information on
supported command-line arguments, see Command-Line Arguments.
Succeeded
[out] Returns true if the macro execution was successful, or false
otherwise. The following code demonstrates a typical use of this
parameter:
For more information on using the [out] parameters, see MSBuild
documentation.
Running Automated Build Studio Macros From Visual Studio
Team Explorer
Automated Build Studio is tightly integrated with the Team Explorer panel of Microsoft Visual Studio
2005 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, allowing you to run macros directly from Team Explorer.
About Integration With Team Explorer
Team Explorer provides an organized view of work items, documents,
team builds and reports stored in
the Team Foundation database's
project portal. Automated Build Studio associates a macro with each team
pro ject. You can use this macro to build projects and solutions that are included in your team project, or to
perf orm any other task you need. To manage the macro and macro run, Build Studio adds a new node -
Automated BuildStudio - to each team project node displayed in Team Explorer:
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The AutomatedBuildStudio node holds two sub-nodes: Macro File and Macro Runs. The Macro File
node
provides access to the Build Studio macro associated with the project. You can run this macro directly
from Team Explorer and view macro run results in Visual Studio. The Macro Runs node is used to initiate
and monitor macro runs and to view the macro run results and history.
Requirements The Team
Explorer integration package of Automated Build Studio consists of two parts: server and
client. The server includes special assemblies that are installed on the Team Foundation server computer. The
client pa rt contains assemblies that act on the computer, where you
are working with Team Explorer.
To use t he integration:
•
Install Automated Build Studio on the computer that has Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 or 2008
Team Foundation server installed. When installing Build Studio, select Program Files |
Automated Build Studio & Server | Team Foundation Server Extension item
in the
installation wizard.
• Install Automated Build Studio on the computer that has Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (or 2008)
with Team Explorer installed. When installing, select Program Files | Automated Build Studio
& Server | Integration into Microsoft Visual Studio | Visual Studio 2005 (or 2008) | Team
Explorer Integration item in the Build Studio installation wizard.
If both Team Explorer 2005 and Team Explorer 2008 are installed on your computer, Build
Studio will include the assembly that works with Team Explorer 2005.
We recommend that you install the server before installing the client. This should be done
because Visual Studio's client stores information about available Team Foundation servers
in special cache files located on the client computer. The server part of Automated Build
Studio’s Team Explorer integration package is installed as a Team Foundation server addon.
If the cached files do not contain information about the add-on, Automated Build Studio
will not be able to integrate into Team Explorer.
If the cache is empty, Visual Studio will populate it with appropriate data upon starting.
Build Studio’s installation program clears the cache thus providing automatic cache update
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upon Visual Studio starts. That is why we recommend that you install the client after the
server. If the client is installed prior to the server, the clearing operation will have no effect.
Note that you can clear the client cache manually. To do this, perform the following
operations on the client computer.
• Close Visual Studio.
• Delete the following folder:
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Team
Foundation\1.0\Cache
• Launch Visual Studio and add the desired Team Foundation server to the list of
available servers.
Modifying an Associated Macro
Build Studio automatically creates and associates a macro with each team project. To view or modify
this macro:
• Right-click the | AutomatedBuildStudio | Macro File node in Team Explorer
and select Open from the context menu.
– or –
• Double-click the Macro File node in Team Explorer.
Automated Build Studio will display the Macro Editor window holding operations of the associated
macro. You can add operations to this macro, modify operation properties and perform other actions as you
would normally do.
Note: Note that the associated macros are executed on the server side, so specify the appropriate
file paths in the operation properties and macro variables.
To save changes made to the macro, select File | Save from the Visual Studio menu or click Save on the
Standard toolbar. This will automatically upload the macro to the server.
To upload an existing macro to the server:
• Right-click the | AutomatedBuildStudio | Macro File node in the Team Explorer.
• Select Upload from the context menu. This will call the Open File dialog.
• Select the desired macro file in the dialog and press OK. Automated Build Studio will upload
the selected macro to the server.
Running the Macro
Macros associated with team projects are executed on the server side (that is, they are executed on the
computer where the Team Foundation Server is installed.
You can start the associated macros in one of the following ways:
• Expand your project’s node in the Team Explorer.
• Right-click the AutomatedBuildStudio node and select Run from the context menu.
– or –
• Open the Macro Run window (you can do this by right-clicking the |
AutomatedBuildStudio | Macro Runs node in Team Explorer and selecting Open from the
context menu, or by double-clicking this node in Team Explorer).
• Press Run on the toolbar of the Macro Run window.
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Automated Build Studio will run the macro and add results to the Macro Runs window after the run is
over (see the Viewing Results section below).
Note: The Macro Runs window is not updated automatically, so to check whether the macro run is
over, click Refresh on the window’s toolbar.
To stop the macro run, right-click the | AutomatedBuildStudio node in Team Explorer
and select Stop from the context menu.
Note: If you open the macro for editing (see the previous section) and run the macro from the
editor by pressing Run, Run From Selected, Run Selected or Run Selected
With Children on the editor’s toolbar, the macro will be ran on your computer, but not on
the server side. The results of these runs are not added to the Macro Runs window.
Viewing Results
Automated Build Studio keeps a log of all macro runs associated with team projects. To view macro run
results, right-click the | AutomatedBuildStudio | Macro Runs node in the Team Explorer
and select Open from the context menu, or double-click this node in Team Explorer. This will open the
Macro Runs window in Visual Studio’s IDE:
This windo w displays information about macro runs in the following columns:
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Column Description
Integration With Microsoft Visual Studio and MSBuild
Name Name of the run (this name includes the team project name along with the date and
time of the run).
Status Specifies the macro run status (Failed or Successfully Executed).
Completed on Date and time when the run was finished.
To view the latest information about the runs, click Refresh on the toolbar.
Note:
The Macro Runs window is not updated automatically after the macro execution is over. To
check whether the macro run is finished, click Refresh on the window's toolbar.
Using the Filter dropdown list, you can filter the displayed runs by date.
The Macro Runs window displays brief information about macro runs: name, result (passed/failed), date
and time of completion. To view detailed information about a macro run, right-click
it in the Macro Runs
window and select Open from the context menu, or double-click the
desired run in the Macro Run window.
This
will bring up Automated Build Studio’s Log panel with messages posted to the log during the selected
macro run:
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web
Interface
Overview
Automated Build Studio lets you start
and monitor macros working on other computers in the network.
Typically, to
initiate and control remote macro runs you need to use special software (for instance, Remote
Desktop Connection)
that provides the appropriate access to the remote computer. Features built into
Automated Build Studio let you control the remote macro runs without installing any additional software.
You can manage remote macros directly from Build Studio. You can even
manage the runs without installing
Automa ted Build Studio - the Automated Build Studio Web Interface installed on the remote computer lets
you contro l the macro runs through your Web browser. Of course,
Automated Build Studio includes special
security settings to limit permissions of users who can view, run or administer the server computer. Note
also, that besides controlling remote macros
directly from Automated Build Studio or via the Web Interface,
you can use
the client/server functionality within your macros using operations of the Remote Macro
Execution category
(for more information on operations of this group see Remote Macro Execution Category
in the General-Purpose Operations document or in on-line help).
The remote
computers where the macro is running are called servers. The computers where you control
the remote macro
execution are called clients.
Automated Build Studio is not divided into Client and Server parts. Once you installed Build
Studio on
your workstation,
it can function like a server and a client. The server provides information needed for
remote macro runs and the client sends commands to the server. To transfer data and commands between the
server and client computers, the Automated Build Studio Service is needed. This service is shipped with
Build Studio and is installed by the Automated Build Studio installation
program. So, after you installed
Automated Build Studio on a computer,
this computer automatically becomes a server, which can be
controlled by a remote instance
of Automated Build Studio.
Automated Build Studio also includes a special Gadget utility that monitors server macro runs from the
desktop
or Sidebar of Windows Vista. For more information, see Automated Build Studio Gadget for
Windows
Sidebar.
Using the Client/Server Functionality
This topic explains how to run macros and monitor macro execution on a remote computer.
Preparing the Server Computer
Connecting to the Server
Registering Macros
Running Macro and Monitoring the Run
Viewing Results
Using Server Settings
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Setting Permissions
Preparing the Server Computer
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
In order for you to monitor macro runs that are performed on a remote computer
(we call it a server), you
need to install Automated
Build Studio on this computer.
The Build Studio installation program will also install and launch the Automated Build Studio Service.
This service is u sed to exchange data between the client and server computers. In order to control macro runs
on a remote computer, the Automated Build Studio Service
should be running on this computer. You can
check
whether the service is running using the Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services window.
If the server computer has Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 or Windows Vista, you
may need to turn off the Windows Firewall, or add Automated Build Studio’s service (< Automated Build
Studio>\Bin\AutomatedBuildService.exe) to the Exceptions
list. For more information, see Automated Build
Studio an d Windows
Firewall.
Connecting
to the Server
To ru n a macro on a remote computer, you have to first connect to this computer. To do this:
• Switch to the Client panel. If it is hidden, choose View | Client from Build Studio’s main menu
to display the panel (if you use Automated Build Studio integrated into Visual Studio, select
Build Studio | Panel List from Visual Studio’s main menu and then choose Client from the
ensuing Select Panel dialog).
• In the Location box displayed on the Macro
page, specify the connection which you will use.
You can either select an existing connection from
the dropdown list, or create a new connection
by clicking the Location box's ellipsis button and using the subsequent Connections dialog. In
this dialog you can choose the desired connection type and specify the user name, domain and
password for the connection. For more information on connection settings, see Connection
Parameters.
Registering Macros
After y ou have connected to a server, you can choose the macro, which you will run on the remote
computer. To
do this:
• Click Add Macro on the toolbar or the Client panel, or right-click somewhere within the
panel’s Macro page and choose Add Macro from the context menu. This will call the Add
Macro dialog.
• On the General
tabbed page of the dialog, you can specify the macro file name, description, the
utility to be used to execute the macro (you can choose either Automated
Build Studio or
Automated Macro Player) and the command-line arguments
for the utility.
The macro description specified in the dialog is used to identify the macro in the Client page,
that is, it is used as a macro alias.
The macro file name is specified in terms of the remote computer,
that is, if you specify
C:\MyMacros\Macro1.bxp, this will mean
that the macro file name is Macro1.bxp and that this
file is located on the C:\MyMacros folder on the
remote computer. There is no need to share this
folder in order to access the macro file.
To specify configuration or variable
values for the macro run, use the command line. See
Command-Line Arguments for more
information.
• On the Identification page you can specify the user name, domain and password that will be
used to connect to the remote computer.
If you do not specify this information, the macro will be
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
executed using the account,
under which Automated Build Studio’s service is running on the
server computer (by default,
the SYSTEM account).
When specifying the account, enter the user name and the domain name. For instance,
MyDomain\JohnSmith. You can either type the desired user and domain names, or click Browse
and choose the
user with the ensuing standard Select User dialog.
Note that the specified account
must have permissions to run executables on the server
computer.
The macro may include operations that use current user account data for functioning (for
instance,
the operation that checks out files from Visual SourceSafe may use the name
and password specified by operation properties, or name and password of the current
user account). So, if the login data that you specify in the Notification page does not
match the data needed by
the operation, the operation execution will fail.
• On the Permissions page you can specify users or user groups, which are allowed to execute the
macro and monitor the macro run. These users and groups must be registered on the server with
the Server Settings dialog. By default, any users registered on the server, can execute a macro
and monitor its runs. If a user does not have the permission for a macro, he will not be able to
run the corresponding macro. Depending on the Hide non-available macros option, the macros
that users do not have the correct permissions for can be hidden or visible on the Client Panel.
• Click OK in the Add Macro dialog to save changes and add the macro to the Client panel.
Using the described steps you can register several macros in the Client panel.
If you add the same macro several times, Automated Build Studio will create macro presets and display
them as child nodes of the macro node. The presets differ from each other by the parameters specified in the
Add Macro dialog. For instance, they can differ in command-line arguments passed to the macro player
before the playback.
Note that Build Studio also supports auto-registering of macros. To enable the auto-registration:
• Create a new connection (see above).
• Click Server Settings on the Client panel toolbar.
This will call the Server Settings dialog.
• Select the Automatically register all macros that are run on the server check box on the
General page of the dialog and click OK to save changes.
Now Automated Build Studio will register any macro that will be started on the remote computer.
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After you have added the macro to the panel, you can run it on the remote computer and monitor the
macro run.
Running Macro and Monitoring the Run
To run a macro added to the Client panel:
• Choose the desired macro in the Macro page of the panel.
• Right-click the selected macro and select Run from the context menu or click the Run button
on the panel's toolbar.
Automated Build Studio will start running the macro on the remote computer. The State column of the
Macro page will indicate the run status.
To view detailed information on the macro’s execution progress, select the desired macro in the Macro
page and switch to the Progress page. This page indicates the execution progress using progress group
defined in the macro being run. If the macro does not contain progress groups, the page will be empty.
Note: The Client panel will monitor all macro runs: those that will be initiated from the Client panel
and those that will be initiated outside of it. In other words, you will see macro runs that will be
started by a user who will log on the remote computer.
Note that Automated Build Studio lets you limit the number of macros running concurrently by setting
the appropriate value to the Maximum concurrent macro runs server option. This option lets you specify the
number of macros that can be started from the Client
panel and run concurrently. By default, this number is
5. So, if Automated Build Studio is running 3 macros on the remote computer and you command to run 4
more macros from the Client panel, only 2 of these four macros will be run. The other two macros will be
placed in a queue and will wait until the total number of running macros
decreases.
Using the M aximum concurrent macro runs option lets you avoid too massive of a load on the server and
provides a simp le way to control the macro run order: if this option holds 1 and you run five macros from the
Client panel, the macros will be executed one-by-one on the remote computer in the order of their run.
Viewing Results
After the mac ro execution is over, the State column of the Macro page will indicate the macro run
results (Failed or Success).
The Configuration column will show the configuration used to build the macro,
Last run will indicate the date and time of the run start, Execution time - the run duration.
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To view detailed information on macro
run results, click the word (Failed or Success) displayed in the
State column. Automated Build Studio will load the run results to the Log and Summary panel.
To view the history of macro runs, choose the desired macro in the Macro page and then
click Show in
the History
column of that page. Build Studio will retrieve the history of the macro runs from the remote
computer and then it will display the History page with the retrieved
data.
The Message column displays text describing the execution result. If the macro failed to execute
successfully, the column will display the error description.
By clicking the Log column of the History page, you can view the log of the appropriate macro run.
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Setting Permissions
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
You can limit the number of users who are able to run macros on the remote computer, monitor macro
runs or administer the Build Studio settings on the remote computer (“administration” means users will be
able or unable to change permissions for the remote computer through the Client panel).
To operate with permissions, you should first create users and user groups that are allowed to work with
the server:
• Open the Client panel.
• Click Server Settings on the panel’s toolbar and use the subsequent Server Settings dialog to
create users and user groups and specify to which group a user belongs.
The permission system is based on the following principles:
Users can be authorized by their name and password specified in the Server Settings dialog,
or by the name and password of their operating system account.
Permissions are specified for user groups only. User-level permissions are not supported. So,
to specify permissions for a user, add it to a user group.
A user can belong to only one group.
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• After you defined the users and user group, you can specify access permissions for individual
macros – you can specify the macro to be run by only certain users. To do this:
Select the desired macro in the Macro page.
Right-click the selected macro and choose Edit Macro Properties from the context menu,
or simply click Edit Macro Properties on the panel's toolbar. This will call the Macro
Properties dialog.
Switch to the Permissions page.
Select the Allow only the following users to run this macro preset check box.
Click Add User or Add Group to add the desired users or user groups to the list of users.
Click OK to save changes.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server – User Permissions
Automated Build Studio macros let you perform various actions, including those that can lead to data
loss (for instance, Automated Build Studio includes operations that can delete files or folders). To prevent
unauthorized access to these macros and operations, the Client/Server subsystem includes special
permissions that restrict actions a user can perform through the Client panel or Automated Build Studio Web
Interface.
• A user can be authorized by user name and password specified in the Server Settings dialog, or
by the name and password of the operating system account. The authentication type is selected in
the Server
Settings and Connections dialogs.
•
The permissions subsystem is based on the following principles:
• The operations a user can perform through the Client panel or Automated Build Studio Web
Interface are specified by the user permissions in the Server Settings dialog.
• To connect to the server, the client part of Automated Build Studio uses the settings specified in
the Connections dialog.
• A user can belong to only one group.
Permissions can only be specified for groups. User-level permissions are not supported, except
for permissions on macro runs (see below).
A group can
have any combination of the following permissions:
Run macros - Users having
this permission can run macros from the Client panel or
Automated Build Studio Web
Interface as well as pause, resume and stop macro runs.
Note, that it this permission can be customized for individual macros and macro presets. For
this purpose, use the Permission tabbed page of the Macro Properties dialog.
Modify macro run parameters - Users that have this permission active can only modify
command-line arguments of a macro. For instance, specify the desired configuration for the
run or initialize variables. This permission is useful when a user has
to modify input data
(which
is not allowed by the Run macros), but assigning them the Manage
macros
permission
is undesirable.
Manage macros – Users having this permission can upload macros to and download
them
from the server, register and unregister monitored macros, modify properties of monitored
macros, configure automatic notifications about the macro state changes, delete unregistered
macros from the server, schedule macro runs on the server, modify scheduled tasks and
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remove them. This permission naturally includes the Modify macro run parameters
permission right.
Administer server - Users having this permission can modify the server settings, configure
notification services, register and unregister new users and user groups and specify run
permissions of users and user groups on individual macros (macro presets).
Add and modify own build requests - Users having this permission can submit build
requests
and modify requests posted by themselves.
Manage build requests - Users having this permission can submit build
requests as well as
edit and remove arbitrary requests. They also can manage build information in the Requests
section - specify description
for builds, merge and delete them. This permission naturally
includes the Add and
modify own build requests right.
To monitor the build server state (view macro status, macro execution progress, history, logs and
charts, build requests and scheduled tasks), users do not need special permissions. Depending on
the Hide non-available macros option, the macros that users do not have the correct permissions
for can be hidden or visible on the Client panel or Web Interface.
Automated Build Studio Server includes two default groups:
• WINDOWS USERS – This group contains all unregistered users logged on to the server using
Windows
authentication.
• EVERYONE
– This group contains all other unregistered user accounts.
By default, these two groups have all
the permissions on the server. You can, however, restrict their
permissions in order to prevent non-authorized
users from managing the server.
These groups
cannot be renamed, and it is impossible to directly add users to these groups. These groups
are meant to contain unregistered accounts only.
The general procedure of creating users and user groups is as follows. In our explanation we assume that
Automated Build Studio has just been installed on the server computer and that you have not
yet defined user
or user groups
for this server.
• You (or any
other user) create a connection to the remote computer. To do this, you do not need
special administrator permissions.
Open the Client panel.
On the panel’s Macro page, click the ellipsis button of the Connection edit box. This will
call the Connections
dialog. The dialog will guide you through the process of creating the
connection.
On the first page of the dialog,
specify the name for your connection. On the next two pages
you specify the connection type (DCOM or Web service) and settings (computer name or
URL).
On the fourth page you have to specify the authentication parameters. Select Authenticate
as the logged on Windows user and click Finish.
Automated Build Studio will create a new connection and automatically select it in the
Connection box of the Client panel’s Macro page.
• You will be added to the WINDOWS USERS group. By default, users belonging to this group
have all the permissions for the client/server operations.
• Click
• In the dialog:
Server Settings on the Client panel's toolbar. This will call the Server Settings dialog.
Create the user groups and specify their permissions:
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- Switch to the Groups page.
- Create the new groups by clicking Add.
- Specify the group name and permissions using the check boxes at the bottom of the
ensuing Add Group dialog. Note that the group name cannot coincide with another
group name or with a user name.
- If you will be the Build Studio server administrator, add your user name to the
appropriate group (this group should have the Administer server permission). This will
automatically remove your user account from the WINDOWS USERS group.
- For the
EVERYONE and WINDOWS USERS groups, uncheck all the permissions. So
users belonging to this group will only be able to monitor macro runs, but not start, stop,
download or upload them.
Create new users and add them to the created groups. To do this:
- Switch to the Users tabbed page.
- Click Add to create a new user. This will call the Add User dialog.
- In the dialog:
- Specify the user name and password:
- If you want a user to be authenticated by the operating
system, select the Windows
user check box and then enter the user name (including the domain) into the User
name
edit field in the format DomainName\UserName.
You can either enter the desired user and domain names or click the ellipsis button
of the User name box and choose the user using the subsequent standard Select User
dialog.
- If you want a user to be authenticated by the Automated Build Studio server, clear
the Windows user check box and type the desired user name(without the domain
name) and password.
After you finish creating users and groups, click OK to close the Server Settings dialog.
Connection
Parameters
- In the Group edit box specify the group, to which the user will belong.
- Click OK to add the new user with the specified properties.
Automated Build Studio includes features that let you run macros and monitor macro runs on
remote
computers: Client/Server and gadget, distributed builds
and R emote Macro Execution operations.
To connect
to remote computers, Automated Build Studio can use one of the following methods:
• DCOM
• Web service (SOAP)
Below are descriptions of these connection methods and instructions on how to configure them. In the
end of the topic, you will find tips on choosing the connection type.
General Requirements
Regardless of which connection type you choose, the computer must meet the following requirements:
• The remote computer must have Automated Build Studio installed.
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• The Automated Build Studio Service must be running on the remote computer. This service is
used to exchange data between the client and server computers. It is part of Automated Build
Studio and is installed by the Build Studio installation program. You can check that the service is
running or launch it in the Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services window.
• If the remote computer has Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 or Windows
Vista, you may need to turn off the Windows Firewall, or add Automated Build Studio’s service
(\Bin\AutomatedBuildService.exe) to the Exceptions list. For more
information, see Automated Build Studio and Windows Firewall.
DCOM Settings
DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) is a protocol that enables software components to
communicate directly through
the network. It does not require any additional runtime applications on the
server, since DCOM is an integral part of the operating systems supported by Automated Build Studio (see
System Requirements). Using
the DCOM connection, you can connect to computers that belong to the
domain to which your computer
belongs. Within the domain range, the DCOM connection is faster than the
Web service connection.
Using the DCOM connection
you can only connect to those computers that belong to the domain, to
which
your computer belongs.
Within the domain range, the DCOM connection is faster than the Web
service connection.
When establishing the DCOM connection to the remote
computer, you need to specify the desired
computer
name. In order for Build Studio to establish the connection, the remote computer must meet
requirements listed in
the General Requirements section above and should have specific DCOM settings set.
To configure DCOM, follow these steps:
• The Automated
Build Studio Service must be running on this computer. This service is used to
exchange data between the client and server computers. It is part of Automated
Build Studio and
is installed by the Build Studio installation program.
• The DCOM options
must be set properly:
Open the Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Component Services window.
Right-click th e Console Root | Component Services | Computers | My Computer node in
the tree on the left of the window and select Properties from the context menu.
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This will call the Computer
Properties dialog.
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Activate the COM Security page of the dialog.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
Click Edit Limits in the Access Permission section. This will call the Access Permissions
dialog.
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Make certain that the user account, which you will use to connect to the server computer, is
added to the Group or user names list and that the Remote Access permission is enabled
for it. You
can set this setting for the Everyone user group to enable all domain users to
connect to the build server.
Do not confuse this user (or user group) name
with the name and group you specify in the
Server Settings dialog. The Server Settings dialog defines the name that is used to connect to
the remote
Automated Build Studio, while in the Access Permissions dialog you specify the
account, used to connect
to the remote computer.
Click OK to save the changes and return to the Computer Properties
dialog.
Click Edit Limits
in the Launch and Activation section. This will call the Launch
Permissions dialog:
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
Make certain that the user account,
which you will use to connect to the server computer, is
added to the Group or user names list and that the Remote Activation permission is
enabled for it.
You can enable this setting for the Everyone group to enable all domain users
to connect to the build server.
Do not confuse this user (or user group) name with the name and group you specify in the
Server Settings dialog. The Server Settings
dialog defines the name that is used to connect to
the remote Automated Build Studio, while in the Access Permissions dialog
you specify the
account, used to connect to the remote computer.
Click OK to save the changes and return to the Computer
Properties dialog.
Click OK in the Computer Properties dialog
to close it.
Web Service (SOAP) Settings
The Web Service (SOAP) connection method lets you connect to any computer where Automated Build
Studio is installed regardless of whether this computer belongs or does not belong to the domain of the client
computer. If you select this type of connection, the local
and remote computer will communicate through
SOAP
messages.
In order for Build Studio to establish the connection, the remote computer must
requirements, in addition to those listed in the General Requirements section:
meet certain
• The remote
computer must have Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.1 or later installed.
• The remote computer
must have the virtual directory providing access to the appropriate Build
Studio modules.
This virtual directory is created by the installation program of Automated Build
Studio.
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When establishing the connection to the remote computer,
you need to specify the URL connection in
the http://ComputerName/VirtualDirectoryName format, for instance:
http://JohnSmithComp/AutomatedBuildStudio
Here JonSmithComp is the server computer's name and AutomatedBuildStudio is the virtual directory
name.
This is the default virtual directory created by Build Studio's installation program.
Note: Do not confuse the names of the virtual directories. The virtual directory name of the
Automated Build Studio Server is AutomatedBuildStudio,
while the virtual directory name that
is used to access the Automated Build Studio Web Interface
(if it is installed on the server
computer) is AutomatedBuildStudioWeb.
In order for Build Studio to establish the connection, the server computer must meet the following
requirements:
• The Automated Build Studio Service must be running on this computer. This service is used to
exchange data between client and server computers. It is part of Automated Build Studio and is
installed by Build Studio's installation program.
• The remote computer must have Microsoft Internet Information
Services 5.1 or later installed
and must have the virtual directory providing access to the appropriate Build Studio modules.
This virtual directory is created by
the installation program of Automated Build Studio.
Which Connection Type to Choose
Using the DCOM connection you can only connect to those computers that belong to the domain, to
which your computer belongs. Within the domain range, the DCOM connection is faster than the Web
service
connection.
Using the Web
service connection you are not limited by the domain bounds. - you can connect to
computers that do
not belong to the domain containing your computer. So, you have to choose this
connection type if the server computer does not belong to the domain containing your computer.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server Web Interface
About Automated Build Studio Web Interface
Automated Build Studio
includes client and server functionality (see Automated Build Studio
Client/Server - Overview). To execute and monitor macros running on the server computer, you use the
Client panel of the Build Studio
instance running as a client. The client code connects to the server computer,
o btains data from it and displays this data in the Client panel. In order to work through the Client panel, you
have to install Automated
Build Studio on your computer.
Automated Build Studio's Client/Server Web Interface
lets you control the server through your Internet
browser (that is, without installing Automated
Build Studio on client computers). The Web Interface module
is installed on the server computer and generates
web pages that you access through your Internet browser.
Requirements
To use Automated Build Studio Web Interface, the server computer must have the following software
installed:
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
with Service Pack 3, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or
Microsoft Windows Vista.
• Automated
Build Studio with Automated Build Studio Web Interface (the Web Interface is
included in Automated Build Studio and it can be installed during Automated Build Studio
installation).
• Microsoft
Internet Information Services ver. 5.0 or later.
• Microsoft
Data Access Components 2.8 or later.
• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.
• Adobe Flash Player 8 or later.
Note that
Microsoft Internet Information Services should be installed prior to Microsoft .NET
Framework
2.0.
In certain situations, you may need to manually upgrade IIS script maps to the current version of
ASP.NET. This can be done by using the -i key of the aspnet_regiis.exe utility. The utility is
located in the following path:
\Microsoft.NET\Framework\\aspnet_regiis.exe.
As for the client side, the web browser, in which you will browse the pages generated by Web Interface,
must support cookies and JavaScript. This kind of support is built into most modern browsers. However, you
may
need to check browser options to ensure that this support is enabled.
Using Web Interface
To view a page generated by the Web interface, open your Internet browser and navigate to the following
page:
http://ServerName_or_IP/AutomatedBuildStudioWeb
As you can see, you can specify the server computer using either its name or IP address.
AutomatedBuildStudioWeb is the virtual directory holding the
pages generated by the Web Interface
module. AutomatedBuildStudioWeb is the default directory name. You can change it when installing Build
Studio on the server computer or any time later using the Internet Information Services dialogs and windows.
Note: Do not confuse the names of the virtual directories.
The virtual directory name of the
Automated Build Studio Server is AutomatedBuildStudio, while the virtual directory name that
is used to access the Automated Build Studio Web Interface (if it is installed on the server
computer) is AutomatedBuildStudioWeb.
After you enter the specified address, you will see the Login page asking you to specify the
authentication parameters for login. Alternatively, you can enable the Authenticate
by OS check box and use
your
Windows logon settings.
Note: Authentication by OS
credentials does not operate on Windows Vista unless the Windows
Authentication feature of the Internet Information Services is enabled. To enable it, do the
following:
1. Open the Control Panel | Programs and Features
tool.
2. Click the Turn Windows features on or off link.
3. Check the Internet Information Services | World Wide Web Services | Security |
Windows Authentication option.
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The next page after the Login page is very similar to Automated Build
Studio’s Client panel. You can
use it in the same manner as you use the Client panel. For more information, see Using
the Client/Server
Functionality
and Automated Build Studio Client/Server - Common Tasks (in on-line help).
This page also contains three additional sections:
• Requests – Lets you add, monitor and manage user requests for server macro runs. For more
information, see Build Requests
in online help
• Tasks – Analogue to Automated Build Studio’s built-in Tasks Scheduler. This section lets you
schedule server
macro runs and monitor scheduled tasks.
• Charts – Analogue to the Charts panel. This section graphically represents statistics on the
server computer’s macro runs.
Automatic
Build Notifications
Automated Build Studio Server can be configured
so that it sends notifications every time a build is
started or finished or whenever a new request for the build run is submitted. This way, you can easily
monitor
the status of your builds.
Notifications can be sent via e-mail as well as MSN or ICQ instant messages. The notification text
includes
various information about the occurred build event, such as:
• The name of the macro and macro preset whose status
is changed.
• The macro configuration.
• The event type (build started, new build request received, and so on).
• The date and time the event occurred.
• The way the macro was launched (manually by the user, via
the Web Interface, by the scheduler,
and so on).
• The name of the user who started the macro or submitted the build request.
• The account under
which the macro was started.
• The text of the build request.
• The macro execution status (successful, failed, and so on).
An example of such notification is as follows:
Automated Build Studio notification.
Macro: C:\Projects\Much-o-Money.bbp
Configuration name: Release
Event: Started at 25.06.2008 15:27:35
Launched by: John Smith
Launch type: Client
To learn how to set up automatic build notifications, follow the instructions provided in the sections
below:
Requirements
Configuring Notification Services
Configuring Build Notifications
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Requirements
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
You can set up automatic build notifications
via Automated Build Studio’s built-in Client panel, or via
the Web Interface.
The instructions in this topic assume that you use the Client panel; however, the way you
do
this in the Web Interface is identical.
To be able to configure automatic notifications,
your user group must have certain permissions on the
server:
For more
Permissions.
• To configure notification services to be used for contacting the users, the Administer server
permission is required.
• To configure build notifications for individual server macros (or macro presets), the Manage
macros permission is required.
information about these permissions, see Automated Build Studio Client/Server - User
Also, in order for the users to receive these notifications, their contact information (e-mail address, MSN
address and/or ICQ UIN) must be specified in their account properties on the server. To learn how to modify
the users’ account information,
see Automated Build Studio Client/Server - Common Tasks in on-line help.
Configuring Notification Services
• Switch to the Client panel. If it is hidden, do any of the following:
In Automated Build
Studio running as a standalone application, choose View | Client from
the main menu to display
the panel.
In Automated Build Studio integrated into Visual
Studio .NET, choose Build Studio | Panel
List from Visual Studio’s main menu and then choose Client from the ensuing Select Panel
dialog.
• In the Location box displayed
on the Macros page, select the connection to the desired build
server.
• Click the
Server Settings button.
• In the ensuing
Server Settings dialog, switch to the Notification page.
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• To add a new notification service:
Click Add and select the notification type, E-mail, MSN or ICQ from the popup list. This
will invoke the Add Notification Server dialog.
Configuring e-mail notifier:
- Enter the notifier name in the Server name field. The default one is E-mail server.
- In the Server address and Server port fields, enter the name and
mail server.
137
port of your outgoing
- If your outgoing mail server requires authentication,
specify the account name and
password used to connect to it in the Account name and Account password fields.
- In the From address field, specify the
e-mail address that the server will use to send
notifications. For example, builder@mycompany.com.
Configuring MSN notifier:
- Enter the notifier name in the Server name field.
The default one is MSN server.
- In the Account e-mail and Account password fields, enter the e-mail and password of
the account that the server will use to send notification
messages.
Configuring ICQ notifier:
- Enter the notifier name in the Server name field. The default one is ICQ server.
- In the Server address and Server port fields, enter the address and port of the ICQ
authorization server to use. The default values are login.icq.com
and 5190, respectively.
- In the Account UIN
and Account password fields, specify the ICQ identifier and the
password of the
account that the server will use to send notification messages.
Note: The Account UIN value must include digits only, for example, 123456789. It
must not include spaces, dashes and other characters that are often uses to
separate parts of ICQ UINs (that is, the 123-456-789 and 123 456 789 UINs are
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invalid).
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
- Click OK to close the dialog and add the specified notification service.
To modify notification service’s properties:
- Select the desired notification service
in the list and click Edit.
- Use the ensuing Edit Notification Server dialog to modify notification settings.
- After you have made the needed
changes, click OK to save them.
To remove a notification service:
- Select the desired
item in the notifier list and click Remove.
• Press OK to save the changes and
close the Server Settings dialog.
Configuring Build Notifications
To configure automatic notifications for a particular
build, do the following:
• On the Macros page of the Client panel, select the macro whose run state changes you want to
notify the users about, and click Edit Macro
Properties.
• In the ensuing Macro Properties dialog, switch
to the Notifications page.
• To add a new recipient:
Click Add and choose whether you will add an individual registered user, a user group or a
custom recipient.
In the ensuing Add Notification dialog, select the desired user or group in the list, or enter a
custom address to which notifications should be sent. In case of e-mail and MSN
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notifications, the custom address should be the recipient’s e-mail address. In case of ICQ
notifications, it should be the recipient’s ICQ UIN. Note, the UIN should only include digits;
spaces, dashes or other helper characters are not allowed.
In the Server
combo box, select the notification service to be used for contacting the
specified recipients.
This combo box holds a list of all notifiers defined in the Server
Settings dialog.
In the Events group, select
the events on which you want to notify the specified recipients:
- Build started - Occurs when the current macro is started.
- Build succeeded - Occurs when the macro run is successfully finished.
- Build failed - Occurs when the macro run fails.
- New build request registered - Occurs when a new request for the macro run is
submitted.
Click OK to close
the Add Notification dialog and save the changes.
• To modify recipient's properties:
Use the ensuing Edit Notification
dialog to select another user, group or address to be
notified, change the notification
medium or the set of traced events.
• Press OK to close the Macro Properties dialog and save the changes.
Automated Build Studio Gadget for Windows Sidebar
Automated Build Studio includes
a special gadget that helps you monitor the build server under
Windows
Vista. This topic describes how to set up the gadget and how to use it.
Overview
Select the desired user, user group or address in the list and click Edit.
After you have made the needed changes, press OK to apply them.
• To remove a recipient:
Select the desired user, user group or address in the list and click Remove.
Gadgets are lightweight HTML-based
applications that usually indicate process data. For example, time,
resource
load, RSS feeds and so on. The gadget supplied with Automated Build Studio allows users to
monitor macro runs in real time.
The gadgets concept was introduced in Microsoft Vista. When installing Build Studio on this platform,
you can enable the Automated Build Studio Gadget for Windows Sidebar item. After installation the gadget
becomes available in the Gadget Gallery. It can be placed on the Windows Sidebar or anywhere on the
desktop.
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
The information displayed in the gadget is very similar to information shown in the Automated Build
Studio’s Client panel. The gadget displays a list of registered macros on a local or remote computer and for
each macro it shows the information about its progress or results.
Depending on the Show additional
information in the main
window option, this information can be represented as popup hint or in an
additional text line in the gadget window.
The gadget window has a fixed size; to scroll through the list items
you can use the up and down buttons
in the gadget’s lower right corner. A click upon a macro name invokes
an additional window with details: if
the macro is being executed at that moment, then the window indicates
the current progress state, otherwise it
displays
the history of previous runs and the ratio of successful to failed builds:
The gadget regularly updates the displayed data. By default, it refreshes data every 5 seconds, but the
update interval could be changed via the settings dialog. However, the minimal interval is 1 second.
Besides monitoring the server macros, you can also run them directly from the gadget. To do this, use
buttons in the
upper right corner of the gadget’s extended window. Note, however, that this is only possible if
the server’s user group, to which your account belongs, has the Run macros permissions. (For more
information on permissions, see Automated Build Studio Client/Server - User Permissions.)
The gad get also provides a quick way to open the server’s Web Interface. For this purpose, click the
server name in the gadget’s lower left corner. This will call the default internet browser and navigate to Web
Interface
login page.
Note: The address of the Web Interface login page is specified by the gadget’s Web Interface URL
option. By default it is http://ServerName_or_IP/AutomatedBuildStudioWeb,
however, the
alias name (AutomatedBuildStudioWeb) can be redefined during the installation on a target
machine.
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Connecting Gadget to the Server
By default, the gadget
displays information about the macros on the local Automated Build Studio server
(localhost). If you
need to monitor a remote build server, you should modify the gadget options so that they
specify connection
parameters to that server:
1. Right-click the gadget and choose Options in the context
menu, or press the Settings button.
2. In the
dialog, select the connection type in the Connect via radio group.
Tip:
If the computer where you connect, resides in your local network and
belongs to the same domain that your computer belongs in, select DCOM.
If the computer where you connect does
not belong to the domain that your
computer belongs in, select Web service.
To connect to
a remote computer, it should be properly configured beforehand. Read the
Connection Parameters topic for instructions how to do this.
3. Depending on the chosen connection type, specify a value in the Server name (DCOM) or Web
service URL (Web Service) field.
4. Specify user credentials.
Check the Authenticate by OS to logon with the same username and password that you
use to
log int o your computer.
– or –
Enter the desired user name and password in the corresponding fields.
Working With
the Gadget
To add or remove a server macro
You cannot add or remove macros monitored on
the server via the Gadget. To manage the list of server
macros, us e either the Client panel or the Web interface. For
more information on how to do this, see
Automated Build Studio Client/Server - Common Tasks.
Tip: You can quickly navigate to the Automated Build Studio Server’s Web Interface by clicking
the server name in the in the gadget’s lower left corner. This will automatically open the
server’s Web Interface login page in your default Internet browser.
To start, pause or stop a macro
• Click the macro name in the list. This will bring up a pop-up window displaying either the macro
run history or the macro run progress.
• To start the macro, click the Start Macro
button. If the macro has several presets, the gadget
will prompt you to choose the preset to be run.
To pause the macro run, click Pause Macro. To resume the suspended macro, click Start
Macro.
To stop the macro run, press Stop Macro.
Note: You can start, pause and stop server macros only if you have the Run macros permission on
the server.
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To view the macro run progress
• Click the macro name in the gadget window.
To view the macro run history
• Click the macro name in the
gadget window.
To quickly
open the server’s Web Interface
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
• Click the server name in the lower left corner of the gadget. This will launch your
Internet
browser and navigate to the server’s Web Interface login page.
About
absControl
absControl is an ActiveX control that you can use to create a client application to work with an
Automated Build Studio server (local or remote). Using absControl API, you can connect your client
program to the server computer, get access to the list of macros that are registered to be executed on the
server computer, obtain information on each macro specified in this list (for instance, a list of recent macro
runs
or information on the run progress), initiate and control remote macro runs from your client application.
The installation program of Build Studio installs absControl.exe to the \Bin\Tools
folder.
Using absControl
The first step in developing a custom client application to manage Automated Build Studio
server is
creating an instance of the absControl object. This object provides methods and properties to connect to
the server and manage server macros. You can create an absControl instance using the
absControl.absGadget
program identifier. The following The following code snippets demonstrate how you
can do this in various
programming languages:
[Visual Basic 6.0]
Set absGadget = CreateObject("absControl.absGadget")
[Visual Basic .NET]
absGadget =
Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("absControl.absGadget"))
[C#]
absGadget =
Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID("absControl.absGadget"));
[Delphi]
absGadget := CreateOleObject('absControl.absGadget');
After having obtained a reference to the absControl object, you need to connect this object to the
Automated Build Studio server. To do this, use the Connect method of the absControl object:
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absControl.Connect(Address, UseDCOM, UserName, Password, WinUser)
The Address parameter specifies the address of the server computer. This address depends on the
connection type you use to connect to the server - DCOM or SOAP (Web service) - which is specified by the
UseDCOM parameter. (To learn more about these connection types, see Connection Parameters.) To use the
DCOM connection, the UseDCOM parameter should be True and the Address parameter should hold the
name of the server computer. To connect via SOAP, pass False in the UseDCOM parameter and specify the
URL of Automated Build Studio’s virtual directory on the server in the Address parameter (the default URL
is http://ServerName_or_IP/AutomatedBuildStudio).
Note that for absControl to establish the server
connection successfully, the used connection protocol must be properly configured on the server. For more
information on required settings, see Connection Parameters.
In the Connect method,
you should also specify the user account that absControl will use to log into the
server. absControl can log
in either using the credentials of the user that is currently logged onto Windows,
or use a specific account. To log in as the current Windows user, pass True in the WinUser parameter and
leave the UserName and Password parameters empty. Otherwise, specify the desired UserName and
Password that will be used to log into the server and set the WinUser parameter to False.
After you have connected absControl to the server, you can perform the desired actions: run and stop
server macros, check their state, retrieve their history, and so on. The following table provides a brief
summary on implementing some common tasks:
Action Description
To obtain a list of
registered macros...
Use the GetMacros method of the absControl object. This method returns the
TabsMacroList object that provides program access to the list of the registered
macros.
To iterate through the macro list, use the moveNext method, the item property
and other members of the obtained TabsMacroList object.
To
get program Use the item property of the
TabsMacroList object to get a program interface to
access to a single a macro. This property returns the TabsMacroData object. You can use the
macro...
properties of this object (for instance, Description,
FileName, ID) to get
information on the macro.
To
obtain a list of Use the Presets property of the TabsMacroData object. This property returns
macro presets... the TabsPresetList object that provides program access to the list of macro
presets.
To iterate through the presets list, use
the moveNext method, the item property
and other members of the obtained TabsPresetList object.
To get information To get access to a single macro preset, use the item property
of the
on a macr o preset... TabsPresetList object. This property returns the TabsPresetData object
whose properties you can use to get information on a macro preset.
To get the history of Use the GetHistory method of the absControl object. This method returns the
macro runs.. . TabsMacroRunList
object that provides program access to the macro run history.
To iterate through the history items, use the moveNext method, the item property
and other members of the obtained TabsMacroRunList object.
To g et the
progress Use the GetProgress method of the absControl object. This method returns
of a macro run... the TabsProgressList object that provides program
access to information about
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Action Description
To run, pause, stop
or
resume a macro
preset...
Examples
the macro’s progress groups.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
To iterate through the progress groups, use the moveNext method, the item
property and other members of the obtained TabsProgressList object.
Use the SendCommand method of the absControl object. The first and second
parameters
of this method specify the identifiers of the desired macro and its
preset.
The third parameter specifies the command to be executed over the macro
preset: 0 - run, 1 - pause, 2 - stop, 3 - resume.
The foll owing code snippets are examples of clients that use absControl. These client applications
perform the following actions:
• Connect
to the local Automated Build Studio server as the user currently logged in to Windows
( the Web Service connection type is used).
• Get a list of macros that are registered to be executed on the server computer.
• Get and print information on each macro of the derived list.
• Get a list of presets for each macro.
• Print information on each preset of the macro.
• Obtain the history of the last macro runs.
• Run the last macro and print the progress of the macro execution.
Two notes:
• To use the C# and Visual
Basic.NET samples in your application, add a reference to the
absControl library (\Bin\Tools\absControl.exe.) in your project.
• In the Visual
Basic 6.0 and Delphi samples, absControl is located in event handlers
(Command1_Click
and Button1Click respectively). Make sure that your Visual Basic 6.0
(Delphi) application
has a form that contains the Command1 (Button1) button and an appropriate
event handler that corresponds to the Click event of this button.
[Visual Basic 6.0]
Private Sub Command1_Click()
absGadget = Null
ProgId = "absControl.absGadget"
Address = "http://localhost/AutomatedBuildStudio/" ' Build Studio's virtual
directory URL on the server
WinUser = True ' Authenticate as the currently logged on Windows user
UserName = ""
Password = ""
UseDCOM = False ' In our example, we will use the SOAP (WebService)
connection
' Creates an absControl object
Set absGadget = CreateObject(ProgId)
' Connects to the Automated Build Studio server
Connect = absGadget.Connect(Address, UseDCOM, UserName, Password, WinUser)
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' Obtains the list of registered macros
Set absMacros = absGadget.GetMacros
' Iterates through the macro list and prints information on each macro
For i = 0 To absMacros.Count - 1
FileName = absMacros.Item.FileName
Description = absMacros.Item.Description
MacroID = absMacros.Item.ID
LastRun = absMacros.Item.LastMacroRun.StartTime
IsRunning = absMacros.Item.IsRunning
Debug.Print "Macro"; i
Debug.Print "File name - "; FileName; "; "; " Description - ";
Description; "; "; " ID - "; MacroID; "; "; "IsRunning - "; IsRunning; "; ";
" LastMacroRun - "; LastRun
' Obtains the list of the macro's presets
Set absPresets = absMacros.Item.Presets
' Prints information on each preset
For j = 0 To absPresets.Count - 1
PresetName = absPresets.Item.Name
PresetID = absPresets.Item.ID
PresetRunMode = absPresets.Item.RunMode
PresetCmdLine = absPresets.Item.CmdLine
PresetAccount = absPresets.Item.Account
Debug.Print " preset"; j; ": "; " Name - "; PresetName;
"; "; " ID - ";
PresetID; "; "; " RunMode - "; PresetRunMode; "; "; " CmdLine - ";
PresetCmdLine; "; "; "Account - "; PresetAccount; "; "
absPresets.MoveNext
Next
run
absMacros.MoveNext
Next
' History
absMacros.MoveLast
' Gets the ID of the last macro
ID = absMacros.Item.ID
' Prints the history of the last macro
Debug.Print "History of the last macro:"
' Obtains the macro run history
Set history = absGadget.GetHistory(ID) ' Iterates through the history items and prints information on each macro
For i = 0 To history.Count - 1
Start = history.Item.StartTime
Debug.Print Start
history.MoveNext
Next
' Progress
' Runs a macro
absGadget.SendCommand ID, 1, 0
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' Prints the m acro run progress
Debug.Print "Progress of the last macro:"
' Obtains the macro
run progress
Set progress
= absGadget.GetProgress(ID)
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
' Iterates through the macro run progress items and prints information on
each progress group
For i = 0 To progress.Count - 1
ProgGroupName = progress.Item.Name
ProgGroupState = progress.Item.State
ProgGroupRunTime = progress.Item.ExecTime
Debug.Print "Group Name - " ; ProgGroupName; "; " ; " State - " ;
ProgGroupState; "; "; " ExecTime - "; Hour(ProgGroupRunTime); " hour ";
Minute(ProgGroupRunTime); " min."; Second(ProgGroupRunTime); " sec."
progress.MoveNext
Next
' Closes the connection to the server computer
absGadget.Disconnect
absMacros = Null
End Sub
[Visual Basic.NET]
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports absControl
Module Module1
Sub Main()
' Initializes variables
Const ProgID = "absControl.absGadget"
Dim Address = "http://localhost/AutomatedBuildStudio/" ' Build
Studio's virtual directory URL on the server
Dim WinUser = True ' Authenticate as the currently logged on Windows
user
Dim UserName = ""
Dim Password = ""
Dim UseDCOM = False ' In our example, we will use the SOAP
(WebService) connection
Dim absGadget As absControl.absGadget = Nothing
Dim i, j
' Obtains access to absControl
Try
absGadget = Marshal.GetActiveObject(ProgID)
Catch
Try
absGadget =
Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID(ProgID))
Catch
End Try
End Try
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If (absGadget Is Nothing) Then Exit Sub
' Connects to the Automated Build Studio server
Dim connect = absGadget. Connect(Address, UseDCOM, UserName, Password,
WinUser)
macro
' Obtains the list of registered macros
Dim absMacros As absControl.absCollection = absGadget.GetMacros
' Iterates through the macro list and prints information on each
For i = 0 To absMacros.Count - 1
' Obtains the TabsMacroData object
Dim absMacroData As absControl.absMacroData = absMacros.item
Console.WriteLine("Macro" + i.ToString)
Console.WriteLine(" File name - " + absMacroData.FileName)
Console.WriteLine(" Description - " + absMacroData.Description)
Console.WriteLine(" ID - " + absMacroData.ID.ToString)
Console.WriteLine(" IsRunning - " +
absMacroData.IsRunning.ToString)
absPresets.item
' Obtains the list of the macro's presets
Dim absPresets As absControl.absCollection
= absMacroData.Presets
' Prints information on each preset
For j = 0 To absPresets.Count - 1
' Obtains the TabsPresetData object
Dim absPresetData As absControl.absPresetData =
Console.Write(" Preset" + j.ToString + ": ")
Console.Write(" name - " + absPresetData.Name)
Console.Write(" ID - " + absPresetData.ID.ToString)
Console.Write(" RunMode - " + absPresetData.RunMode.ToString)
Console.Write(" CmdLine - " + absPresetData.CmdLine)
Console.WriteLine(" Account - " + absPresetData.Account)
absPresets.moveNext()
Next
absMacros.moveNext()
Next
' History
absMacros.moveLast()
' Gets the ID of the last macro
Dim absData As absControl.absMacroData = absMacros.item
Dim Id = absData.ID
Console.Write("History of the last macro:")
' Obtains the macro run history
Dim history As absControl.absCollection = absGadget.GetHistory(Id)
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' Iterates through the history items and prints information on each
macro run
For i = 0 To history.Count - 1
' Obtains the TabsMacroRunData object
Dim historyData As absControl.absMacroRun = history.item
Console.WriteLine(historyData.StartTime)
history.moveNext()
Next
' Progress
' Runs macro
absGadget.SendCommand(Id, 1, 0)
Console.Write("Progress of the last macro:")
' Obtains the macro run progress
Dim progress As absControl.absCollection
= absGadget.GetProgress(Id)
' Iterates through the run progress items and prints information on
each progress group
For i = 0 To progress.Count
- 1
' Obtains the TabsProgressData object
Dim progressData As absControl.absProgressData = progress.item
Console.WriteLine("Progress group" + i.ToString + ":")
Console.WriteLine(" Name - " + progressData.Name)
Console.WriteLine(" State - " + progressData.State.ToString)
Console.WriteLine(" ExecTime - " +
progressData.ExecTime.Hour.ToString + " hour " +
progressData.ExecTime.Minute.ToString + " min" +
progressData.ExecTime.Second.ToString + " sec")
progress.moveNext()
Next
' Closes the connection to the server computer
absGadget.Disconnect
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
End Module
[C#]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using absControl;
namespace example
{
class Program
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{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Initializes variables
object abs = null;
string Address = "http://localhost/AutomatedBuildStudio/"; // Build
Studio' s virtual directory URL on the server
bool UseDCOM = false; // In our example, we will use SOAP (WebService)
connection
string UserName = "";
string Password = "";
bool WinUser = true; // Authenticate as the currently
logged on Windows
user
const string ProgID = "absControl.absGadget";
// Obtains access to absControl
try
{
abs = Marshal.GetActiveObject(ProgID);
}
catch
{
try
{
abs = Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID(ProgID));
}
catch
{
}
}
if (abs == null) return;
/ / Obtains the absControl object
absControl.absGadget absGadget = (absControl.absGadget) abs;
// Connects to the Automated Build Studio server
string connect = absGadget.Connect(Address, UseDCOM, UserName,
Password, WinUser);
// Obtains the list of registered macros
absControl.absCollection absMacros = (absControl.absCollection)
absGadget.GetMacros();
// Iterates through the macro list and prints information on each macro
for (int i = 0; i < absMacros.Count; i++)
{
// Obtains the TabsMacroData object
absControl.absMacroData absMacroData = (absControl.absMacroData)
absMacros.item;
Console.Write("Macro" + i + ":\n");
Console.WriteLine(" File name - " + absMacroData.FileName);
Console.WriteLine(" Description - " + absMacroData.Description);
Console.WriteLine(" ID - " + absMacroData.ID);
Console.WriteLine(" IsRunning - " + absMacroData.IsRunning);
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// Obtains the list of the macro's presets
absControl.absCollection absPresets = (absControl.absCollection)
absMacroData.Presets;
// Prints information on each preset
for (int j = 0; j < absPresets.Count; j++)
{
// Obtains the TabsPresetData object
absControl.absPresetData absPresetData = (absControl.absPresetData)
absPresets.item;
}
Console.Write(" Preset" + j + ": ");
Console.Write(" name - " + absPresetData.Name);
Console.Write(" ID - " + absPresetData.ID);
Console.Write(" RunMode - " + absPresetData.RunMode);
Console.Write(" CmdLine - " + absPresetData.CmdLine);
Console.Write(" Account - " + absPresetData.Account + "\n");
absPresets.moveNext();
}
absMacros.moveNext();
/ / History
absMacros.moveLast();
/ / Gets id of the last macro
absControl.absMacroData absData = (absControl.absMacroData)
absMacros.item; int ID = absData.ID;
Console.Write("History of the last macro:\n");
// Obtains the macro run history
absControl.absCollection history = (absControl.absCollection)
absGadget.GetHistory(ID);
// Iterates through the history items and prints information on each
macro run
for (int i = 0; i < history.Count; i++)
{
// Obtains the TabsMacroRunData object
absControl.absMacroRun historyData = (absControl.absMacroRun)
history.item;
Console.WriteLine(historyData.StartTime);
history.moveNext();
}
/ / Progress
// Runs a macro
absGadget.SendCommand(ID, 1, 0);
Console.Write("Progress of the last macro:\n");
// Obtains the macro run progress
absControl.absCollection progress = (absControl.absCollection)
absGadget.GetProgress(ID);
// Iterates through the macro run progress items and print information
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on each progress group
for (int i = 0; i < progress.Count; i++)
{
// Obtains the TabsProgressData object
absControl.absProgressData progressData =
(absControl.absProgressData) progress.item;
}
}
}
[Delphi]
unit Unit1;
interface
Console.WriteLine("Progress group" + i + ":");
Console.WriteLine(" Name - " + progressData.Name);
Console.WriteLine(" State - " + progressData.State);
Console.WriteLine(" ExecTime - " +
progressData.ExecTime.Hour + " hour " +
progressData.ExecTime.Minute + " min" +
progressData.ExecTime.Second + " sec");
progress.moveNext();
// Closes the connection to the server computer
absGadget.Disconnect();
Console.ReadKey();
}
uses
Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms,
Dialogs, StdCtrls, ComObj;
type
TForm1 = class( TForm)
Button1: TButton;
procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
private
{ Private declarations }
public
{ Public declarations }
end;
var
Form1: TForm1;
absGadget, absMacros, absPresets, history, progress: OleVariant;
ProgID, Address, UserName, Password, connect: string;
WinUser, UseDCOM: Boolean;
MacroID, PresetID, PresetRunMode, ID, ProgGroupState: Integer;
FileName, Description, PresetName, PresetCmdLine, PresetAccount,
historyString, ProgGroupName: string;
IsRunning: Boolean;
LastRun, ProgGroupRunTime: TDateTime;
Hour, Min, Sec, MSec: Word;
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i, j: Integer;
implementation
{$R *.dfm}
procedur e TForm1.Button1Click(Sender:
TObject);
var
ProgGroupRunTime: TDateTime;
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
begin
// Initializes variables
absGadget := null;
ProgID := 'absControl.absGadget';
Address := 'http://localhost/AutomatedBuildStudio/'; // Build Studio's
virtual directory URL on the server
WinUser := true; // Authenticate as the currently logged on Windows user
UserName := '';
Password := '';
UseDCOM := false; // In our example, we will use the SOAP (WebService)
connection
// Creates an absControl object
absGadget := CreateOleObject(ProgID);
// Connects to the Automated Build Studio server
connect := absGadget.Connect(Address, UseDCOM, UserName, Password,
WinUser);
// Obtains the list of registered macros
absMacros := absGadget.GetMacros;
// Iterates through the macro list and prints information on each macro
for i:=0 to absMacros.Count-1 do
begin
FileName := absMacros.item.FileName;
MacroID := absMacros.item.ID;
Description := absMacros.item.Description;
LastRun := absMacros.item.LastMacroRun.StartTime;
IsRunning := absMacros.item.IsRunning;
ShowMessage('Macro' + ': ' +
' File name - ' + FileName + '; ' +
' Description - ' + Description + '; ' +
' ID - ' + IntToStr(MacroID) + '; ' +
' IsRunning - ' + BoolToStr(IsRunning) + '; ' +
' LastMacroRun - ' + DateTimeToStr(LastRun));
// Obtains the list of the macro's presets
absPresets := absMacros.item.Presets;
// Prints information on each preset
for j:=0 to absPresets.Count-1 do
begin
PresetName := absPresets.item.Name;
PresetID := absPresets.Item.ID;
PresetRunMode := absPresets.Item.RunMode;
PresetCmdLine := absPresets.Item.CmdLine;
PresetAccount := absPresets.Item.Account;
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ShowMessage('preset' + IntToStr(j) + ': ' +
' Name - ' + PresetName + '; ' +
' ID - ' + IntToStr(PresetID) + '; ' +
' RunMode - ' + IntToStr(PresetRunMode) + '; ' +
' CmdLine - ' + PresetCmdLine + '; ' +
' Account - ' + PresetAccount + '; ');
absPresets.moveNext;
end;
absMacros.moveNext;
end;
// History
historyString := 'History of the last macro:';
absMacros.moveLast;
// Gets the ID of the last macro
ID := absMacros.item.ID;
// Obtains the macro run history
history := absGadget.GetHistory(ID);
// Iterates through the history items and prints information on each macro
run
for i:=0 to history.Count-1 do
begin
historyString := historyString + DateTimeToStr(history.item.StartTime) +
'; ';
history.moveNext;
end;
ShowMessage(historyString);
// Progress
// Runs macro
absGadget.SendCommand(ID, 1, 0);
// Obtains the macro run progress
progress := absGadget.GetProgress(ID);
// Iterates through the macro run progress items and prints information on
each progress group
for i:=0 to progress.Count-1
do
begin
ProgGroupName := progress.item.Name;
ProgGroupState := progress.item.State;
ProgGroupRunTime := progress.item.ExecTime;
DecodeTime(ProgGroupRunTime, Hour, Min, Sec, MSec);
ShowMessage('Group Name - ' + ProgGroupName + '; ' +
' State - ' + IntToStr(ProgGroupState) + '; ' +
' ExecTime - ' + IntToStr(Hour) + ' hour ' + IntToStr(Min) +
' min' + IntToStr(Sec) + ' sec');
progress.MoveNext;
end;
// Closes the connection to the server computer
absGadget.Disconnect;
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end;
end.
Build Requests
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
Automated Build Studio Server lets the user request macro runs instead of directly running them. This
feature lets the users, who do not have permissions for running server macros, trigger them on demand. For
example, developers can request a build
after they have committed changes made to the application’s sources
into a version control system; testers can request a new build that will include bug fixes they need to test, and
so on.
For more information about build requests, see the following topics:
About Build Requests
Explains the purpose of build requests, how they work and how you can make use of them in your
automated build environment.
Preparing Macros for Request Processing
Explains how to enable request submission for individual build macros and set up triggers that will
start the build upon user requests.
Submitting, Editing and Deleting Requests
Explains how to submit build requests, modify and delete pending requests.
Types of Request Triggers
Describes the types of request-based build triggers.
Description
of the Requests Section
Describes
the information presented in the Requests section of Automated Build Studio Web
Interface used to manage requests.
Managing Build Nodes
Explains how you can analyze and manage information about requested builds, which is displayed in
the Requests section of the Web Interface.
Viewing Reports on Build Requests
Explains how you can get reports on requests submitted for a particular server macro.
Related Topics of Interest
Automated Build Studio Client/Server Web Interface
Describes Automated Build Studio Web Interface and its main features.
Automatic Build Notifications
Explains how you can configure Automated Build Studio on your build server so that it
automatically notifies the users about changes in the build’s state.
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About Build Requests
There are several ways to run builds on the build server. For example, builds can be scheduled to run
daily or weekly, or can be started manually by the users (such as project leaders) who have the Run macros
permission on the server. However, a tester may need a new build that will include new features or certain
bug fixes in order to test them. For this purpose, Automated Build Studio provides users with the possibility
to request build runs. This enables the users who cannot start builds directly due to insufficient
permissions,
trigger builds along with authorized users, just in a different way.
To provide this
functionality, each server macro (or macro preset) is associated with one or more build
triggers
that analyze requests submitted by the users and start the build if a particular condition is met. For
example, a build can be started after a particular number of requests have been received, after a specific time
period elapses after the latest received requests, or it can be run at a specified time in a day if at least one
request has been submitted, and so on. To learn more about request-based build triggers, see Types of
Request Triggers and Preparing Macros for Request Processing.
Users c an submit build requests via a special form in Automated Build Studio’s Web Interface. (See
Submitti ng , Editing and Deleting Requests.) In this form, the users can choose one or several build macros
(or macro presets)
that they want to run, specify the request description and priority. The description can, for
instance, include the list of bugs fixed, new features implemented or specify a reason why the user needs a
new build. The
request priority is analyzed by certain build triggers, which require higher-priority requests to
start the build than lower-priority ones.
All submitted requests are collected by the server and processed by build triggers. Once the trigger
condition is met, the build is started. You can monitor and manage the build execution in the same way as if
you have di
rectly started the build. For example, you can pause the build and resume it at a later time, view
the build progress
and so on.
Preparing
Macros for Request Processing
In order for you builds to be started by user requests, you need to prepare the build macros (macro
preset)
in a special way. Namely, you need to:
1. Enable request submission for the macro (macro preset).
2. Configure request-based build triggers for the macro.
This topic explains how you can do this. Before
you proceed, please note the following:
• It is only possible to perform the mentioned tasks via Automated Build Studio’s Web Interface.
So, the Web Interface
must be installed on your build server.
This functionality is not available in the Client panel.
• To be able to perform
these tasks, the user group to which your account belongs, must have the
Administer server permission on the server.
• This explanation assumes that you are already logged into Automated Build Studio Web
Interface.
If you are not, launch your Internet
browser, open the Automated Build Studio Web Interface
login page (the default address is http://ServerName_or_IP/AutomatedBuildStudioWeb/), specify
your authentication information and log in.
To enable request submission for a macro
• In the Macros section of the Web Interface, select the desired macro (or macro preset) and click
Build Settings.
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
• In the ensuing Build Settings dialog, select the General section and check the Enable build
requests option.
• Click OK to close the dialog and
save the changes.
To configure build triggers for a macro
• Select the desired macro (macro preset) in the Macros section and click
• In the ensuing Build Settings dialog, switch to the Triggers page.
Build Settings.
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On that page:
Check the triggers that you want to use. For more information about types of build triggers
that monitor user requests, see Types of Request Triggers.
Set up the properties of each selected trigger.
- In the
High field, enter the number of high-priority requests that must be submitted in
order for the trigger to start the build.
Otherwise, if you want the build to start only after all of the selected triggers fire, check the
Wait for all active triggers option.
Submitting, Editing and Deleting Requests
Automated Build Studio Server collects
information about build requests submitted by the users and
displays them in the Requests section of the
server’s Web Interface. The users can view the requests and, if
they have the appropriate permissions, submit new requests as well as modify and delete existing requests.
In order for users to submit build requests and for these requests to be successfully processed on the
server,
the following requirements must be met:
1. Request submission
must be enabled for the target build macro (or macro preset). That is, the Enable
build requests setting must be checked
in the macro (macro preset) properties. Otherwise, the users
will be unable to submit requests for this macro (macro preset). See Preparing Macros for Request
Processing to learn how to enable this option.
2.
To set up the Time to pass after the latest request for this macro preset trigger:
- In the edit box under the trigger name, enter the time period that must pass without any
new requests before the trigger will start the build. Select the time unit - hours, minutes
or seconds - from the dropdown list.
To set up the Minimum request count to start this macro preset trigger:
- Similarly, enter the number of normal- and low-priority requests required to start the
build in the Normal and Low fields respectively.
To set up the Triggers if at least one request exists at a given time of day trigger:
- In the edit box under the trigger name, enter the build start time, in the HH:MM format.
For example, 20:00.
- Check the days of week on which the trigger should run. For example, to trace the
trigger on workdays, check Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri.
If you want the triggers to function independent on each other, make sure that the Wait for
all active triggers option is unchecked. In this case, the build will be started once any of
these triggers fires.
• Press OK to close the dialog and save the changes.
Requirements
At least one request-based build trigger must be enabled for the target macro (macro preset). To learn
ho w to configure these triggers, see Preparing Macros for Request Processing. Otherwise, the users’
requests
will be received but will not trigger the macro run.
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3.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
The users, who are meant to submit requests, must have one of the following permissions on the
server:
• Add and modify own build requests
This permission enables the users to submit new requests and modify their own requests.
This permission enables the users to submit new requests, modify and delete existing requests
(posted by the user themselves as well as other users), edit build descriptions and merge build
nodes. It automatically includes the Add and modify own build requests permission.
If a user has none of these permissions, they can only monitor requests, but not manage them. For
more information on user permissions, see Automated Build Studio Client/Server - User Permissions.
The way you can submit build requests depends on whether you are already
logged into Automated
Build
Studio Web Interface or not.
1. Launch your Internet browser and go to the Automated Build Studio Server Web Interface login
page (the default address is http://ServerName_or_IP/AutomatedBuildStudioWeb/).
2. Enter your user name and password or check Authenticate
by OS to log in using your Windows
account.
3.
• Manage build requests
To submit a new build request
If you are currently off-line, follow these steps:
Check the Just submit build request option (see the image below) and log in:
4. In the
ensuing Add Build Request dialog, check the macros (macro presets) whose run you want to
requ est, enter the request description and choose the request priority - Low, Normal (default) or
High.
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Click
OK to submit your request.
5. To submit another request, repeat step 4.
6. After you have submitted all the needed requests, click Cancel to log off the Web Interface.
If you are already logged into the Web Interface, do the following:
1. In the Macros section, select the macro (or macro preset) whose execution you want to request.
2. Switch to the Requests tab and click Add Request. The Add Build Request dialog appears.
3. In the dialog, check the macros (macro presets) whose run you want to request, enter the request
description, choose the request priority and click OK.
Two notes:
• The request description is required; it is not possible to submit an empty request.
• If t he macro list is empty, it is most probably that you do not have the Run macros permission
and you have enabled the Hide non-available macros in bui ld request dialog option in the
Client
Settings. Disable this option and try submitting your request again.
To mod ify a request
To modify an existing request:
• In th e Macros section of the Web Interface, select the macro (or macro preset) whose run was
requested
and switch to the Requests tab.
• Select
the desired request in the list and click Edit Request.
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• Modify
the request description and priority as your needs dictate.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
• After you have made the needed changes, press OK to commit them.
Note: It is only possible to modify pending requests
only (in other words, requests are displayed
under
the Next Build node). Other requests, which have already triggered the macro run, are
read-only.
To delete a request
To delete a pending build request, select it in the Requests section of the Web Interface and click
Remove
Request.
Note: It is only possible to delete pending requests only (in other words, requests that are displayed
under the
read-only.
Next
Build node). Other requests, which have already triggered the macro run, are
However, you can remove implemented requests by removing information about a build that
was triggered by these requests. For more information, see Managing Build Nodes.
Types
of Request Triggers
In orde r to initiate macro runs on the server by user requests, you use special types of macro triggers. A
trigger is an event that initiates the macro run when certain conditions are met. For example, when a certain
number of requests have been submitted for the macro, or after a certain time period passes after the latest
request.
There are three types of triggers that monitor requests submitted by the users and initiate the macro runs
when a particular condition is met:
Trigger Type Description
Time
to pass after Starts the build after the specified time period (in hours, minutes or seconds) elapses
the
latest request after the latest request has been submitted.
If a new request is posted during the wait
time, the timer starts again. This helps prevent a build from being triggered
if
requests are being submitted quite often.
The default wait time is 1 hour.
Minimum request
Starts the build after the given number of high-, normal- or low-priority requests
count
have been received. This trigger also helps you prevent builds by specifying how
many requests for each priority level (high, normal and low) are needed to start the
build.
The default settings are: 3 high-, 10 normal- or 50 low-priority
requests.
At
least one Starts the
build at the specified time on the specified day(s) of week if there is at
request
exists at a least one pending request. This trigger lets you run builds daily, nightly or weekly,
given time of day only on demand.
Unlike continuous integration triggers, request triggers are configured via Automated Build Studio Web
Interface. See Preparing Macros for Request Processing.
You can enable as many of these triggers as your needs dictate. Multiple triggers can be combined by
using the logical AND or OR conditions. To specify the condition type, you can use the macro’s Wait for all
active triggers setting. By default, it is disabled, which means that the triggers work independent of each
other (combined via the OR condition). For example, if you have enabled the Minimum request count and At
least one request exists at a given time of day triggers, the macro will be started when the specified number
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
of pending requests have been accumulated, or when the specified time of day comes provided that there is at
least one pending request.
If the Wait for all active triggers setting is checked, the triggers will function jointly (that is, they are
combined via the AND condition).
In this case, the macro will be started only after conditions of all of the
enabled triggers have been met. For example,
if you have enabled the Minimum request count and At least
one request exists at a given time
of day triggers, the build will be fired on the specified time of day provided
that the given number of requests have been received.
Description of the Requests Section
Automated Build Studio collects information about build requests submitted by the users and displays
them in the Requests section of the server’s Web Interface. To open this section:
• Launch your Internet browser, open the Automated Build Studio Web Interface login page (the
default address is http://ServerName_or_IP/AutomatedBuildStudioWeb/) and log in.
• In the Macros section, select the macro (or macro preset) for which you want to view build
requests, and click the Requests section header.
The Description and File Name fields in the top of the section indicate the description and file name of
the selected macro (or macro preset). The grid below lists all requests for the macro run, in the reverse order:
the latest submitted requests are displayed at the top and the earliest ones at the bottom of the
list.
Information about requests is displayed in the following columns:
Column Description
Description The request description that was specified by the user. The icon next to the request
description indicates the request priority - low, normal or high.
Launched /
Posted By
The user who has submitted the request.
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Event Date The date and time the request was submitted.
Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
All requests are grouped into nodes corresponding to builds in which these requests are implemented.
Each build is assigned a sequence number starting from 1. You can manage these nodes, for example, give
them some meaningful description, or merge them in order to keep only specific builds in the
history (see
Managing Build Nodes
for details). Information about build nodes displayed in the grid is as follows:
Column Description
Description The build description.
Launched
Posted
By
/ The way the build macro was launched:
• Manual: User_Name – The macro was launched by the specified user directly
from Automated Build Studio or by Automated Macro Player.
•
Remote execution – The macro was launched from another macro via the Remote
Macro Command operation.
• Client: User_Name – The macro was launched by the specified user from the
Client panel, via Web Interface or via the
gadget.
• Scheduler – The macro was launched by a scheduled task.
•
•
Build requests – The macro was launched as a result of build requests.
Continuous integration – The macro was launched by a continuous integration
task.
Event Date The date and time the build was finished.
To view the most recent information on build requests, do any of the following:
• Click the Refresh button in the Requests section’s toolbar.
– or –
• Use the Refresh command of your Internet browser, or the corresponding keyboard shortcut (in
many browsers it is F5).
For information about working with the Requests section, see Submitting, Editing and Deleting Requests
and Managing Build Nodes.
Managing Build Nodes
Automated Build Studio collects information about build requests (in other words, requests for server
macro runs) submitted by the users and displays it in the Requests section of the Web Interface:
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
To let you know which requests triggered or will trigger which builds, all requests are grouped into
nodes that correspond to individual build runs. These
items are named Build N, where N is a sequence
number
(starting from 1) assigned to a particular build. For example, Build 1, Build 2 and so on. Besides,
there are also two predefined items:
• Next Build – This node groups all pending requests.
• Running Build – This node corresponds to the currently running build. It groups requests that
the current build implements.
You can manage the build nodes, for example, give them a meaningful description, or merge them in
order to keep specific items in the build history. For example, you may want to merge intermediate build
items into an item corresponding to the released build, which will group all requests that ultimately lead to
this build.
By default, the server creates these grouping nodes for all builds that take place on the server. However,
it may be useful to only keep information about requested builds,
so the request history is not cluttered. For
this purpose, disable the Save builds without build requests option in
the Server Settings dialog. To enable
counting of all the builds, regardless of whether they were launched by requests or directly, check
the Save
builds
without build requests option.
Note: Disabling the Save builds without build
requests option does not remove information about
existing build nodes that contain
no requests.
To rename a build node
• In the Macros section of the Web Interface, select the macro
(or macro preset) whose build you
want to give a specific description,
and switch to the Requests
tab.
•
Select the desired build node in the list and click Describe Build.
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Automated Build Studio Client/Server and Web Interface
• Specify the new description for the build and press OK to save the changes.
Note that the Next Build and Running Build nodes cannot be renamed.
To merge several build nodes
• In the Macros section of the Web Interface, select the macro (or macro preset) whose build
information you want to merge.
• Switch to the Requests section and click Merge Builds.
• In the ensuing dialog, check the builds nodes that you want to merge and enter the description
for the new (merged) node.
• Press OK to perform merging.
Note that the Next Build and Running Build nodes cannot be merged.
To delete a build node
• Select the desired node in the Requests section of the Web interface.
• Press Remove Build.
Note: Deleting
a build node from the Requests section also deletes information about requests
implemented in that build.
Also, note that the Next Build and Running Build nodes cannot
be removed.
Viewing Reports on Build Requests
Automated
Build
Studio Server can generate reports on requests submitted by the users for a particular
serv er macro run. The report functionality is available in Build Studio’s Web Interface. The reports include
the same information that is displayed in the Requests section of the Web Interface, but in the printable
form.
To get a report for
a specific build macro run:
• In the Macros section of the Web Interface, select the macro (or macro preset) for which you
want to get the report, and switch to the Requests tab.
• Select the desired build
in the list.
• Click Show Report and select Show current build report from the drop-down menu.
To get a report for all runs of a build macro:
• In the Macros section of the Web Interface, select the macro (or macro preset) for which you
want to get the report, and switch to the Requests tab.
• Click Show Report and select Show all builds report from the drop-down menu.
The report will be opened
in a new browser window. You can save this report to your computer, print it,
e-mail it to
your colleagues
or perform any other actions that are supported by your browser.
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Charts
Charts
Charts – Overview
Automated Build Studio can collect information about macros running on your computer and display the
information as graphics in the Charts panel. You can use this information to analyze the run statistics,
determine the ratio of successful and failed runs, check the runs activity and organize macro runs.
Note: The statistical data is available if the Collect information about macro
runs macro property is
enabled. By default this property is enabled.
Build Studio
logs the following data:
•
•
The macro name.
Configuration used for the run.
• Date
and time of the run.
• Duration of the macro run.
• Name
of the user, who initiated the macro run.
Automated Build Studio displays this information using one of several chart types. You can view
statistics for al l macros that were run on your computer, or only for one macro. You can view macros
running
by all users or by some specific user. Of course, you can specify the date range for displaying the
statistics.
The following topics provide detailed information
about this:
Charts Panel
Describes the Charts panel and contains information about viewing and printing statistics of macro
runs that were performed
on the current or remote computer.
Char t Types
Explains
chart types used by Automated Build Studio.
Viewing Charts Data Stored on Another Computer
Viewing charts data stored on another computer.
Moving
Charts Data From One Computer to Another
Explains
where Build Studio stores data displayed in the charts panel and describes how to move
them from one computer to another.
Charts Panel
Automated Build Studio collects information on macro runs performed on your computer and displays it
in graphical form in the Charts panel. Use this panel to analyze accumulated statistics, estimate the builds
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Charts
progress and determine the better time for running
your macro. Using the panel, you can also view statistics
on macro
runs that were performed on another computer.
If the Charts panel is hidden, you can make it visible by doing any of the following:
• Select Charts from the View menu.
• Select Charts from the Select Panel dialog, which is called by selecting View | Select Panel
from the menu of Automated Build Studio, or by selecting Build Studio | Panel List from the
main menu of Visual Studio.
Build Studio displays the gathered information using several
chart types:
• Build Results - Provides general view of macro run statistics.
• Build Duration - Let’s you compare the execution time of different macro runs.
• Build Frequency - Let’s you explore the load (macro runs) on your computer.
The following image displays a sample view of the panel (the Build Duration chart type):
Specifying the chart
type
The name of the currently
selected chart type is displayed at the top of the panel. You can switch
between different chart types by clicking the arrows shown to the right and to the left of the active chart type
name
or using the Right and Left arrow keys as shortcuts.
You can also click Chart type at the top-right corner of the panel and choose the desired type in the
ensuing Select Chart Type dialog.
For more information on chart types, see Chart Types.
Specifying the date range
To specify the date range for the data that is displayed:
• Click Data type at the top-right corner of the panel.
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Charts
• Choose the desired period in the ensuing Select Date Range dialog.
By clicking the arrows shown on the left and on the right of the date range, you switch to the previous or
next period. For instance, if you select Last month in the Select Date Range dialog, clicking the left and
right arrows you can view statistics for the previous and next months. If you select custom range, then
clicking on the arrows will return or advance the view to the next number of the days that are included into
the specified range.
Also, you can switch the date range with the Up and Down arrow keys.
View results for one macro and configuration only
For each macro run Automated Build Studio logs information about the macro name and configuration
that was used for the run (see Charts - Overview). By default, the charts display results for all macros. To
only view results for one macro and configuration:
• Click the third link in the top-left corner of the panel (by default, the link’s text is All macros).
This will invoke the Select Macro and Configuration dialog. This dialog lists the macro-
configuration pairs.
• In the dialog, choose the desired macro-configuration pair and click OK.
You can also switch between macro-configuration pairs by clicking the arrows that are shown to the left
and to the right of the link or with the Shift-Right and Shift-Left shortcuts.
To view macro runs performed by a user
Automated Build Studio tracks macro runs performed by all users who work with Automated Build
Studio or Automated Macro Player on your computer. By default, the Charts panel does not filter the macro
run by the name of the user, who started the run. To view results only for one user:
• Click the second link
in the top-left corner of the panel (by default, the link’s text is All
operators).
This will invoke the Select Operator dialog. This dialog lists names of users who run macros on
your computer.
• In the dialog, choose the desired user name and click OK.
You can also view results for users by clicking the arrows that are shown to the left and to the right of the
link or with the Shift-Up and Shift-Down shortcuts.
To view information on macro runs performed on another computer
Using the Charts panel you can view statistics on macro runs that were performed not only on your
computer, but on other computers in the network. In order for the panel to be able to display this information,
Automated Build Studio Service must be installed and running on the remote computer.
To view results stored on another computer:
• Click the left link in the top-left corner of the panel (by default, the link’s text is Local).
This will invoke the Select Server dialog.
• In the dialog, specify the name of the desired computer or its IP address. You can also click the
ellipsis button and choose the computer in the ensuing
Browse for Computer dialog.
• Click OK to close the Select Server dialog. Automated Build Studio will retrieve data from the
specified computer and display it in the Client panel.
To zoom in the view
• Press the left mouse button to and drag the mouse pointer toward the right bottom corner to mark
the area to be enlarged.
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• Release the mouse button when you specified the area to be enlarged.
To zoom out the view
• Press the left mouse button to and drag the mouse pointer towards the top-left corner.
• Release the mouse button.
To print the chart
• Select the desired chart type and date range (see above for more information on this).
Charts
• Right-click somewhere within the chart and choose Print or Print Preview from the context
menu.
The Print command will open the standard Print dialog, from which you can send data to the printer. The
Print Preview command will open the Print Preview Form, in which you can customize the chart before
printing it.
Chart Types
Automated Build Studio collects information about macros running on your computer and displays it in
the Charts panel
using one of the following chart types:
• Build
Results
• Build Duration • Build Frequency
The name of the curr ently selected chart type is shown at the top of the Charts panel.
To choose a chart type to display, click Chart type at the top-right corner of the Charts panel and then
choose the desired type in the ensuing Select Chart Type dialog. You can change the chart type by clicking
arrows on the right and on the left of the currently selected chart type or by pressing the Right and Left
arrows
on keyboard.
Build Results
When this type
is selected, the Charts panel displays the bar diagram of successful and failed macro runs.
The horizontal access displays dates and the vertical axis shows the number of runs. Each bar represents a
day in which at least one macro run was performed. The lower section of the bar corresponds to successful
macro runs, the upper section corresponds to failed
runs. When you moved the mouse pointer over a bar, a
hint
displaying detailed information appears.
Using this chart type you can see statistics and ratio of successful/failed
builds and determine the builds
progress.
Build Duration
When this type is selected, the Charts panel displays
statistics about how long it takes for macro runs to
execute. The horizontal axis displays dates and the vertical
axis displays the run duration.
Each run is represented by a dot. To view information on the run, that
corresponds to a dot, simply move
the mouse pointer over that dot. Build Studio will show the run information in a hint.
Using this chart type
you can find the slowest macro runs and determine when they happened. This
information will help you
find the reason of the slowdown.
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Charts
Build Frequency
When this type is selected, the Charts panel displays
information on how often builds are performed. The
h orizontal axis displays dates and the vertical axis shows the time (from 00:00 to 23:59). Each run is
represented by a dot. To view information on the run, that corresponds to a dot, move the mouse pointer over
the dot. Automated Build Studio will show the information in a hint.
Using this chart you can find time periods when your computer is the most busy and choose the time for
your builds.
For more information
on viewing charts, see Charts Panel.
Viewing Charts Data Stored on Another Computer
The Charts panel displays statistics on macro runs in a graphical form. The panel can display statistics
accumulated from your computer as well as from any other computer on the network.
In order for the panel to be able to retrieve statistics from the remote computer, Automated Build Studio
m ust be installed on that computer, the Automated Build Studio Service must be running and the macro must
have the Collect information about macro runs property
enabled.
To view charts that are built on statistics stored on
a remote computer:
• Switch to the Charts panel.
• Click the leftmost link at the top-left corner for the panel to select the computer. The link caption
specifies the
name of the currently selected computer. By default, the caption is Local.
• Specify the desired computer’s name or IP address in the ensuing Select Server dialog.
• Click OK to close the dialog. Automated Build Studio
will display the macro run statistics in the
Charts panel.
Moving Charts Data From One Computer to Another
Automated Build Studio can collect information about macros running on your computer and display it
as graphics in the Charts panel. You may want to move the collected data to another computer and view it
there or send the accumulated results to your team members for review.
Build Studio stores the charts data in .xml files located in the following folder:
\All Users\Application Data\AutomatedQA\Automated Build Studio\Build
history
Each .xml file corresponds to a macro that was run on your computer. The BuildHistory.xml file is the
“main” file and it contains references to other .xml files.
The charts data for a macro is available if the Collect information about macro runs macro property is
enabled on the target computer. By default this property is enabled.
To move the charts data to another computer, simply copy the contents of the Build history folder to the
desired computer. Note that you should paste the files to the same folder on that computer. Also, this
computer must have Automated Build Studio installed on it.
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Debugging Macros
Debugging Macros
Debugging lets you fix logical errors and check whether your macro functions correctly. Automated
Build Studio’s macro debugger includes all modern debugging features: breakpoints, stepping over
operations, watches, expression evaluation, and so forth. The following topics provide more information on
debugging macros in Automated Build Studio.
Note: With Automated Build Studio you can only edit MSBuild projects, since it does not allow
running and debugging these projects. So, all debugging features are turned off when you are
editing an MSBuild project in Automated Build Studio.
Debugging Macros in Automated Build Studio
Provides information on how to use the macro debugger.
Stepping
Trough The Macro
Describes
how to step over operations or trace into a group of operations during the debugging
process.
Running to the
Cursor
Describes
how to stop the macro execution on the currently selected operation in the Macro panel.
Using
Breakpoints
Explains how you can
create and use breakpoints and how to modify their properties.
Conditional
Breakpoints
Describes how you can create and use conditional breakpoints.
Variables and Constants - Overview
Watches
Panel
Provides information
on the Watches panel and describes how you can use it to watch values of
variables and expressions.
Breakpoints Panel
Provid es information on the Breakpoints panel and describes how you can use it to debug macros.
Evaluating Expressions
Describes
how to evaluate expressions.
Debugging
Macros in Automated Build Studio
About
Auto mated Build Studio provides a macro debugger as an aid in developing macros. Debugging refers to
halting the macro execution at certain lines, with the Macro panel automatically highlighting the line in
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Debugging Macros
question, and then running through
the macro in step with the execution, stopping at those same lines. Every
time the debugger
stops somewhere, there are several things it will allow you to do, such as check or change
the value of variables, but, merely stopping before certain lines is often a great help in tracking what your
macro is doing.
Note that all debugging features are turned off when you are editing an MSBuild project in Automated
Build Studio. With Build Studio
you can only edit these projects, since it does not allow running and
debugging them.
See the Working With MSBuild Projects document or the Working With MSBuild Projects
section in on-line help.
Using t he Macro Debugger
All debug ger actions are available from the Debug menu, toolbar or shortcuts (In Visual Studio, from the
Build Studio | Debug menu and the Automated Build Studio toolbar). The left part of the Debug
Toolbar
con tains the execution choices of the debugger. Each of these is the equivalent of a Run Macro button, but
with two differences. First, on a new run, execution starts at the top of the first executed routine. But after
each stop it will resume at the line where the debugger stopped. Second, each execution choice is a different
way of selecting the next line that the debugger will stop on. These facilities function only if the Enable
Macro Debugging
item is pressed.
When debugging
macros, it is recommended that you turn off the Show on macro start option of the
Summary panel,
to disable activating the Summary panel upon macro start. You can turn on the Highlight
operation option
of the Macro panel, to command Automated Build Studio to highlight the operation
currently being executed so you can easily trace the macro execution path.
The two main
ways of macro debugging:
• The debugge r can stop before every enabled operation in the macro. There are two variations,
tracing or stepping over. See Stepping Through the Macro.
• The debugger can run through the macro from the current execution point, without stopping, to
the macro operation that the cursor is on. Execution will stop just before that line. This is one
way of going straight at suspect code. See Running to the Cursor for more information. Note that
execution will not stop until the end of the macro run if the selected operation is never executed.
Operations can also be preset for the run to stop when they are reached. These operations are called
breakpoints. A breakpoint is a location set in your macro where you want the macro to pause during
execution.
Once the execution is paused, you can check the state of the macro, its output and its variables.
Setting a plain breakpoint is the same as running to the cursor, except that you do not have to set the
cursor at the operation
(it is memorized) and you can have several breakpoints. You can also have
conditional breakpoints, where the debugger stops only if, at that point in the run, a certain condition you
defined
is true. See Using Breakpoints.
Once you have halted the execution, you can check the value of variables and expressions in two ways.
You can use the Evaluate dialog, which lets you find the value of any expression you can define with
available variables and constants and the usual arithmetic and logical operators, or by using the Watches
panel where you can set up a list of these expressions to be evaluated every time the macro execution stops.
Possible Issues
When debugging macros in Automated Build Studio, keep in mind that the Highlight operation option
slows the macro execution speed.
As well as monitoring many expressions at once in the Watches panel,
especially if they involve a lot of calculations.
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Stepping
Through the Macro
Debugging Macros
Stepping
means executing just one macro operation, then stopping (until the next step) to check the state
of the macro,
its output and its variables. The next operation to be executed is highlighted in the Macro
panel.
There are two ways to step through the macro, depending on what is meant by “executing just one
operation”
when that operation contains a call to a sub-macro: Trace Into or Step Over.
Trace
Into
Under
Trace Into, execution proceeds one operation at a time. If the operation contains a call to a sub-
macro (for example, the Run Submacro operation), Automated Build Studio jumps to the first operation
of
that sub-macro and stops there, ready to step through it again, one operation at a time. After Build Studio has
reached the
end of the sub-macro, it jumps to the operation following the operation that called the sub-macro.
To trace into
the macro, press either:
•
•
Trace Into on the Debug toolbar (or from the Automated Build Studio toolbar in Microsoft
Visual Studio).
The Trace into shortcut. For the MS Visual Studio IDE keyboard scheme, it is F11, for the
Borland IDE scheme - F7. You can also change the assigned shortcut via the Customize
Keyboard
dialog.
To trace
into the macro, press Trace Into on the Automated Build Studio toolbar.
Step Over
Tracing into library submacros is currently not supported. Being applied to the Run Library
Submacro operation, the Trace Into command executes the entire library submacro and jumps
to the operation that follows the submacro call.
Under Step Over, execution proceeds one operation at a time
within the macro or sub-macro where the
execution point is now located. If the next operation contains a sub-macro call, the whole call is executed in a
single step
(full speed, no stop), and execution stops at the next operation in the current macro (sub-macro).
To step over
the macro (sub-macro), press either:
•
Step Over on the Debug toolbar (or from the Automated Build Studio toolbar in Microsoft
Visual Studio).
• The Step Over shortcut. For the MS Visual Studio IDE keyboard scheme, it is F10, for the
Borland IDE scheme - F8. You can also change the assigned shortcut via the Customize
Keyboard dialog.
Running Macros Partially
Besides running the entire macro
or running it to the cursor position, Automated Build Studio offers
three more ways of running a certain part of a macro (that is,
you can run one or more operations of a
macro). This is quite useful
when testing or debugging a macro.
The Run From Selected command starts the macro run from the chosen operation and continues the
execution till the last operation in the macro. Build Studio executes only those operations that are currently
checked in the Macro panel, unchecked operations are skipped. If the selected operation has a parent
ope ration, you can run the macro only if the parent is either a Group or an If ... Then operation.
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Debugging Macros
The Run Selected Operation command executes only the chosen operation and stops upon executing
it. The operation is launched even if it is unchecked. If the operation has child operations, they are not
executed.
The Run Selected Operation With Children command executes the chosen operation as well as the
operation’s children and stops afterwards. The operation is launched even if it is unchecked.
To call these commands, do any of the following:
• Press the Run From Selected, Run Selected Operation or Run Selected Operation
With Children button on the Standard
toolbar of Automated Build Studio,
or on the Macro
panel toolbar of Microsoft Visual Studio.
• Select the corresponding item from the Run menu of Automated Build Studio.
• Right-click
within the Macro panel
and select the corresponding item of the context menu.
• Press the shortcut that corresponds
to the command. The shortcuts are set and changed via the
Customize Keyboard dialog.
• The default
key combinations are: Ctrl+F5 for Run From Selected, Alt+F5 for Run Selected
Operation
and Shift+Ctrl+F5 for Run Selected Operation With Children.
Running to the Cursor
Running to the cursor is
the easiest way to use the macro debugger. Select the first suspected spot, test up
to it (that is, run at normal speed, no stopping), check that the macro output and macro variables are as
expected, and if ok, select a new check spot to test up to. At each stop, the next statement to be executed is
highlighted in the Macro panel.
To do this, switch to the Macro panel and select the operation where you want to run your first check.
Then start the macro run using either of these methods:
• Press Run Macro To The Cursor Position on the Debug toolbar (or from the Automated
Build Studio toolbar in Microsoft Visual Studio).
• Press the Run Macro to the Cursor Position shortcut key. The default shortcut is F4, though it
can be changed via the Customize Keyboard dialog.
Then, check the state of the macro, its variables and results, select the new stop operation in the macro
and select Run Macro To The Cursor Position again.
Using Breakpoints
A breakpoint is a location in your script where you want the script to pause during execution. Once
execution is paused, you can check the state of the script, its output and its variables.
Breakpoints only function if the Enable Macro Debugging item on the Debug toolbar is checked
(the Automated Build Studio toolbar in Microsoft Visual Studio). If this item is unchecked, the macro
execution will not pause on breakpoints.
The breakpoints list is kept for each macro. Each breakpoint can be enabled or disabled and made
dependent on a condition - like a pass count or a conditional expression.
When a breakpoint is enabled with the optional condition set to true, and the macro execution reaches it
(in a normal run or using the debugger), execution will stop just before the breakpoint operation. This
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Debugging Macros
operation will be highlighted in the Macro panel. If a breakpoint is disabled, Automated Build Studio does
not stop the macro execution.
At any stop you can check the environment state as well as the macro output and the state of its
variables. Using breakpoints is the
easiest and most flexible way to preset spots in your macros where you
want to perform these types of checks.
After the pause, you can resume
the macro execution, or use one of the debugger execution options for
further checking.
To set a breakpoint on an operation, select the desired operation in the Macro panel and click the left
margin of the operation line. When you set a breakpoint, the corresponding
operation is highlighted in red,
and the icon appears in the left margin of the operation line. Setting breakpoints is a toggle, so repeating
the set on the same line will remove the breakpoint.
To set a breakpoint on an operation, select the desired operation in the Macro panel and then use one of
the following methods:
• Click the left margin of the operation line.
• Press the Toggle breakpoint shortcut. (By default, F9. You can change the assigned shortcut via
the Customize Keyboard dialog.)
To work with the list of all breakpoints for the current macro, use the Breakpoints panel. This panel
allows you to enable, disable
or delete breakpoints. To modify breakpoint properties, use the Breakpoint
Properties
dialog. To call it, right-click the breakpoint icon in the gutter of the Macro panel and select
Properties from the context menu. This menu also holds the Enabled item that controls whether the
breakpo int is enabled or disabled. Disable d breakpoints are shown with the icon. Disabling breakpoints is
useful if y ou want to deactivate the breakpoint temporarily without deleting it.
Beside s setting ordinary breakpoints, which
pause the macro execution when the debugger reaches them,
you can make breakpoints pause the macro only
if certain conditions are met. This implies assigning either
conditional expressions, or pass counts (however, using both on a single breakpoint disables it). See
Conditiona l Breakpoints. Condit ional breakpoints are shown with the
disabled conditional breakpoint.
icon. means the breakpoint is a
Note th at you can set breakpoints while your macro is running. The new breakpoint will be set, and your
macro will pause when it reaches the breakpoint.
Conditional Breakpoints
Once you have set a breakpoint, by default, script
execution will pause just before the breakpoint line. By
editing the breakpoint description in the Breakpoints
panel or in the Breakpoint Properties dialog you can
command t he execution to stop at the breakpoint under certain conditions. Such a breakpoint is called a
conditiona l breakpoint.
Automated Build Stud io uses a special icon for conditional breakpoints -
conditional breakpoint.
, means a disabled
To create a conditional
breakpoint:
• In the Macro panel, click in the gutter on the left of the desired operation. This sets the
breakpoint.
• Select View | Breakpoints from the main menu to activate the Breakpoints panel, or choose
View | Select Panel from Build Studio’s main menu and then choose Breakpoints from the
ensuing Select Panel dialog (in Visual Studio, choose Build Studio | Panel List from Visual
Studio’s main menu and then choose Breakpoints from the ensuing Select Panel dialog).
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Debugging Macros
• In this panel, the new breakpoint will be at the bottom of the list. You can then set one of two
types of breakpoint conditions. The two possible conditions are –
To mod ify the condition and pass count properties of a breakpoint, use the Breakpoint Properties dialog.
To call it, r ight-click the breakpoint icon in the Macro panel gutter and select Properties from the context
menu,
or right-click the desired breakpoint in the Breakpoints panel and select Properties from the context
menu.
Watches
Panel
The Watches panel displays all current watch expressions. A watch expression is a variable (global,
local
or stored) whose current value you wish to track during a macro debugging session. Watch expressions
(watches) are added, removed, disabled or edited from the panel context menu.
•
conditional expressions
pass counts
The panel’s features are turned off when you are editing an MSBuild project in Automated Build Studio.
With Build Studio you can only edit these projects, since it does not allow running and debugging them (see
the Working With MSBuild Projects document or the Working With MSBuild Projects section in on-line
help).
To display the Watches panel, do one of the following:
• Select View | Watches from Automated Build Studio main menu.
Choose View | Select Panel from the main menu and choose Watches in the ensuing Select
Panel dialog.
• Choose Build Studio | Panels from Visual Studio’s main menu and then choose Watches from
the ensuing Select Panel dialog.
• Press the View | Watch List shortcut. The default shortcut is Ctrl-Alt-W, though you can
change the assigned shortcut via the Customize Keyboard dialog.
The panel
holds two columns: Expression and Value.
Column Description
Expression
Specifies the name of the variable to be traced. The check box next to the variable name
specifies whether this watch is enabled, that is Automated Build Studio traces it. If the
check box is clear, the expression is not traced.
Value Specifies the value of the variable specified in the Expression column.
You may
want to keep a watch expression available, but not allow Build Studio to calculate it. You can
accomplish this by disabling the expression. The expression itself will be grayed, and no value for it will be
displayed. To
enable or disable a watch expression, select or clear the check box in the Expression column.
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Debugging Macros
You can achieve
the same result if you check or uncheck Enabled in the Edit Watch dialog invoked for the
selected watch
expression.
The Watches
panel is blank until you add watch expressions to it.
To add a watch expression
•
Right-click somewhere within the Watch
List panel and select New Item from the context menu.
Automated Build Studio will display the Add Watch dialog in which you can specify the
variable whose expression you want to trace.
To modify
a watch expression
• Right-click the desired watch expression in the Watches panel and choose Edit from the context
menu. This will call the Edit Watch dialog, where you can edit the expression.
To delete a watch expression
• Select the desired watch expression in the Watches panel.
• Press Del or right-click the selected expression
and choose Delete from the context menu.
Breakpoints Panel
The Breakpoints panel displays all of the breakpoints that are currently set in your macro. You can use
this panel when debugging Automated Build Studio macros. The panel’s features are turned off when you are
editing an MSBuild project in Automated Build Studio. With Build Studio you can only edit these projects,
since it does not allow running and debugging them (see the Working With MSBuild Projects document or
the Working With MSBuild Projects section in on-line help).
By defa ult, the Breakpoints panel resides at the bottom of the Macro panel. If the Breakpoints panel is
hidden, you can do one of the following to display it:
• Select View | Breakpoints from Automated Build Studio’s main menu.
• Choose Build Studio
| Panels from Visual Studio’s main menu and then choose Breakpoints
from the ensuing Select Panel dialog.
• Press the View | Breakpoints shortcut.
The default shortcut is Ctrl-Alt-B, though you can
change the assigned shortcut via the Custom ize Keyboard dialog.
• Choose View | Select Panel from Build Studio’s main menu and then choose Breakpoints from
the ensuing Select Panel dialog.
Each row of the Breakpoints list corresponds to a breakpoint that is set in your project. Panel columns
hold information about breakpoints:
Column Description
Enabled Specifies whether the breakpoint is enabled or disabled. Automated Build Studio will not
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Debugging Macros
stop the script execution on a disabled breakpoint. If the Enable Macro Debugging
item on the Debug toolbar is not pressed, all breakpoints are treated as disabled. The
disabled breakpoints are marked with the icon, enabled breakpoints - with the icon.
Condition Condition parameter for the breakpoint, if any. After you specified any value in this
column, the breakpoints icon is changed to (or to ) to indicate that the breakpoint is
a conditional breakpoint. For more information, see Conditional Breakpoints and
Breakpoints - Conditional Expressions.
Pas s Count Pass count parameter for the breakpoint, if any. After you specified any value in this
column, the breakpoints icon is changed to (or to ) to indicate that the breakpoint is
a conditional breakpoint (see Conditional Breakpoints and Breakpoints - Using Pass
Count).
Description Any descriptive text on the breakpoint.
You can disable or enable bre akpoints in the panel. To do this, simply
select or clear the Enabled check
box f or the desired breakpoint. The point of disabling a breakpoint
is that you can keep its definition, even
though you temporarily halt its execution. The Breakpoints panel is empty if breakpoints have not been set.
To modify a breakpoint
• Right-click the
desired breakpoint in the Breakpoints panel and select Properties from the
context menu. Use the resulting Breakpoint Properties dialog to modify breakpoint properties.
To delete a breakpoint
• Select the desired breakpoint in the Breakpoints panel.
• Press Del, or right-click the selected breakpoint and choose Delete from the context menu.
• You can also delete a breakpoint by clicking it in the Macro panel gutter.
To jump to the breakpoint operation in the
macro
• Double-click the breakpoint
in the list.
Evaluating Expressions
You can evaluate values of macro variables during macro debugging. To
do this, pause the macro at the
desired
point and then use one of the ways described below.
To pause the macro execution
To pause the macro execution, do one of
the following:
• Set a breakpoint on the desired operation to pause the execution. See Using Breakpoints.
• Set the cursor to the desired operation and then run the macro to the cursor. See Running to the
Cursor.
• Press Pause on the Debug toolbar. If the toolbar is hidden, right-click somewhere in the
toolbar area and choose Debug from the ensuing context menu. (In Visual Studio, select Pause
from the Automated Build Studio toolbar.)
Once the macro execution is paused, you can evaluate variable values.
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Evaluating Expressions
Debugging Macros
T here are two ways of evaluate variables
during the macro debugging: using watches or the
Evaluate
dialog. You can decide which way to use by following the simple rule: If you need to trace a variable value
during the whole m acro debugging session, use the Watches panel. If you need to evaluate values
of certain
variables once, with out tracing them during
the macro run, use the Evaluate dialog.
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Script Writing
Script Writin g
Script Writing – Basics
General Information
A script is a single script-language
procedure or function. A script in Automated Build Studio is part of a
macro (see Script Operation ). You can modify scripts using the Edit Script Form.
A script can be written in one of the three supported scripting languages: DelphiScript, VBScript or
JScript. For each Script operation, the scripting language is specified in the Operation Properties dialog. All
three supported scripting languages u se only OLE-compatible data types
and cannot use pointers.
DelphiScript support is built in Automated Build Studio. VBScript and JScript are supported by DLLs
(of the same name) supplied with Windows or Internet Explorer. To run VBScript or JScript in Automated
Build Studio, Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher
must be installed on the machine. If you
do not have IE 5 or
higher, you can install the Microsoft scripting components directly. The latest version of these DLLs (as a
part of Windows Script Components)
is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ .
For detailed information on scripting languages, see:
VBScript http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950396.aspx
JScript http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950396.aspx
DelphiScript DelphiScript Description in Automated Build Studio help.
What can your scripts do in Automated Build Studio? They are used mainly to solve the following
problems:
• To perform specific
Operations.
• To assign values to macro variables. See Using Variables and Constants
in Macros.
Note: Macro variables cannot be used as loop variables.
A loop variable should be a local
script variable.
• To call operations
existing in the macro and access their properties. See Working With
Operations
in Scripts.
• To work with internal
and external objects. Automated Build Studio’s Object Model can help
you better understand how you can use scripts to work with
different objects.
Note that though supported script languages are quite powerful and let you perform almost any action,
there can be situations when scripts are not helpful. For instance,
it may be impossible to write a script
routine for working with a database of an exotic or obsolete format. In such a case, you can create a custom
operation that will perform the desired actions.
For more information on this, see Creating Custom
Operations in on-line help.
179
actions that cannot be executed with existing operations. See List of
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Writing Scripts
Script Writing
Each script must have the routine called Main. When Automated Build Studio runs a script, it calls the
script’s Main routine, which,
in its turn, can call other procedures and functions defined in the script.
Let’s have a look at source code written in the Edit Script Form for a newly created script:
[VBScript]
Sub Main
Lo g.Message("Something
has happened")
End Sub
[JScript]
function Main()
{
}
Log.Message("Something has happened");
[DelphiScript]
procedure Main;
begin
end;
Log.Message('Something has happened');
As you can see, the source code that is created by default includes the Main routine only.
Note that Main does not have parameters. If you need to supply parameters for this routine, you can use
variables or constants defined in your macro. (See also Using Variables and Constants in Macros).
Debuggin g Scripts
Debugging your scripts becomes easier when you use the Log panel of the Edit Script Form. Whenever
you run a scrip t , this panel logs how the script was executed, posts errors it finds and user-defined messages,
so you can always
find out whether there are problems in your scripts and find errors easily if there are some.
Sometimes yo u may need to post custom messages to the log. For this purpose, use methods of the Log
object.
Object
Model
In your macros, the Script operation lets you
perform certain actions that cannot be done with other
Automated Build Studio operations. In most cases, scripts deal with internal objects of Automated Build
Studio and external objects of other applications (via OLE/COM interfaces), process variables
defined in the
macro, call operations that exist in the macro and access properties of these operations. Automated Build
Studio treats each variable, constant or operation as an object. This topic explains the object model that is
used
in Automated Build Studio.
Each object can have one parent and one or several
child objects. Automated Build Studio contains a
number of top-level objects, which you can address in scripts directly. To get access to other objects you
should use methods and properties of the top-level objects.
The top-level objects defined in Automated Build Studio are –
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Script Writing
Object Description
ABSUtils Contains methods that perform operations specific to Automated Build
Studio and provides scripting access to the all of the macro operations.
BuiltIn Lets your scripts call routines that are built into
Automated Build Studio.
See List of Built-In Routines.
Constants and Variables Provides access to variables
and constants defined for a macro in
Automated Build Studio. See Using Variables and Constants in Macros.
Log Use methods of this object to post custom messages to Automated Build
Studio’s Log panel from scripts.
Operations Provides access to Automated Build Studio operations
from scripts. In
order for a script to call an operation, this operation must have a unique
name. See Modifying Operation Properties and Working With Operations
in Scripts.
Utilities Makes certain
functions and variables of the Borland VCL SysUtils unit
available to your scripts.
See Utilities Object - List of Supported Functions
and Utilities Object
- List of Supported Variables and Constants.
The object model used in scripts of Automated Build
Studio differs from that used in AQdevTeam’s
Visual Macro Builder. As a result, when porting a macro including scripts between these
applications, you
will see that they
are usually incompatible and need to be rewritten.
Handling Exceptions in Scripts
During the script run different exceptions may occur. For instance,
a script may store improper value to
an operation property or to a stored variable. Automated Build Studio does not provide any new functions or
statements that handle exceptions in scripts. You can use the means provided by scripting
languages.
VBScript
To handle exceptions,
you can use the Err object and the On Error statement. For more information on
them, see VBScript
documentation (the on-line version is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms950396.aspx).
The following code demonstrates how you can handle exceptions
in VBScript
routines:
[VBScript]
Err.Clear ' Resets the exception indicator
On Error Resume Next ' If an exception occurs,
' Do something
...
If Err.Number > 0 Then
' An exception occurred !!!
' Automated Build Studio will continue running
' the script rather than stop it
' Posts the exception messages to the test log
Log.Error Err.Description
Else
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' No exceptions
...
End If
JScript
Script Writing
To handle exceptions in JScript, use the try{} catch{} finally{} statement. Catch holds code
that is executed when an exception occurs within the try{} block. Finally contains
instructions which are
e xecuted always, regardless whether or not exceptions occur in the try{} block. For more information on
these statements, see JScript documentation (the
on-line version is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms950396.aspx).
The following code illustrates how you can handle exceptions in JScript routines
–
[JScript]
try{
}
// Do something
...
catch(e)
{
}
// Posts the exception message to the test log
Log.Error(e.description);
finally{
}
...
DelphiScript
Means that handle
exceptions in DelphiScript are similar to those that handle exceptions in Delphi. This
includes the try... except... end and try... finally...
end statements. These statements handle
exceptions that occur within the try... except and try... finally blocks.
The except... end block is executed only if an exception occurs. Use it to perform specific actions as
a response to an exception. If there are no exceptions, the control is passed to the instruction next to the end
statement.
The finally.. . end block is always executed. Use it to ensure
that certain operations in your code
are completed whether or not exceptions occur.
To obtain the exception message in scripts, use the ExceptionMessage function. The following code
illustrates exception handling in DelphiScript routines –
[DelphiScript]
try
// Do something
...
except
// An exception occurred !!!
// Posts the exception message to the test log
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Script Writing
Log.Error(ExceptionMessage);
end;
Working With Operations in Scripts
Althou gh the Automated Build Studio operations
provide an extensive complement of customizable
options, they cannot cover all possible cases. So you may need to program specific actions that cannot be
done with Build Studio’s operations. You can do this using the Script operation. Scripts let you perform
a
wide variety of tasks: change macro variables, set special processing of data, get access to various objects via
COM interfaces, etc. In addition, your scripts can initiate execution of operations
or they can get and set
va lues of operation properties.
This topic
explains how you can do this.
Addressing Operations in Scripts
There are two ways in which you can address macro operations from scripts:
• Via the Operations object. This approach is convenient if you only need to work with a few
macro operations. It lets you access a particular operation
by its unique name. To assign a unique
name to an operation:
Right-click on the desired operation in the Macro panel and select Properties from the
context menu. This will call the Operation Properties dialog.
In the dialog, switch to the Properties page and specify the operation name in the Unique
Name field. This name must be unique among other operations. Since this name will be used
to refer to the operation in scripts, it must also be a valid scripting identifier. To make the
operation’s unique name suitable for any supported scripting language, follow this simple
rule: this name can include only letters, digits and underscores and must begin with a letter.
Once you set a unique name for the operation, you can address this operation in script code using the
following syntax:
Operations.operation_unique_name
For example,
Operations.CompileApp
•
Via the ABSUtils.Macro property. This approach is convenient if you need to perform batch
processing of all of the macro operations, or a group of operations. It requires that you
know the
position of the desired operation in the macro’s operations tree. You address the operation via its
parent operations using the following syntax:
ABSUtils.Macro.Children(Index1).Children(Index2)...Children(IndexN).Operation
Where the Index parameters hold the zero-based index of a particular operation among
its parent
operation’s child list. For example, to address the second child operation of the first macro
operation, you can use the following code:
ABSUtils.Macro.Children(0).Children(1).Operation
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Running
Operations From Scripts
Script Writing
To run a specific operation from a script, use the Execute method of the operation object. For example,
to run a Submacro operation that has the MySubmacro1 unique name, you can use the code:
Operations.MySubmacro1.Execute
Or, assuming that this Submacro operation is the first operation in the macro, you can also call it in the
following way:
ABSUtils.Macro.Children(0).Operation.Execute
If the operation was called successfully, the Execute method returns True and Automated Build Studio
post a message about the operation execution to the log. Otherwise, it returns False and Automated Build
Studio posts an error message on that matter to the log and (optionally) stops macro execution. The latter
depends on the value that is set in the Stop Execution If Operation Fails property of the given operation and
of its parents. See Handling Errors in Macros.
Accessing Operation Properties in Scripts
To access an operation’s property in the script code, use the following syntax:
operationObj.property_name = property_value
operationObj is the operation object (see the Addressing Operations in Scripts section above).
For instance, the following code increments the Minor Version property of the Compile Delphi 3-7
Project operation whose unique name is MyDelphiProjectOperation:
[VBScript]
Dim i
i = Operations.MyDelphiProjectOperation.VersionInfo.MinorVersion
Operations.MyDelphiProjectOperation.VersionInfo.MinorVersion = i+1
[Jscript]
Operations.MyDelphiProjectOperation.VersionInfo.MinorVersion++;
[DelphiScript]
Var
i : OleVariant;
begin
i:=Operations.MyDelphiProjectOperation.VersionInfo.MinorVersion;
Operations.MyDelphiProjectOperation.VersionInfo.MinorVersion := i+1;
. . .
end;
Automated Build Studio forms the names of operation properties in scripts on the base of the property
name that is shown in the Operation Properties dialog. The algorithm of name building is quite simple:
• Build Studio refines the “visual” name of a property from all invalid characters (such as pluses,
minuses, spaces, ampersands, etc.).
• All the words in the property name are capitalized and then concatenated.
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Script Writing
Using this algorithm, the Stack Frames property, for example, gets the stackFrames name for scripts;
Generate debug info becomes generateDebugInfo, etc.
If the name of the operation property is too long, Automated Build Studio may form the
resulting property name according to another algorithem. For example, it can form the
scripting name of a property based
on the first few words of the original property name.
Thus, the Load Settings Before Compiling property may get the LoadSettings scripting
name. Alternatively, Build Studio may abbreviate the property name, skip specific words in
it, and so on.
It is recommended that you refer to the Code Completion window to learn property names
that are available to scripts
(see below).
All the operation properties are shown as subnodes of the operation node in the Code Completion
window of th e Edit Script form (to view additional information about operation properties, press the
button):
If the operation contains a large number of properties, Build Studio organizes them into child objects
corresponding to the operation’s property pages. For example, the Compile Delphi 3-7 Project
operation
properties located on the Version Info page are available as child nodes of the operation’s VersionInfo
subnode:
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Script Writing
Some properties may contain one of predefined values. For instance, the CheckTimeOutMode property
can hold either 0, 1 or 2 (this property
is a program analogue of the Timeout property that is common for all
the operations). For properties like CheckTimeOutMode, the Code Completion window shows the values
that can be used for setting the property
value:
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Script Writing
Note: Though the type of the CheckTimeOutMode property is an integer, you can use strings
when setting the property value. Build Studio will automatically convert the specified string
to the appropriate integer
value and then assign this value to the property. For instance, you
can use the following strings
when setting the value of CheckTimeOutMode:
• None (analogue
to 0)
• Global (analogue
to 1)
• Local (analogue
to 2)
When you obtain the property
value, Automated Build Studio will return an integer value,
not a string.
You can use variables, constants and their combinations when changing property values from a script.
For instance, the code below sets the File Name property of the If File Exists operation whose unique name is
IfMyFileExists:
[VBScript]
Variables.FolderPath = "C:\ Work"
Variables.FileName = "myfile.txt"
Operations.IfMyFileExists.FileName = _
Variables.FolderPath & "\" & Variables.FileName
[Jscript]
Variabl es.FolderPath = "C:\ \Work";
Variables.FileName = "myfile.txt";
Operations.IfMyFileExists.FileName =
Varia bles.FolderPath + "\ \" + Variables.FileName;
[DelphiScript]
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Variables.FolderPath := 'C:\Work';
Variables.FileName := 'myfile.txt';
Operations.IfMyFileExists.FileName :=
Variables.FolderPath + '\' + Variables.FileName;
Script Writing
If you want to concatenate values of variables and constants using the syntax that is acceptable when
specifying operation property values via the Operation Properties dialog (see Using Variables and Constants
in Macros), use the ABSUtils.TranslateExpression method in your scripts. For example:
[VBScript]
V ariables.FolderPath = "C:\Work"
Variables.FileName = "m yfile.txt"
Operations.IfMyFileExists.FileName = _
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression("%FolderPath%\%FileName%") [JScript]
Variables.FolderPath = "C:\\ Work";
Variables.Fi leName = "myfile.txt";
Operations.IfMyFileExists.FileName =
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression("%FolderPath%\\%FileName%");
[DelphiScript]
V ariables.FolderPath : = 'C:\ Work';
Variables.FileName := 'myfile.txt';
Operations.IfMyFileExists.fileName :=
ABSUtils.TranslateExpression('%FolderPath%\%FileName%');
Note: Macro variables cannot store
references to objects, they can only store ordinary values:
numbers, strings, dates, etc.
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Automated Build Studio Command-Line Interface
Automated Build Studio Command-Line Interface
Command-Line Arguments
This topic describes the command-line arguments of Automated Build Studio and Automated Macro
Player.
Automated Build Studio Command Line
Automated Build Studio (\AutomatedBuildStudio.exe)
uses the following
command line arguments, which are case-insensitive:
file_name
Launches Build Studio and loads the specified macro (.bbp or .bxp file) into it.
/ns
Opens Automated Build Studio
without displaying the splash screen.
/Run or /R
Must be specified after file_name. This will run the specified macro upon loading Build
Studio.
After the macro finishes, Automated
Build Studio will stay open.
/RunAndExit or /RE
See /Run. This option does the same as /Run but closes Build Studio after the macro finishes.
/SilentMode, /ErrorAndWarningMode or /ErrorOnlyMode
You can use one of these arguments to specify which message boxes and dialogs Automated Build
Studio will display during a macro
run:
• /SilentMode - If this argument
is specified, Automated Build Studio will neither display any
dialogs nor inform you about any errors and warnings that occurred during a macro run.
• /ErrorAndWarningMode - If this argument is used,
Automated Build Studio will not display
dialogs, but it will show error and warning
messages.
• /ErrorOnlyMode - If this argumen t is used, Automated Build Studio will not display any
dialogs and message boxes except for
error messages.
/variable_name=variable_value or -variable_name=variable_value Initializes the specified variable with th e given value. The variable (stored variable) must exist in
the macro you are running. See Using V ariables and Constants in Macros. Here, variable_name
and variable_value are the actual name
and value of the variable. If the variable value holds
spaces,
the entire value must be enclosed in double-quotes. This command line argument is valid only if it
is used with the /Run or/RunAndExit arguments. To initialize several variables,
you can use this
argument several times in the same command
line.
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Automated Build Studio Command-Line Interface
/configuration_name
Runs the macro with
data of the specifie d configuration. See Using Macro Configurations. If this
argument is not specified,
the active configuration
which is saved in the macro will be used. If the
configuration name includes spaces, it m ust be enclosed in double-quotes: /"configuration name".
To batch-run the macro
in several confi gurations at once, use this argument several times in the
same command line.
/@all
Runs a macro using all existing macro configurations. See Using Macro Configurations.
Note: To determine which parameters were passed to Build Studio in its command line, add a Script
operation to you macro and use the ParamStr and ParamCount functions in the script.
Here are some examples of running Automated Build
Studio with command line arguments.
• Use the following command line to run Automated Build Studio, load the specified macro
(My.bbp) in it and start the macro execution for the Release configuration.
"C:\Automated Build Studio\Bin\AutomatedBuildStudio.exe"
"C:\Work\Macros\My.bbp" /Run /Release
• The following line commands Automated Build Studio to run without
the splash screen, to load
the specified macro (My.bbp),
to start its execution, to initialize the ProjectDir variable and to
exit
when the macro execution
is over.
AutomatedBuildStudio.exe "C:\Work\Macros\My.bbp" /ns
/RunAndExit /ProjectDir="C:\My Projects"
Automated Macro Player Command Line
The installation of Automated Build Studio also includes the Automated Macro Player. This is a console
application (\AutomatedMacroPlayer.exe) that is used to run the macro you have
constructed using Build Studio. When calling the Macro Player via the command line, you can pass it the
n ame of a file that holds a macro and the Macro Player will start running this macro immediately, using
the
active configuration. Because
it is easier and faster than Build Studio, the Macro Player is a good solution
to
run the macros you have already checked thoroughly and proved to be reliable.
In addition to the macro file name, you can pass the Macro Player all the other parameters
that are
supported by AutomatedBuildStudio.exe except for /ns, /Run and /RunAndExit, which
are simply ignored by
the
Macro Player.
Automated Build Studio Service Command
Line
The Automated Build Studio’s installation also includes
Automated Build Studio Service. This is a
Windows NT service (\Bin\AutomatedBuildService.exe) that is used to provide
client-server functionality and co ntinuous integration support. It dispatches data and commands between
client and server machines, stores results of macro runs, traces task triggers and starts
a task when the trigger
events or conditions are accomplished.
AutomatedBuildService.exe accepts
the following command-line arguments:
/trace:on and /trace:off
For some triggers, the Automated Build Studio Service can post logs on request to resources they
trace. These are the triggers of the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe File Change, PVCS File Change,
StarTeam File Change, Subversion File Change, Surround SCM File Change, Team Coherence
File Change and Vault File Change types. The logs are collected in the

Automated Build Studio Command-Line Interface
Studio>\Bin\Extensions folder except for
the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe File Change triggers’
logs, which are posted to the VSSLog subfolder
of this folder. The log files’ format depends on the
trigger type, and it usually includes the entire command line of the launched process (it is used to
check the state of the traced resource), the pro cess response,
the request date and time and the latest
date and time of the traced resource obtained during the check. New records are appended to the
log file that is stored for each
trigger. The /trace:on argument enables logging of triggers'
activity.
At that, the DWORD value, which is called TraceMode, is created
in the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Automated Build Studio
Service registry key and is set to 1. The / trace:off argument
disables trigger logging and sets
TraceMode to 0). Later, when being launched,
AutomatedBuildService.exe will read the data of the
TraceMode value from the registry, and it will
either enable or disable trigger logging.
/poolsize:N
This argument sets the number
of tasks that can be run simultaneously by
AutomatedBuildService.exe. By default,
this number
is 5. The integer value N passed in this
argument (it can range between
1 and 30) is stored as the PoolSize value of the DWORD type in
the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Services\Automated Build Studio
Service registry key. Later, when being
launched,
AutomatedBuildService.exe will read the data of
the PoolSize value from the registry
and will set the number of running tasks.
/service
Registers the AutomatedBuildService.exe process as an NT service (if it is not registered
yet) and
runs this service. Before the service is run, it reads the values passed in the /poolsize and/or
/trace
command-line arguments or reads the corresponding
values from the registry (see above).
/restart
Starts the Automated Build Studio Service if it is not running and restarts it if it is already
running.
/stop
Stops the Automated Build Studio Service.
/exit
This argument is supposed to be used with the
/poolsize and /trace arguments when they are passed
to AutomatedBuildService.exe
being launched
as a stand-alone process, not as a service. The /exit
argument simply writes the corresponding
values specified by the /poolsize and/or /trace
command-line arguments to the registry,
but it does not run an instance of
AutomatedBuildService.exe with
newly set parameters.
Exit
Codes
Both Automated Build Studio and Automated Macro
Player provide the following exit codes, which
report
on the results of the last run:
Exit Code Description
0 The last run was executed successfully.
1 An error occurred in a macro during the last run.
Normally, these codes are of use when Automated Build Studio or the Automated Macro Player is
launched from a batch file. Here is a simple example:
REM Clears the screen
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CLS
@ECHO OFF
Automated Build Studio Command-Line Interface
REM Launches Automated Build Studio without splash screen
REM and runs the specified macro
START \W "C:\Automated Build Studio\AutomatedBuildStudio.exe" /ns
/RunAndExit C:\Macros\MyProj.bbp
REM If ERRORLEVEL is greater than 1, go to Unknown
IF ERRORLEVEL 2 GOTO Unknown
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO Errors
IF ERRORLEVEL 0 GOTO Success
:Unknown
ECHO Unknown return code
GOTO End
:Errors
ECHO There are errors
GOTO End
:Success
ECHO No errors
GOTO End
:End
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Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous
Working With Source Control Systems
Automated Build Studio provides integrated source control
services. This means that you can use
A utomated Build Studio as a client for your source control provider.
Without leaving Build Studio, you can
c heck in and check out your macro,
view its history, compare its versions, etc. To perform these actions,
Automated Build Studio that is ru
nning as a standalone application includes the File | Source Control menu.
Note that Automated Build Studio also
supports an integration with the CVS, PVCS, Perforce, Visual
SourceSafe and many other
source control systems within macros of
corresponding operations (for the full
list of supported source control systems, see Supported Tools). The difference between these operations and
the menu is that the menu operates with your macro file only, while the operations deal with the files with
which your macro works.
When Automated Build Studio is running as a standalone application, it supports all Microsoft Source
Code Control API compatible source control systems including:
• Microsoft Visual SourceSafe
• Concurrent Versions System (CVS), through the CVSProxy or Jalindi Igloo plug-in
• Merant PVCS Ver sion Manager
•
Team Coherence
• Rational
ClearCase
• Star base
Versions (StarTeam)
• Seapine Surround SCM
• IBM VisualAge
TeamConnection
• CS-RCS
• MKS Source Integrity
• Perforce P4 Version
Control System
• CM Synergy (Continuus
CM)
• AllChange
• Code Co-op
• SourceOffSite
• AllFusion Harvest Change Manager
• Etc.
In order for Automated Build Studio to work with a source control system, this system must support
Microsoft SCC API and your computer
must have an SCC Provider registered for this source control system.
Note that some of the source control systems (for instance, Subversion)
are shipped without an SCC
provider. In this case you ha ve to install the provider manually.
Before you start using a source control system, you should add your
macro to it. To do this:
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• Save your macro to a file if you have not saved it yet.
Miscellaneous
• Select Add to Source Control from the File | Source Control menu. Specify the comment in the
ensuing Comment dialog and press OK. This will call
the Select SCC Provider dialog that lists
source control systems installed on your computer. Automated Build Studio
generates this list
automatically.
• Select the desired source
control system in the dialog and press OK.
Once you press OK in the Select SCC Provider dialog, Build Studio will connect to the selected source
control s ystem.
Then, it will show the source
control system's dialog in which you need to specify the project
t o which you want to add your macro.
Note: If your macro has already
b een added to the chosen source control system outside of
Automated Build
Studio, but you want to check it in or out from Build Studio, you should add
your macro to this source control
system anyway as it is described above.
After your macro is added to the source control system, you will be able
to check it in or out, view
h istory and use other services provided by the source control system. These actions will be applied to the
selected source control system only. If you want to add your macro to another source control system, you
must unbind the macro from the chosen sour ce control system first. To do this, select File | Source Control |
Unbind From Source Control. Then you can add your macro to another
source control system as it is
described
above.
The File | Source Control menu holds some more items for working with source control systems:
• Check In - Checks in your macro to the source control system chosen in the Select SCC Provider
dialog. Using the Check in on close option you can command Automated Build Studio to check
in the macro automatically every time you close it in Build Studio.
• Check Out - Checks out your macro from the selected source control system. Using the Check
out
on open op tion you can command Automated Build Studio to check out the macro
automatically
every time you open
it in Build Studio.
• Undo Ch eck Out - Lets you undo the check out action. This item is enabled only when Check
Out is disabled.
Note: Automated Build Studio traces the check-in/check-out status of a macro
and enables or disables
the Check In and Check Out methods according to this status. For instance, Automated Build
Studio disables the Check In item after the macro was
checked in and enables it after the macro
was
checked out. The Check Out item is disabled
when Check In is enabled and vice versa.
However,
Build Studio’s check-in/check-out status of a macro may not coincide with the status
of the macro in the source control system. This happens if you
checked out your macro from
the source control system using Automated Build Studio and then
checked in the macro outside
of Build Studio using any other tool, for example,
using a client application of the source
control
system. To bring Build Studio’s status
of the macro to the source control system’s
status, select Refresh
Status from the File | Source Control menu.
• History - Calls the History dialog provided by the source control system. This dialog displays the
history of the selected
file (creation date, check in dates, etc.) and the current version number.
• Compare Files
- Lets you compare a file stored in the source control system with another file
stored in the
source control system, or a file stored in the source
control system with a file that is
not stored in it, or two files that are not stored in the source control system. The actual actions
performed by thi s menu item depend on the source control system you use as well as on the
"nature" of the
files. For instance, if you use Microsoft Visual SourceSafe and your macro is a
file in the
.bxp format, clicking the Compare Files item will show Visual
SourceSafe's
Difference Options dialog, in which you can select the files for comparison, specify comparison
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Miscellaneous
options and star t comparing the files. If your macro is a file in the .bbp format, Visual
SourceSafe
will not show any dialogs - it will compare the
files right after you select the
Compare
Files item. Other source control systems may provide
another behavior.
• Properties - Invok es the dialog that shows source-control properties of your macro. This dialog is
provided by the s ource control system.
• Run Source Cont rol - Launches the client application of the source control system selected in the
Select SCC Provider dialog. This may be necessary if you want to do something that cannot be
done with Build Studio.
For more information, see the documentation on the particular client that supports the Source Code
Control
technology.
Micrsoft Visual Studio, w hich Build Studio integrates with, also has a File | Source Control menu with
similar items. However, their
purpose differs from what is described above. In particular, only the Microsoft
Visual SourceSafe integratio n is supported. To learn more about Visual Studio’s
native support for source
c ontrol systems, see Visual Studio’s
documentation.
Working With Automated
Build Studio via COM
Automated Build Studio is a COM server and it can be controlled from other applications like any other
COM server (for example, like Microsoft Word). Other AutomatedQA applications can use it to integrate
Automated Build Studio macros. This topic provides a step-by-step explanation of how you can control
Automated Build Studio via COM from a Visual Basic application. A description of how to work with
Automated Build Studio from managed applications (C#) is also included. Our sample code will:
• Connect to Automated Build Studio
via COM.
• Open an Automated Build Studio project.
• Runs a test.
• Check the results
The topic includes the following sections:
Setting up Visual Basic (Optional)
Connecting to Automated Build Studio
Automating Automated Build Studio With the Integration Object
Working With Automated Build Studio From Managed Code
Two notes before we proceed:
• A simple alternative to testing your applications with Automated Build Studio via COM is to run
Automated Build Studio and pass it certain command-line
arguments. See Command-Line
Arguments for more information.
• COM only commands work if one instance of Automated
Build Studio is running.
Setting up Visual Basic (Optional)
To work with Automated
Build Studio in your VB application, add
a reference to the Automated Build
Studio object library to your application that will use Automated Build Studio as a COM server. The
following steps explain how to do this.
• Open your CO M client application in Microsoft Visual Basic.
• Select Project | Refere nces from Visual Basic's menu. This will call the References dialog.
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Miscellaneous
• In the References dialog, check Automated Build Studio Library and press OK. This
will add a
reference to the Automated
Build Studio object library for your COM client application:
If Automated Build Studio's library is not present in the dialog, you can add it directly by pressing
Browse and selecting the \Bin\Automated Build Studio.exe file in the ensuing
Open
File dialog.
Connecting to Automated Build Studio via COM
The first step in using Automated Build Studio as a COM server is connecting to it. To create a
connection, you have to create a referen
ce to the absApplication object. This object implements methods
and properties
to connect and work with Automated Build Studio. To create
a connection you can use the
following
program and class identifiers:
Application Program Id Class Id
Automated Build Studio ABS.Application {28180ECD-1420-4640-8C6B-A1EC7925F9E2}
Automated Macro Player AMP.Application {183F38AF-EDC5-4799-8218-5F6BAF668AB3}
The following code creates a connec tion by calling Visual Basic’s CreateObject function and using
ABS.Application as the
program id:
[Visual Basic]
Set ABSApp = CreateObject("ABS.Application")
This line will connect your COM client application to
the currently running instance of Automated Build
Studio.
If Automated Build Studio has not yet been launched, CreateObject will launch it.
The absApplication
object contains the following methods
and properties:
Property or Method Description
Quit Method. Use it to exit Automated Build Studio.
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Miscellaneous
Manager Property. Returns a reference to the IaqBaseManager object that
provides access to internal Automated Build Studio interfaces. These are
the same interfaces that different components of Automated Build Studio
use to connect and work with each other.
IntegrationManager Property. Returns a reference to the IabsIntegrationManager object
that provides access to a subset of higher-level functions specifically
engineered to let users perform typical actions over Automated Build
Studio.
To automate Automated Build Studio, we will use the
IabsIntegrationManager object. The
Manager object provides deep
er access to Automated Build Studio’s
internal objects and components, its
use is more complex: the calls to methods and properties
of internal objects should match
certain conditions
adopted in Automated Build Studio; execution of a simple action may require several
complex calls and so
on. The use of the IabsIntegrationManager object is much simpler. It includes all functionalities
that let
you perform most
common actions: open macros, run them, and export results. The next section describes
how
you can use this object to automate Automated Build Studio.
Automating Automated Build Studio
With the Integration Object
The IabsIntegrationManager object contains three properties that return references to helper
objects, which you can use to open macros, run them and export results:
Property Object Description
Exporter IabsExporter Contains methods used to export results.
Macro IabsMacro Contains methods
used to open and save macros.
Runner IabsRunner Contains methods used to run macros and control the
macro runs.
At the beginning of the topic we wanted
to create sample code that will –
• Connect to Automated Build
Studio.
• Open
a project.
• Run a test.
• Check results of the test.
The IabsMacro, IabsRunner an d IabsExporter objects contain special methods to perform these
steps, so the execution of almost all of these
steps requires no more than a single method call:
Action Description
To open a macro... Use the Open method of the IabsIntegrationManager.Macro object.
To obtain or change a
Use the Var iableByName or ConstantByName method of the
macro variable or
IabsIntegrationManager.Macro.Variables
object.
constant...
To obtain work with To obtain the active
configuration name, use the ActiveConfiguration
configurations... property of the IabsIntegrationManager.Macro object.
To enumer ate configurations, use the ConfigurationsList property of the
IabsIntegrationManager.Macro object to obtain the
IabsConfigurationsIterator
object. To enumerate configurations, use the
methods of this object.
To run a macro... Use one of the following methods of the IabsIntegrationManager.Runner
object:
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To trace the macro
execution progress...
To pause a ma
run...
•
Miscellaneous
Run - Runs the currently opened macro in Automated Build Studio.
• BatchRun - Runs the currently
opened macro using the specified
configurations.
Before calling any of these routines make sure
Automated Build Studio is not
executing macros. You can do this, by calling the IabsRunner.Running
property in a loop.
Each of these methods return after the macro run was started or after the macro
failed to start.
They do not pause the program execution until the macro run is
over. To wait
until the macro execution is over, you can check the Running
property in a loop.
In the sample code that goes after this table, we will use the
BatchRun method
to start tests.
To obtain information
about a macro's execution, use the RunProgress method
of the IabsIntergationManager.Runner object. The method returns
information about the macro execution through its parameters.
You can call
the RunProgress method within a loop. The loop condition will
check the value of the IabsRunner.Running
property. If the value is True, the
loop body can call the RunProgress method to obtain information about
execution progress and display this information
to the user.
cro To pause
a macro run, use the Pause method of the
IabsInte rgationManager.Runner object. To resume the macro execution,
call IabsIntegrationManager.Runner.Run.
To stop a macro run... To stop a macro run, use the Stop method of the
IabsIntergationManager.Runner object.
To check results... To check whether the last macro run finished successfully, use the RunResult
property of the IabsIntegrationManager.Runner object. This property
returns a boolean value indicating the result.
To obtain the last error To obtain the last error's description,
use the LastError property of the
description. ..
IabsIntegrationManager.Runner object.
To export results... To export macro execution results, use one of the following
methods of the
IabsIntegrationManager.Exporter object:
•
•
•
ExportErrorsFromLog
ExportLog
ExportSummary
The following code demonstrates ho w you can automate Automated Build Studio:
[Visual Basic]
Sub RunABS
Dim AbsApp As absApplication, IntegrationManager As
IabsIntegrationManager
' Connecting to Automated Build Studio
Set AbsApp = CreateObject("ABS.Application")
' Obtaining the IntegrationManager object
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Miscellaneous
Set IntegrationManager = AbsApp.IntegrationManager ' Opening the macro
If Not IntegrationManager. Macro.Open("c:\Work\Automated
Build
Studio\Samples\Macros\BuildLogic\BuildLogic.bxp") Then
' If Build Studio failed to open the macro
' display notification and exit the routine
MsgBox "Cannot open the specified project"
ABSApp.Quit
Exit Sub
End If
' Runs the macro
IntegrationManager.Runner.BatchRun "Release"
' Waiting until the macro run is over
While IntegrationManager.Runner.Running
DoEvents
Wend
' Exporting results
If IntegrationManager.Runner.RunResult Then
IntegrationManager.Exporter.ExportSummary "C:\MyFile.htm", False
End If
' Closing Automated Build Studio
AbsApp.Quit
End Sub
Two notes:
• To run the tests, we used the BatchRun method. This method returns immediately after the
macro
run is started. If you try to close Automated Build Studio when a macro is running (this
happens, for example,
when you call Quit right after BatchRun), Automated
Build Studio
displays a message
that asks you whether you want to close the application and terminate the
macro run. To avo id this message, we used a loop that waits until profiling is over.
• Macro operation properties and various settings are stored in your Automated Build
Studio
macro. When you start
running your macro using the Run or BatchRun methods of the
IabsRunner object, Automated
Build Studio uses the settings stored in your Automated Build
Studio macro. Therefore, we recommend
that you prepare your macro before you run that macro
with Automated Build Studio
via COM.
Working with Automated Build Studio
via COM from managed code
In previous sections, we used Visual Basic to automate Automated Build Studio. In this section,
we will
de scribe how you can perform the same tasks from C# code. Our sample code will connect to Automated
Build Studio and work with it via the IabsIntegrationManager object.
To work with Automated Build Studio from managed code, add a reference for the Automated Build
Studio
library to your project:
• Select Project | Add Reference from the main menu of Visual Studio. This will call the Add
Reference dialog.
• In this dialog:
Switch to the COM tabbed page.
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Miscellaneous
Find Automated
Build Studio Library (TypeLib Version: 1.0) in the list of available
components.
Choose this library in the list and click the Select button. The library will appear in the
Selected Components
list.
Press OK to close the dialog and save your changes.
After you the reference
is added, you will have access to Automated Build Studio’s interfaces.
In order to work with Automated Build Studio via COM, two Windows API functions -
CoCreateInstance and GetActiveObject
are used. So you need to write special code where these
functions are defined.
The following code demonstrates how you
can use Automated Build Studio via COM:
[C#]
// Add the following lines to your unit
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using AutomatedBuildStudio;
...
public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
...
// Defines functions needed to obtain a reference to ABS
[DllImport("Ole32.dll", PreserveSig = false, EntryPoint =
"CoCreateInstance")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IUnknown)]
private static extern object CoCreateInstance([In] ref Guid clsid,
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IUnknown)] Object punkOuter, int context, [In] ref
Guid iid);
[DllImport( "oleaut32. dll", PreserveSig = false, EntryPoint
=
"GetActiveObject")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.IUnknown)]
private static extern object GetActiveObject([In] ref Guid clsid, int
reserved);
// Defines helper constants
private const int INPROC_SERVER = 1;
private const int LOCAL_SERVER = 4;
private void button1_Click(obj ect sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Guid CLSID_ABS = new Guid("28180ECD-1420-4640-8C6B-A1EC7925F9E2");
Guid IID_ABS = new Guid("8 CFC12DB-6026-486B-A563-889D1AC8A859");
object ABSAppObject = null;
// Obtains access to Automated Build Studio
try
{
ABSAppObject = GetActiveObject(ref CLSID_ABS, 0);
}
catch
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Miscellaneous
{
try
{
ABSAppObject = CoCreateInstance(ref CLSID_ABS, null,
INPROC_SERVER | LOCAL_SERVER, ref IID_ABS);
}
catch
{
}
}
if (ABSAppObject == null) return;
// Obtains the IabsIntegrationManager object
AutomatedBuildStudio.absApplication ABSCOMObject =
(AutomatedBuildStudio.absApplication) ABSAppObject;
AutomatedBuildStudio.IabsIntegrationManager IntegrationManager =
ABSCOMObject.IntegrationManager;
try
{
// We have a re ference to the integration object.
// Now we can use its methods and properties to automate
// Automated Build Studio.
// Opening the macro
if (! IntegrationManager.Macro.Open("c:\\Work\\Automated Build
Studio\\Samples\\Macros\\BuildLogic\\BuildLogic.bxp"))
{
project");
}
// If Build
Studio failed to open the macro
// display notification and exit the routine
System.Wind ows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Cannot
open the specified
ABSCOMObject.Quit();
return;
// Runs the macro
IntegrationManager.Runner.BatchRun("Release");
// Waiting until the macro run is over
while(IntegrationManager.Runner.Running)
Application.DoEvents();
// Exporting results
if(IntegrationManager.Runner.RunResult)
{
IntegrationManager.Exporter.ExportSummary("C:\\MyFile.htm", false);
}
}
catch(System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException ex)
{
System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("An exception occurred:
" +
ex.Message);
}
finally
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}
...
}
{
}
// Closes Automated Build
Studio
ABSCOMObject.Quit();
// Releases COM objects
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(IntegrationManager);
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(ABSCOMObject);
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(ABSAppObject);
Miscellaneous
Please pay attention
to the last three lines. T hey call the Marshal.ReleaseCOMObject method to
release all objects that
we referred to in our code. M ake sure that you call this method and release the objects.
Else, the work with Automated Build Studio will not be finished properly
and the next attempt to automate
Automated
Build Studio will fail.
Sounds for Automated Build Studio Events
Automated Build Studio has a number of events to which sounds can be assigned.
Each time one of these
events occurs, the computer will play the appropriate sound and thus notify you about the event.
The sound
notification is especially useful if you are not at the computer where
the macro is running.
Build Studio has the following events:
Event Description
Breakpoint Hit Occurs every time the macro
execution is paused on a breakpoint.
Macro Execution Failed Occurs when the macro execution fails.
Macro Execution Succeeded Occurs when the macro
execution is completed successfully.
To specify the sound to be played for each of these events,
use the standard Sound and Audio Device
Properties
dialog. You can call this dialog from the Control Panel:
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Miscellaneous
To associate a sound with an event:
• Find the Automated Build Studio node in the dialog's Program events box.
• Choose the desired event under the Automated Build Studio node.
• In the Sounds box, specify the sound to be
played when the event occurs.
You can either choose the sound from the
dropdown list of the Sounds box, or press Browse and
choose a .wav file in the ensuing Open File
dialog.
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Operations
Reference
Operation Categories
Operations Reference
In Automated Build Studio, all operations that can be used in macros are divided into the following
categories:
Category Description
.NET Tools Operations that can run various .NET utilities to process your
.NET-connected applications.
Archivers Operations that let you pack and unpack files using various
compression formats.
Authenticode Operations that allow to sign and check signed files using the
Microsoft Authenticode technology.
AutomatedQA Tools Operations that run other products by AutomatedQA Corp. and
interact with them.
Borland Compilers Operations
that let you compile projects with Borland and
CodeGear
compilers
installed on your computer.
Build Tools Operations that run automatic builds using external build tools.
Burn CD/DVD Operations that let you create ISO images, write ISO images as
well as arbitrary files
and folders to a CD or DVD disk, erase
rewritable disks
and so on.
Communication Operations that let you send and receive e-mail and news messages
as well as send messages via MSN Messenger
or ICQ.
Concurrent Versions System Operations that work with Concurrent Versions System. They let
you retrieve files from CVS, put them into it, etc.
Execute Operations that run programs from macros.
Files and Directories Operations to work with files and folders (creating, copying and
moving files
and folders).
Frequently Used Operations that you have most frequently used when creating
macros.
FTP Operations that let you browse the contents of FTP servers, as well
as download and upload files from / to them.
Help Compilers Operations that let you compile
help files in HLP, CHM and other
formats.
HTTP Operations that let you browse the contents of HTTP servers, as
well as ge t and post data from / to them.
Installers Operations
that let you build installation programs using such tools
as InstallShield
and Wise.
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Operations Reference
Interactive Operations that let you create various dialog
boxes in order to input
or select v alues, display messages and select files and folders.
Internet Information Services Operations that allow you to manage Web and FTP sites on a local
(IIS) or remote computer.
Issue Tracking Operations that let your macros create and modify items stored in
different issue
tracking systems.
JediVCS Operations
that work with the Jedi Version Control System. For
example, checking files in and out.
Logging Operations that let you control the logging of macro runs and
e xport the whole log contents or its part to a file.
Microsoft Compilers Operations that let you compile projects with Microsoft compilers
installed on
your computer.
Microsoft Compilers for
Smart Device
Operations
that let you compile projects with Microsoft compilers
for Smart Device installed on your computer.
Microsoft Source Server Operations
that let you index PDB files for various source control
systems as
well as read data from and write it to a PDB stream.
Microsoft Virtual PC Operations that control virtual machines running via Microsoft
Virtual PC.
Microsoft Virtual Server Operations that control virtual machines running under Microsoft
Virtual Server 2005.
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Operations that work with Microsoft Visual SourceSafe. They let
you retrieve files from VSS, put them into it, etc.
Misc Miscellaneous operations that let you insert comments into macros,
pause the macro execution, wait until a specific window appears,
etc.
MySQL Operations that let you maintain MySQL Server databases and
execute SQL queries and scripts over them.
Oracle Operations that work with Oracle Database System. They let you
back up, restore and recover databases as well as to execute
RMAN
and SQLPlus scripts.
Other Compilers Operations that let you compile projects with miscellaneous
compilers installed on your computer.
Patch Management Operations used to work with patch managements
tools such as
IncUpdate Builders or Visual Patch.
Perforce Operations that work with Perforce. They let you retrieve files
from
Perforce, put them into it, etc.
Prepare Code Operations used to compress, decompress and encrypt executables
and libraries and include exception-handling code in them.
PsTools Operations that work with system utilities from the PsTools suite.
PVCS Operations that work with Merant PVCS Version Manager. They
let you retrieve files from PVCS and put them into it.
Rational ClearCase Operations that work with Rational ClearCase. Using them you can
check in, check out, lock,
unlock and perform other actions with
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files and objects stored in the Rational ClearCase repository.
Operations Reference
Read/Write Operations used to work with text, INI files and the system registry.
Remote Macro Execution Operations that let you run macros and monitor macro runs on other
computers in the network.
Source Code Tools Operations that analyze source code files for different compilers.
SourceGear Vault Operations that work with SourceGear Vault. They
let you retrieve
files from a SourceGear Vault repository, put them into it, etc.
SourceOffSite Operations
that work with SourceOffSite. They let you retrieve
files from a SourceOffSite
repository, put them into it, etc.
SQL Operations that allow you to execute SQL queries and scripts as
well as to maintain Microsoft SQL Server databases.
Standard General operations used to organize loops, conditionally execute a
group of operations, etc.
StarTeam Operations that work with Borland StarTeam. They let you retrieve
files from StarTeam, put them into it, etc.
String Manipulation Operations that let you
perform various operations over string
values: concatenate strings,
replace characters in a string, extract
substrings, change letter case, manipulate path strings
and so on.
Subversion Operatio ns that work with Subversion. They let you retrieve files
from Subversion,
put them into it, etc.
Surround SCM Operations that work with Surround SCM.
They let you retrieve
files from Surround SCM, put them into it, etc.
Team Coherence Operations that work with Quality Software Components
Team
Coherence. They let you retrieve files from Team Coherence, put
them into it, etc.
Team Foundation Version
Control
Operations that work with Microsoft Team Foundation Version
Control. They let you retrieve files from Team Foundation Version
Control, put them into it and so on.
Unit Tests Operations that can run various
application.
test utilities to test units of your
VMware Server Operations that control virtual machines running under VMware
server.
VMware Workstation Operations that control virtual machines running on VMware
workstation.
Wait Operations
used to suspend macro executions until certain events
occur.
WMI Operations
that let you start, pause and stop services, run and
terminate processes, etc. on a remote or on your local computer.
These ope rations use Windows Management Instrumentation.
XML Operations that let you work with XML files.
You can also create custom operations. For more information on this, see on-line help.
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.NET Tools Category
The .NET Tools category includes the following
operations:
Operation Description
CLRxLint Verifies checked exceptions defined in your .NET assemblies using
Software4net
CLRxLint.
Configure ASP.NET Configures ASP.NET on the current computer
using the ASP.NET
IIS Registration Tool (aspnet_regiis.exe).
Dotfuscator Obfuscates your .NET code using PreEmptive Dotfuscator.
Edit Assembly Information Modifies assembly attributes in one or several assembly
information source files.
Extract Public Key Extracts the public key from a .NET assembly, a key file or a
container using
the Strong Name Tool (sn.exe).
Fix COM References Fixes references to the COM interop
assemblies in one or more
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET projects.
FxCop Tool Analyzes code of your .NET assemblies using Microsoft FxCop.
GAC Iterator Iterates records of the global assembly cache using the Global
Assembly Cache Tool (gacutil.exe).
Generate Key Pair Generates a new key pair using the Strong Name Tool (sn.exe).
ILMerge Merges multiple .NET assemblies into a single one using Microsoft
ILMerge.
Install/Uninstall Assembly Installs or uninstalls a .NET assembly into/from the global
assembly cache using the Global Assembly Cache Tool
(gacutils.exe).
Install/Uninstall Key Installs or uninstalls a key pair into/from the specified key
container
using the Strong Name Tool (sn.exe).
InstallUtil Uses the Installer Tool (InstallUtil.exe) to install or uninstall server
resources
by executing the installer components of a specified
.NET assembly.
Manifest Generation and Editing Creates, signs or updates application and deployment
manifests
using the Manifest Generation
and Editing Tool (mage.exe).
Native Image Generator Installs, updates or removes native images for an assembly and its
dependencies using the Native Image Generator utility (ngen.exe).
Register/Unregister Assembly Registers or unregisters a .NET assembly
using the Assembly
Registration Tool (regasm.exe).
Re-sign Assembly Re-signs a previously signed or delay-signed .NET assembly with
the real key pair using the
Strong Name Tool (sn.exe).
Resources Generator Converts .txt or .resx files
to or from .resource files using the
Resource File Generator utility (resgen.exe).
Run AL.EXE Runs the Assembly Linker utility (al.exe).
Run SN.EXE Runs the Strong Name Tool (sn.exe).
Verify Strong Name Verifies
the identity of a .NET assembly installed into the global
assembly cache (simple text name, version number, culture
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Operations Reference
information, public key and digital signature) using the Strong
Name Tool (sn.exe).
WiseOwl Demeanor Obfuscates your .NET code using WiseOwl Demeanor.
XenoCode Obfuscates your .NET code using Code Systems Corporation
XenoCode.
Xenocode Postbuild 2008 Obfuscates your .NET code using Xenocode Postbuild 2008.
For more information on operations of this group, see the NET Specific Opearations document or on-line
help.
Archivers Category
The Archivers category includes
the following operations:
Operation Description
Extract Files From RAR File Extracts files from an archive packed with WinRAR.
Extract Files From ZIP File
Extracts files from an archive packed using the Zip compression
format.
Extract Files From Zlib File Extracts files from an archive packed using the ZLib compression
format.
Extract Files From 7ZIP File Extracts files from an archive packed with 7-Zip.
Pack Files With WinRAR Packs files to an archive with WinRAR.
Pack Files With Zip Packs files to an archive using the Zip compression format.
Pack Files With ZLib Packs files to an archive using the ZLib compression format.
Pack Files With 7-Zip Packs files to an archive with 7-Zip.
For more information on ope rations of this group see Archievers Category in the General-Purpose
Operations docum ent or in on-line help.
Authenticode Category
The Authenticode category includes
the following operations:
Operation Description
Certificate Manager Manipulates the certificates, certificate trust lists and
certificate revocation lists.
Check Signed File Validity (ChkTrust) Verifies a signed file using the ChkTrust utility.
Check Signed File Validity (SignTool) Verifies a signed file using the SignTool utility.
Create Personal Information Exchange File Creates a PFX-file that holds private keys and software
publishing certificates.
Create Software Publishing Certificate Creates a sample software publishing certificate.
Create X.509 Certificate Creates a sample X.509 certificate.
Make Certificate Trust List Creates a certificate trust list.
Set Registry Keys Values Defines values of the registry keys that control the
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Operations Reference
verification process.
Signing Code (SignCode) Signs a file with a software publishing certificate using
the SignCode utility.
Signing Code (SignTool)
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Signs a file with a software publishing certificate using
the SignTool utility.
Time Stamping Files Adds or updates the signed certificate’s time stamp
For more information on operations of this group
see Authenticode Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
AutomatedQA Tools Category The AutomatedQA Tools category includes
the following operations that let you integrate Automated
Build Studio with other tools by AutomatedQ
A Corp.:
Operation Description
AQtime .NET Edition 1 Profiles your application with AQtime .NET Edition version 1.X.
AQtime 3 Profiles your application with AQtime 3.
AQtime 4 Profiles your application with AQtime 4.
AQtime 5 Profiles your application with AQtime 5.
AQtrace Module Storage Modifies the build storage configuration files with the AQtrace Module
Storage utility.
AQtrace Packager Launches AQtrace Packager and applies AQtrace Reporter to your
application.
AQtrace Process Report Obtains information about a report from the report’s file and saves to
mac ro variables.
AQtrace Report by ID Obtains information about
a report by using the report’s identifier.
AQtrace Report Enumerator Iterates through reports that are located in the persistent
report storage
and executes
child operations for each enumerated report.
TestComplete Runs tests created in TestComplete 2.x and 3.x.
TestComplete 4 Runs tests created in TestComplete 4.x.
TestComplete 5 Runs tests created in TestComplete 5.x.
TestComplete 6 Runs tests created in TestComplete 5.x.
TestExecute Runs TestComplete tests with TestExecute 2.x or 3.x.
TestExecute 4 Runs TestComplete tests with TestExecute 4.x.
TestExecute 5 Runs TestComplete tests with TestExecute 5.x.
TestExecute 6 Runs TestComplete tests with TestExecute 5.x.
For more information on operations of this group
see AutomatedQA Tools Category in the Testing,
Profiling
and Issue-Tracking Operations document or in on-line help.
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Borland
Compilers Category
The Borland Compilers category includes
the following operations:
Operation Description
Compile Borland C# 2005 Project Compiles Borland C# 2005 projects.
Compile Borland C# 2006 Project Compiles Borland C# 2006 projects.
Compile Borland
Group
Operations Reference
Developer Studio 2005 Project Compiles a group of Borland Developer Studio 2005
projects.
Compile Borland Developer Studio 2006
Project Compiles a group of Borland Developer Studio 2006
Group
projects.
Compile Borland VB .NET 2005 Project Compiles Borland VB .NET 2005 projects.
Compile Borland VB .NET 2006 Project Compiles Borland VB .NET 2006 projects.
Compile C++Builder 3-4 Project
Compile C++Builder 3-6 Project Group
Compiles Borland C++Builder projects
created in
Borland C++Builder 3 and Borland C++Builder
4.
Compiles a group of Borland C++Builder projects
(supports Borland C++Builder v. 3 - 6)
Compile C++Builder 5 Project Compiles Borland C++Builder 5 projects.
Compile C++Builder 6 Project Compiles Borland C++Builder 6 projects.
Compile C++Builder 2006 Project Compiles Borland C++Builder 2006 projects.
Compile C++Builder 2007 Project Compiles CodeGear C++Builder 2007 projects.
Compile C++Builder 2009 Project Compiles CodeGear C++Builder 2009 projects.
Compile CodeGear C# 2009 Project Compiles CodeGear C# 2009 projects.
Compile CodeGear RAD Studio Project Group
Compile CodeGear RAD Studio 2009 Project
Group
Compile Delphi 3-7 Project
Compile Delphi 4-7 Project Group
Compile Delphi 8 for .NET Project
Compile Delphi 8 for .NET Project Group
Compile Delphi 2005 for .NET Project
Compile Delphi 2005 for Win32 Project
Compile Delphi 2006 for .NET Project
Compile Delphi 2006 for Win32 Project
Compiles a group of CodeGear RAD Studio 2007
projects.
Compiles a group of CodeGear RAD Studio 2009
projects.
Compiles Borland Delphi projects (supports Delphi v.
3 - 7).
Compiles a group of Borland Delphi projects
(supports Delphi v. 4 - 7)
Compiles Borland Delphi 8 for Microsoft .NET
projects.
Compiles a group of Borland Delphi 8 for Microsoft
.NET projects.
Compiles Borland Delphi 2005 for Microsoft .NET
projects.
Compiles Borland Delphi 2005 for Microsoft
Windows projects.
Compiles Borland Delphi 2006 for Microsoft .NET
projects.
Compiles Borland Delphi 2006 for Microsoft
Windows projects.
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Operations Reference
Compile Delphi 2007 for Win32 Project Compiles CodeGear Delphi 2007 for Microsoft
Windows projects.
Compile Delphi 2009 for .NET Project
Compile Delphi 2009 for Win32 Project
Compile JBuilder Project
Compile JBuilder Project Group
211
Compiles CodeGear Delphi 2009 for Microsoft .NET
projects.
Compiles CodeGear Delphi 2009 for Microsoft
Windows projects.
Compiles Borland JBuilder projects (supports
Borland JBuilder 6 or later).
Compiles a group of Borland JBuilder projects
(supports Borland JBuilder 6 or later).
Compile Resource Script Compiles a resource script file.
For more information on operations of this group see Borland Compilers Category in the Compilers,
Help Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
Build Tools Category
The Build Tools category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Ant Runs an automatic build using Apache Ant.
IncrediBuild Runs a distributed build of Visual C++ projects via Xoreax
Software IncrediBuild.
IncrediBuild Command Controls the running of a distributed build performed by
IncrediBuild.
MSBuild Runs an automatic build using Microsoft MSBuild.
NAnt Runs an automatic build using NAnt.
For more information on operations of this group see Build Tools Category in the Installation and
Building Operations document or in on-line help.
Burn CD/DVD Category
The Burn CD/DVD category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Burn ISO Image Burns an existing ISO image to a CD or DVD disk.
Burn CD/DVD Burns arbitrary files and folders to a CD or DVD disk.
Check CD/DVD Ready Checks whether a CD/DVD drive is ready for burning.
Create ISO Image Creates an ISO image from arbitrary files.
Erase CD/DVD Erases a rewritable CD or DVD disk.
For more information on operations of this group see Burn CD/DVD Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
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Communication Category
The Communication category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Operations Reference
E-mail Enumerator Receives all the e-mail messages stored on the server at once or
searches through the list of these messages to locate those you actually
want to receive from the server.
Receive E-mail Message Receives an individual e-mail message.
Receive News Message Receives a news message.
Send E-mail Sends an e-mail message.
Send Message via ICQ Sends a message to an ICQ user.
Send Message via Windows
Messenger
Sends a message to one or several Windows Messenger, MSN
Messenger or Windows Live Messenger users.
Send News Message Sends a message to a newsgroup.
For more information on operations of this group see Communication Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Concurrent Versions System Category
The Concurrent Versions System category includes the following operations, which are aimed to work
with Concurrent Versions System (CVS):
Operation Description
CVS Add Adds files to the CVS repository.
CVS Checkout Checks out files from the CVS repository to a working folder.
CVS Commit Incorporates changes from your working files into the CVS repository.
CVS Export Gets a copy of the source files from the CVS repository.
CVS Import Incorporates an entire source distribution from an outside source into the CVS
repository folder.
CVS Init Creates a new CVS repository on the current computer.
CVS Login Establishes a user session, so that further CVS operations do not need
connection parameters.
CVS Logout Terminates the user session that was established with the last CVS Login
operation.
CVS Release Safely undoes all uncommitted changes and leaves an appropriate trace in the
CVS History file.
CVS Remove Removes files from the CVS repository.
CVS RTag Assigns symbolic tags to definite file revisions in the CVS repository.
CVS Update Settles your changes to the checked-out CVS files with any revisions of these
files since your last checkout or update.
Get Changes From CVS Gets a list of modified, added and removed files from a CVS repository.
Run CVS Command Executes an arbitrary CVS command.
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For more information on operations of this group see Concurrent Versions System Category in the
Version Control Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Execute Category
The Execute category includes the following operations, which let you run external applications from
within your macros:
Operation Description
Execute ACT Script Runs a Microsoft Application Center Test project.
Execute DOS Command Performs the specified DOS command.
Execute Macro Executes a macro created with Automated Build Studio.
Execute Program Launches the specified program.
Open File With Registered Application Opens a file in the application associated with the file type.
Run Smart Device Emulator Launches an emulator to test your projects built for
Windows CE or Pocket PC.
For more information on operations of this group see Execute Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Files and Directories Category
The Files and Directories category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Beyond Compare Compares files or folders via Beyond Compare.
Beyond Compare Script Runs a Beyond Compare script that includes commands controlling Beyond
Compare and performing file operations via this tool.
Calculate Checksum Calculates a checksum of a file using an appropriate format.
Compare Files Compares two files byte-by-byte.
Copy File(s) Copies one or several files.
Copy/Move Directory Copies or moves a folder to the new location.
Create Directory Creates a new folder with the specified name.
Delete File(s) Deletes one or several files.
Directory Enumerator Obtains a collection of folders and then performs child operations for each
folder in the collection.
File Enumerator Obtains a collection of files and then performs child operations for each file
in the collection.
Get File Attributes Retrieves the attributes of a specified file.
Get File Version Info Retrieves version information from a specified file.
Get Size Gets the size of the specified file or folder.
If Directory Exists Executes the child operation(s) if the specified directory exists.
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If File Exists Executes the child operation(s) if the specified file exists.
Move File(s) Moves the specified files to a new location.
Remove Directory Deletes a folder.
Rename Directory Renames a folder.
Operations Reference
Robocopy Copies files and folders using Microsoft Robust File Copy Utility
(robocopy).
Run Robocopy Job Runs a robocopy job file that contains settings that control what to copy and
to which destination.
Find/Replace in File Searches for a value in a file and replaces it with another value.
Set/Clear File Attributes Modifies the file attributes.
Set File Version Info Assigns version information for the specified file.
Set Manifest Embeds manifest into a DLL or executable file.
Set Resource Language Assigns the language of the resources stored in DLLs or executables.
Validate XML File Validates an XML file against DTDs and schemas.
XCopy Copies one or several files or folders, including subfolders.
For more information on operations of this group see Files and Directories Category in the General-
Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Frequently Used Category
The Frequently Used category contains operations that you use most frequently when creating your
macros. The category is populated as you add operations to macros. When you add an operation to the
macro, this operation is automatically added to the Frequently Used category. Most frequently used
operations are displayed on the top of the category, less frequently used – on the bottom of the category. The
maximum number of operations displayed in this category is 20.
For convenience, the Frequently Used category is displayed on the top of Operations panel so that you
can quickly locate the needed operation. To hide or display this category in the Operations panel, use the
Show “Frequently Used” category command of the Operations panel’s context menu.
FTP Category
The FTP category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Connect To FTP Connects to an FTP server.
Create FTP Directory Creates a new folder on the FTP server.
Delete FTP File Delete a file on the FTP server.
Disconnect From FTP Disconnects from an FTP server.
Download File(s) From FTP Downloads the specified file(s) from the FTP server.
FTP File Enumerator Obtains a list of files of the current directory of the FTP server and
performs child operation for each file in the list.
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Get Current FTP Directory Obtains the name of the current directory on the FTP server.
Get FTP File Size Obtains the size of the specified file that is located on the FTP server.
If FTP Directory Exists Performs the child operation(s) if the specified directory exists on a
FTP server.
If FTP File Exists Executes the child operation(s) if the specified file exists on the FTP
server.
List Current FTP Directory Saves the contents of the current directory on the FTP server to a
variable.
Remove FTP Directory Deletes the specified directory on the FTP server.
Rename FTP File Renames the specified file on the FTP server.
Set Current FTP Directory Specifies the current directory on the FTP server.
Synchronize Directories Synchronizes the contents of a local directory and the directory on a
FTP server.
Up One Level Change the current directory on the FTP server to its parent directory.
Upload File(s) to FTP Uploads the specified file(s) to the FTP server.
For more information on operations of this group see FTP Category in the General-Purpose Operations
document or in on-line help.
Help Compilers Category
The Help Compilers category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Doc-O-Matic Builds a Doc-O-Matic help project.
Doc-To-Help 2008 Builds a Doc-To-Help help project.
Fast-Help Builds a Fast-Help help project.
Help & Manual Builds a Help & Manual help project.
HelpScribble Builds a HelpScribble help project.
HelpStudio Builds a HelpStudio help project.
Microsoft Help Compiler Builds the help file in .hlp format.
Microsoft HTML Help Compiler Builds the help file in .chm format.
NDoc Help Compiler Builds the help file in several formats using NDoc ver 1.0-1.3.
NDoc 1.31 Help Compiler Builds the help file in several formats using NDoc ver 1.3.1.
RoboHelp Builds the Robohelp WinHelp project.
Sandcastle HTML Generator
(BuildAssembler)
Sandcastle Reflection Generator
(MRefAssembler)
Sandcastle XSL Transformer
(XslTransform)
Generates logically grouped HTML topics for each element of
the assembly.
Creates a reflection file that describes each element in the
.NET assembly.
Performs XSL transformation for the specified XML-file.
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Operations Reference
For more information on operations of this group see Help Compilers Category in the Compilers, Help
Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
HTTP Category
The HTTP category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Connect To HTTP Connects to an HTTP server.
Disconnect From HTTP Disconnects from an HTTP server.
HTTP Head Requests a Web server using the HEAD method.
HTTP Get Sends an HTTP request of the GET type to a Web server.
HTTP Post Sends an HTTP request of the POST type to a Web server.
For more information on operations of this group see HTTP Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Installers Category
The Installers category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Advanced Installer Builds installation programs with Advanced Installer.
ExpertInstall Builds installation programs with ExpertInstall.
Ghost Installer Builds installation programs with Ghost Installer.
Inno Setup Builds installation programs with Inno Setup.
InstallAnywhere Enterprise Builds installation programs with InstallAnywhere Enterprise.
InstallAnywhere.NET Builds installation programs with InstallAnywhere.NET.
InstallAware Builds installation programs with InstallAware Studio.
InstallShield 7-2009 Operation Builds installation programs with InstallShield v. 7-2009.
InstallShield Express Borland
Limited Edition
Builds installation programs with InstallShield Express Borland
Limited Edition.
InstallShield Professional 6-7 Builds installation programs with InstallShield Professional v. 6.1-
7.x.
InstallShield Standalone Build Builds installation programs with InstallShield Standalone Build
module.
InstallShield Universal Builds installation programs with InstallShield Universal.
MS Setup Project Builds installation programs with Microsoft Windows Installer.
MSI Factory Builds installation programs with MSI Factory.
MSI Generic Executes an SQL statement against a Windows Installer Package
(MSI) database.
MSI Merge Merges two Windows Installer (MSI) packages into one.
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Operations Reference
MSI Transform Applies a transform to a Windows Installer Package (MSI) or
generates a transform file.
MSI Update Properties Modifies property values defined in a Windows Installer Package
(MSI) and/or adds new properties.
MSI Validation Validates a Windows Installer Package (MSI) using Internal
Consistency Evaluators (ICEs).
MSIStudio Builds installation programs with MSIStudio.
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System Builds installation programs with Nullsoft Scriptable Install System.
Setup Factory Builds installation programs with Setup Factory.
SetupBuilder Builds installation programs with SetupBuilder.
Wise Builds installation programs with Wise installation authoring tools
(Wise for Windows Installer v. 5.0 or higher, Wise for Visual Studio
.NET v. 5.0 or higher, Wise Package Studio v. 5.0 or higher).
Wise Installation System Builds installation programs with Wise Installation System.
WiX Compiler (candle) Compiles the Windows Installer XML (WiX) source files into WiX
object files.
WiX Decompiler (dark) Converts the MSI installation package into the Windows Installer
XML (WiX) source files.
WiX Linker (light) Creates the Windows Installer Package (MSI or MSM) based on the
Windows Installer XML (WiX) object files.
For more information on operations of this group see Installers Category in the Installation and Building
Operations document or in on-line help.
Interactive Category
The Interactive category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Check List Displays a dialog with a group of check boxes.
Confirmation Box Displays a confirmation dialog.
Input Box Displays an input dialog.
Message Box Displays a message box.
Radio Group Displays a dialog with a group of radio buttons.
Select File Displays an Open File dialog.
Select Folder Displays a Browse for Folder dialog.
For more information on operations of this group see Interactive Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Internet Information Services (IIS) Category
The Internet Information Services (IIS) category includes the following operations:
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Operation Description
Add/Remove Allowed ISAPI/CGI
Extension (IIS6+)
Create Application Pool (IIS6+) Creates a new application pool.
Operations Reference
Enables or disables ISAPI extensions and CGI applications in
IIS.
Create FTP Directory (IIS6+) Creates a new folder on an IIS FTP site.
Create FTP Site (IIS6+) Creates a new IIS FTP site.
Create Virtual Directory Creates a virtual directory on a IIS web site.
Create Web Site Creates a new IIS web site.
Delete Application Pool (IIS6+) Deletes an existing application pool.
Delete FTP Directory (IIS6+) Removes a folder from a IIS FTP site.
Delete FTP Site (IIS6+) Deletes an existing IIS FTP site.
Delete Virtual Directory Deletes an existing virtual directory from an IIS web site.
Delete Web Site Removes an existing IIS web site.
Manage Configuration Backup Saves or restores the IIS metabase.
Manage Service Starts, stops or restarts the specified IIS service.
Manage Site Starts, stops or restarts the specified IIS site.
For more information on operations of this group see Internet Information Services (IIS) Category in the
General-Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Issue Tracking Category
The Issue Tracking category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
AQdevTeam Create Issue Obsolete. Creates an item in AQdevTeam.
AQdevTeam Create Item Adds a new item to an AQdevTeam database.
AQdevTeam Edit Item Modifies an item stored in an AQdevTeam database.
AQdevTeam Item Enumerator Iterates through items stored in an AQdevTeam database.
AQdevTeam History Enumerator
Iterates through those items of an AQdevTeam database
whose statuses were changed by particular actions and
within a particular time period.
Bugzilla Create Item Adds a new item to a Bugzilla database.
Bugzilla Edit Item Modifies an item stored in a Bugzilla database.
Bugzilla Item Enumerator Iterates through items stored in a Bugzilla database.
CaliberRM Create Requirement Adds a requirement to a CaliberRM database.
CaliberRM Delete Requirement Removes a requirement from a CaliberRM database.
CaliberRM Edit Requirement Modifies a requirement stored in a CaliberRM database.
CaliberRM Requirement Enumerator
Obtains a collection of requirements stored in a CaliberRM
database and then executes child operations for each
requirement in the collection.
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Operations Reference
StarTeam Create Issue
StarTeam Delete Issue
StarTeam Edit Issue
StarTeam Issue Enumerator
Team Coherence Create Issue
Team Coherence Delete Issue
Team Coherence Edit Issue
Team Coherence Issue Enumerator
Team Foundation Create Work Item
Team Foundation Edit Work Item
Team Foundation Work Item
Enumerator Operation
Team Foundation Work Item State
Change Filter Operation
Adds an item (a change request, a task or a topic) to a
StarTeam database.
Removes an item (a change request, a task or a topic) from
a StarTeam database.
Modifies an item (a change request, a task or a topic) stored
in a StarTeam database.
Obtains a collection of items (change requests, tasks or
topics) stored in a StarTeam database and then executes
child operations for each item in the collection.
Adds an item (a bug report, feature request, etc.) to Team
Coherence's database.
Removes an item (a bug report, feature request, etc.) from
Team Coherence's database.
Modifies an item (a bug report, feature request, etc.) stored
in a Team Coherence database.
Obtains a collection of items (bug reports, feature requests,
etc.) stored in a Team Coherence database and then
executes child operations for each item in the collection.
Adds a new work item to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Team Foundation.
Edits a work item stored in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Team Foundation.
Iterates through work items stored in the Team Foundation
database and executes child operations for each item.
Iterates through work items that are stored in the Team
Foundation database and whose state was changed during
the specified time period.
For more information on operations of this group see IssueTracking Category in the Testing, Profiling
and Issue-Tracking Operations document or in on-line help.
JediVCS Category
The JediVCS category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
JediVCS Check In Checks in one or more modules to the JediVCS repository.
JediVCS Check Out Checks out module(s) from the JediVCS repository.
JediVCS Get Module Retrieves one or more modules from the specified location.
JediVCS Input Executes a sequence of commands from an external file.
JediVCS Label Project Specifies a label for the project stored in the JediVCS repository.
JediVCS Lock Enumerator Retrieves a collection of checked out modules and executes a
child operation over each module in the collection.
JediVCS Module Enumerator Retrieves a collection of modules that belong to a specified
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Operations Reference
project and executes a child operation over each module in the
collection.
JediVCS Project Enumerator Retrieves a collection of projects stored in the JediVCS and
executes a child operation over each project in the collection.
JediVCS Synchronize Project Obtains the latest or desired version of all modules of a specified
project.
JediVCS Synchronize Project Group Obtains the latest or desired version of all projects from a
specified project group.
JediVCS Undo Check Out Undoes the checkout of module(s) in the JediVCS repository.
For more information on operations of this group see JediVCS Category in the Version Control Systems
Operations document or in on-line help.
Logging Category
The Logging category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Disable Logging Filters out the messages to be posted to the log.
Enable Logging Re-enables posting of messages to the log.
Export Errors From Log Exports errors from Build Studio’s Log panel to a file or to a variable.
Export Log Exports the contents of Build Studio’s Log panel to a file or a variable.
Export Summary Exports the contents of Build Studio’s Summary panel to an HTML file
or a variable.
Set Log Marker Adds a marker to the log.
For more information on operations of this group see Logging Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Microsoft Compilers Category
The Microsoft Compilers category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
ASP.NET Compiler Performs in-place or deployment compilation of the
ASP.NET Web application.
Compile Visual C# .NET 7.x Project Compiles Visual C# .NET 7.0 and 7.1 projects.
Compile Visual C# 2005 Project Compiles Visual C# 2005 projects.
Compile Visual C# 2008 Project Compiles Visual C# 2008 projects.
Compile Visual Basic .NET 7.x Project Compiles Visual Basic .NET 7.0 and 7.1 projects.
Compile Visual Basic 2005 Project Compiles Visual Basic 2005 projects.
Compile Visual Basic 2008 Project Compiles Visual Basic 2008 projects.
Compile Visual C++ .NET 7.x Project Compiles Visual C++ .NET 7.0 and 7.1 projects.
Compile Visual C++ 2005 Project Compiles Visual C++ 2005 projects.
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Operations Reference
Compile Visual C++ 2005 Project Compiles Visual C++ 2008 projects.
Compile Visual J# .NET 7.x Project Compiles Visual J# .NET 7.1 projects.
Compile Visual J# 2005 Project Compiles Visual J# 2005 projects.
Compile Visual Studio Solution Project Compiles Visual Studio .NET 7.0, 7.1, Visual Studio
2005 and Visual Studio 2008 solutions.
Compile Visual C++ 6.0 Project Compiles Visual C++ 6.0 projects.
Compile Visual Basic 6.0 Project Compiles Visual Basic 6.0 projects.
Compile Visual Basic 6.0 Project Group Compiles a group of Visual Studio 6.0 Projects
Compile Visual Studio Workspace Compiles Visual Studio 6.0 workspaces.
MSIL Assembler Generates a portable executable file (PE) from MSIL
assembly language.
For more information on operations of this group see Microsoft Compilers Category in the Compilers,
Help Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
Microsoft Compilers for Smart Device Category
The Microsoft Compilers for Smart Device category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Compile eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 Project Compiles eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 projects.
Compile Visual Basic .NET 7.x Project for
Smart Device
Compile Visual Basic .NET 2005 Project
for Smart Device
Compile Visual C# .NET 7.x Project for
Smart Device
Compile Visual C# .NET 2005 Project for
Smart Device
Compile Visual C++ .NET 2005 Project for
Smart Device
Compiles Visual Basic .NET 7.0 and 7.1 projects for
smart device.
Compiles Visual Basic .NET 2005 projects for smart
device.
Compiles Visual C# .NET 7.0 and 7.1 projects for smart
device.
Compiles Visual C# .NET 2005 projects for smart
device.
Compiles Visual C++ .NET 2005 projects for smart
device.
For more information on operations of this group see Microsoft Compilers for Smart Device Category in
the Compilers, Help Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
Microsoft Source Server Category
The Microsoft Source Server category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Index PDB Files Indexes PDB files for the specified source control
system.
Index PDB Files For VSS Indexes PDB files for Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.
Index PDB Files For Subversion Indexes PDB files for Subversion.
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Index PDB Files For Perforce Indexes PDB files for Perforce.
Index PDB Files For CVS Indexes PDB files for CVS.
Operations Reference
Read From PDB Stream Reads a value from the specified PDB stream to the
specified variable.
Write to PDB Stream Writes the specified data to the specifies PDB stream.
For more information on operations of this group see Microsoft Source Server Category in the Version
Controls Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Microsoft Virtual PC Category
The Microsoft Virtual PC category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Capture/Release Virtual Machine’s Device
(Virtual PC)
Close Virtual Machine (Virtual PC)
If OS Is Loaded (Virtual PC)
If Virtual Machine Is ... (Virtual PC)
If Virtual Machine’s Device Is ... (Virtual PC)
Manage Virtual Machine’s Window (Virtual
PC)
Captures a CD, DVD or floppy drive making it
available to a virtual machine, or releases a drive
that has been captured previously.
Closes or turns off a running virtual machine or
shuts down the operating system on the virtual
machine. If undo disks are used, the operation also
commits or discards the data changes.
Executes the child operation(s) if the operating
system was loaded successfully on the virtual
machine.
Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual machine
is in a particular state.
Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual machine’s
CD, DVD or floppy drive is in a particular state.
Modifies the onscreen position, state and dimensions
of a virtual machine's window on the host
computer’s desktop.
Pause/Resume Virtual Machine (Virtual PC) Pauses or resumes a virtual machine.
Register/Unregister Virtual Machine (Virtual
PC)
Registers or unregisters a virtual machine in
Microsoft Virtual PC Environment.
Run Virtual Machine (Virtual PC) Runs a virtual machine on Microsoft Virtual PC.
Virtual Machine Enumerator (Virtual PC)
Obtains a list of virtual machines installed on the
current host computer and executes child operations
for each machine in the list.
For more information on operations of this group see Microsoft Virtual PC Category in the General-
Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Microsoft Virtual Server Category
The Microsoft Virtual Server category includes the following operations:
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Operations Reference
Operation Description
Capture/Release Virtual Machine’s Device
(Virtual Server)
Discard/Merge Undo Disks (Virtual
Server)
Captures a CD, DVD or floppy drive making it
available to a virtual machine, or releases a drive that
has been captured previously.
Discards or merges changes that are stored in the undo
disks file.
If OS Is Loaded (Virtual Server) Executes the child operation(s) if the operating system
was loaded successfully on the virtual machine running
under Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
If Virtual Machine Is … (Virtual Server) Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual machine
running under Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is in a
particular state.
If Virtual Machine’s Device Is ... (Virtual
Server)
Pause/Resume Virtual Machine (Virtual
Server)
Register/Unregister Virtual Machine
(Virtual Server)
Reset/Shutdown/Turn off Virtual Machine
(Virtual Server)
Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual machine’s
CD, DVD or floppy drive is in a particular state.
Pauses or resumes a virtual machine running on
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
Registers or unregisters a virtual machine in Microsoft
Virtual Server 2005.
Resets or turns off a virtual machine running on
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 or shuts down the
operating system on the virtual machine.
Run Virtual Machine (Virtual Server) Runs a virtual machine on Microsoft Virtual Server
2005.
Save State/Discard Saved State (Virtual
Server)
Saves the state of a virtual machine running on
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 or discards the saved
state.
Send Key Sequences (Virtual Server) Simulates the given series of keys being typed (pressed
and then released) inside the virtual machine running
under Microsoft Server 2005.
Virtual Machine’s Device Enumerator
(Virtual Server)
Virtual Machine Enumerator (Virtual
Server)
Obtains a list of devices installed on a virtual machine
and executes child operations for each device in this
list.
Obtains a list of virtual machines installed on a virtual
server and executes child operations for each machine
in the list.
For more information on operations of this group see Microsoft Virtual Server Category in the General-
Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Category
The Microsoft Visual SourceSafe category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Check In File(s) to VSS Checks in one or more files to Microsoft Visual
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SourceSafe.
Check Out File(s) From VSS Checks out files from Visual SourceSafe.
Operations Reference
Get File(s) by Date From VSS Gets files specified by their date in Visual SourceSafe.
Get File(s) by Label From VSS Operation Gets files specified by their label in Visual SourceSafe.
Get Latest Version From VSS Gets the latest version of files from Visual SourceSafe.
Pin File(s) in VSS Pins the files specified by their label or version number
in Visual SourceSafe.
Set Label to VSS File(s) Specifies labels for files stored to Visual SourceSafe.
Undo Check Out File(s) From VSS Undoes the checkout of files under a Visual SourceSafe.
Unpin File(s) in VSS Unpins the specified files in Visual SourceSafe.
VSS File Enumerator Obtains a collection of files stored in Visual SourceSafe
and then performs child operations for each file in the
collection.
VSS Version Enumerator Obtains a collection of history items for a project or files
stored in Visual SourceSafe and then performs child
operations for each history item in the collection.
For more information on operations of this group see Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Category in the
Version Control Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Misc Category
The Misc category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Comment Displays a comment in the operations tree of a macro.
Create GUID Generates a new GUID and saves it to a variable.
Delay Delays the macro execution for the specified time span.
Get Free Disk Space Obtains the amount of free space on the specified disk.
If COM Class Is Registered
If Window Exists
Checks if a COM class is registered in the system and performs child
operations according to the result of the check.
Checks if a window appears on screen and performs the child
operations according to the result of the check.
Map Network Drive Adds a network drive to computer system.
Substitute Drive Adds a virtual drive that maps a local or shared network folder.
Unmap Network Drive Removes a mapped network drive from computer system.
For more information on operations of this group see Misc Category in the General-Purpose Operations
document or in on-line help.
MySQL Category
The MySQL category includes the following operations:
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Operations Reference
Operation Description
Execute MySQL Script
Executes an SQL script against a MySQL Server
database.
MySQL BinLog Reads a binary log file, or converts it to the text format.
MySQL Check
Checks, analyzes, optimizes or repairs the specified
table(s) in a MySQL Server database.
MySQL Dump Backs up the specified MySQL Server database table(s).
MySQL Import
Imports data into a MySQL Server database table from a
text file.
For more information on operations of this group see MySQL Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Oracle Category
The Oracle category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Back Up Oracle Database Backs up the specified Oracle database.
Execute RMAN Script Executes a block of Recovery Manager commands.
Execute SQLPLUS Script Runs an SQLPlus script that accesses an Oracle database.
Recover Oracle Database Recovers an Oracle database.
Restore Oracle Database Restores a database from the back up.
For more information on operations of this group see Oracle Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Other Compilers Category
The Other Compilers category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Compile Chrome Project Compiles RemObject Software Chrome projects.
Compile Intel C++ Project for Visual
Studio .NET 7.x
Compile Visual C++ 2005 Project for
Smart Device Using Intel C++ Compiler
GCC Compiler
Intel C++ Compiler for IA-32
Intel C++ Compiler for Itanium
Compiles Intel C++ for Windows projects integrated into
Visual Studio .NET 7.x.
Compiles your Visual C++ 2005 Project for Smart Device
by using Intel C++ Compiler 2.0 for Windows CE.
Preprocesses, compiles, assembles and links your C/C++
files using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) version
4.1.1.
Employs Intel C++ Compiler for Windows, versions 7-
9.1, to compile C++ source code into binary code that
targets the IA-32 architecture based processors.
Employs Intel C++ Compiler for Windows, versions 7-
9.1, to compile C++ source code into binary code that
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Intel Fortran Compiler for IA-32
Intel Fortran Compiler for Itanium
targets Intel Itanium processors.
Java Compiler Compiles Java projects.
Operations Reference
Employs Intel Fortran Compiler for Windows, versions 8-
9, to compile Fortran source code into binary code that
targets the IA-32 architecture based processors.
Employs Intel Fortran Compiler for Windows, versions 8-
9, to compile Fortran source code into binary code that
targets Intel Itanium processors.
For more information on operations of this group see Other Compilers Category in the Compilers, Help
Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
Patch Management Category
The Patch Management category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
IncUpdate Builder Builds a project created in IncUpdate Builder 2.53 or later.
Visual Patch Builds a project created in Visual Patch 2.0 or later.
For more information on operations of this group see Patch Management Category in the Installation
and Building Operations document or in on-line help.
Perforce Category
The Perforce category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Get Changes From Perforce
Gets a list of modified, added and removed files from a Perforce’s
depot.
Perforce Custom Command Executes the specified Perforce command.
Perforce Edit Files Opens files kept in Perforce's client workspace for editing.
Perforce Edit Jobs Creates, edits or deletes jobs.
Perforce File Enumerator
Gets information aobut the files kept in Perforce’s depot without
accessing their contents and saves it to a variable.
Perforce Fix Job Links the job to the changelist that fixes it.
Perforce Lock/Unlock Files Locks the opened files against changelist submission or unlocks them.
Perforce Login Logs in to a Perforce server.
Perforce Logout Logs out of a Perforce server.
Perforce Set Label to Files Sets a label to the file revisions kept in Perforce’s depot.
Perforce Submit Files Sends changes made to opened files to the depot.
Perforce Syncronize
Synchronizes file revisions kept in Perforce’s depot and client
workspace.
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Operations Reference
For more information on operations of this group see Perforce Category in the Version Control Systems
Operations document or in on-line help.
Prepare Code Category
The Prepare Code category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
ASPack Compresses an executable file or a library with ASPack.
ASProtect Compresses and encrypts an executable file or a library and prevents
unauthorized usage of your application with ASProtect.
Eurekalog 4 Catches exceptions raised by memory leaks and generates a log of the
call stack using EurekaLog 4.
EurekaLog 5 Catches exceptions raised by memory leaks and generates a log of the
call stack using EurekaLog 5.
EurekaLog 6 Catches exceptions raised by memory leaks and generates a log of the
call stack using EurekaLog 6.
Generate Key For ASProtect Generates registration keys for files protected with ASProtect.
madExcept 2 Collects information about exceptions and sends this information to
the specified e-mail address using madExcept 2.
madExcept 3 Collects information about exceptions and sends this information to
the specified e-mail address using madExcept 3.
Protect Files With Armadillo Compresses and encrypts an executable file or a library and prevents
unauthorized usage of your application with Armadillo.
Themida Employs Themida to protect your applications against modern
cracking.
UPX Compress Compresses an executable file or a library with UPX.
UPX Decompress Decompresses the specified UPX-compressed executable file or a
library.
UPX Test Checks the integrity of the compressed data in a UPX-compressed file.
WinLicense Employs WinLicense to protect your applications against modern
cracking and to provide advanced license control.
For more information on operations of this group see Prepare Code Category in the Compilers, Help
Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
PsTools Category
The PsTools category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Change Password (PsPasswd) Changes account passwords via the PsPasswd utility.
Control Services (PsService) List and control services via the PsService utility.
Get Computer or User SID (PsGetSid) Returns the security ID (SID) of a computer or a user via
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the PsGetSid utility.
Operations Reference
Get Event Log (PsLogList) Dumps event log records by using the PsLogList utility.
Get List of Opened Files (PsFile) Lists files opened remotely via the PsFile utility.
Get Logged on Users (PsLoggedOn)
Get Process Information (PsList)
Lists users who are logged on locally and via resource
sharing, by using the PsLoggedOn utility.
Lists detailed information about processes via the PsList
utility.
Get System Information (PsInfo) Lists information about a system by using the PsInfo utility.
Run Process (PsExec) Executes processes remotely by using the PsExec utility.
Shut Down Computer (PsShutdown)
Suspend/Resume Process (PsSuspend)
Shuts down or optionally reboots a computer by using the
PsShutdown utility.
Suspends and resumes processes by using the PsSuspend
utility.
Terminate Process (PsKill) Kills processes by name or process ID via the PsKill utility.
For more information on operations of this group see PSTools Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
PVCS Category
The PVCS category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Get Changes From PVCS Gets a list of modified and added files from PVCS Version
Manager.
Get File(s) From PVCS Operation Checks out files or gets the latest version of files from PVCS
Version Manager.
Put File(s) to PVCS Checks in files to PVCS Version Manager.
Get Changes From PVCS (PCLI) Gets a list of modified and added files from PVCS Version
Manager via Project Command-Line Interface.
Get File(s) From PVCS (PCLI) Checks out files or gets the latest version of files from PVCS
Version Manager via Project Command-Line Interface.
Put File(s) to PVCS (PCLI) Checks in files to PVCS Version Manager via Project Command-
Line Interface.
For more information on operations of this group see PVCS Category in the Version Control Systems
Operations document or in on-line help.
Rational ClearCase Category
The Rational Clear Case category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
ClearCase Apply Label Assigns a label to files stored in Rational ClearCase repository.
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Operations Reference
ClearCase Check In Checks in one or several files to Rational ClearCase repository.
ClearCase Check Out Checks out one or several files stored in Rational ClearCase
repository.
ClearCase Create Label Assigns a new label to one or several files stored in Rational
ClearCase repository.
ClearCase Custom Command Executes a custom command concerning Rational ClearCase.
ClearCase Lock Locks files and objects stored in Rational ClearCase repository.
ClearCase Undo Check Out Undoes the check-out operation performed for one or several
files stored in Rational ClearCase.
ClearCase Unlock Unlocks files and objects stored in the Rational ClearCase
repository.
ClearCase Update View Updates snapshot view.
Get Changes From ClearCase Retrieves changed files from the ClearCase repository.
For more information on operations of this group see Rational ClearCase Category in the Version
Control Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Read/Write Category
The Read/Write category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Delete Registry Key or Value Deletes a key or a value entry from the system registry.
File Content Enumerator Parses the file contents into fragments and then performs child
operations for each fragment.
Get INI Value Returns the value of an entry from an INI file.
Get Registry Value Returns the value of an entry from the system registry.
If Registry Key or Value Exists Checks whether a specific key or value exists in the system registry
and performs child operations according to the result of the check.
INI File Enumerator Obtains a collection of sections in an INI file or a collection of
values in a specified INI file section and then performs child
operations for each section or value in the collection.
Read From File Reads entire data from a file to a specified variable.
Set INI Value Sets the value of an entry in an INI file.
Set Registry Value Sets the value of an entry in the system registry.
Write to File Writes the variable value to a specified file.
For more information on operations of this group see Read/Write Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
Remote Macro Execution Category
The Remote Macro Execution category includes the following operations:
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Operation Description
Download Macro Downloads the macro from a remote computer.
Operations Reference
If Remote Macro State Is ... Checks whether the macro on a remote computer has the specified
state and performs child operations according to the result of the
check.
Remote Execution Stack Executes child operations on several remote computers in parallel.
Remote Group Executes child operations on a remote computer.
Remote Macro Command Initiates, pauses, resumes or stops the macro run on a remote
computer.
Setup Connections Specifies the connections and connection parameters used to access
remote computers.
Upload Macro Uploads the macro to a remote computer.
Note: In order for Automated Build Studio to successfully connect to a remote computer, that computer
should be configured in a special way. The settings are the same as the ones you set when
establishing connections to remote computers for Automated Build Studio’s Client panel. For
detailed information, see the Connection Parameters topic.
For more information on operations of this group see Remote Macro Execution Category in the General-
Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Source Code Tools Category
The Source Code Tools category includes operations that let you perform analysis of your source code
files. This category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
CodeHealer Analyzes Delphi source code using CodeHealer by SOCK Software.
Pascal Analyzer Verifies Delphi or Pascal source code files by using Peganza Pascal
Analyzer.
Project Analyzer Analyzes Visual Basic source code using Aivosto Project Analyzer.
Run
Macro
Project Analyzer Executes the Aivosto Project Analyzer macro.
For more information on operations of this group see Source Code Tools Category in the Compilers,
Help Compilers and Code Preparation Operations document or in on-line help.
SourceGear Vault Category
The SourceGear Vault category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Get Changes From Vault Gets a list of modified and added files of a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Add Adds files to a SourceGear Vault repository.
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Operations Reference
Vault Check In
Sends changes made to working copies of files to a SourceGear Vault
repository.
Vault Check Out Checks out working copies of files from a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Cloak Cloaks a folder in a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Commit
Sends changes made to working copies of files to a SourceGear Vault
repository.
Vault Create Folder Creates a folder in a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Custom Command Runs an arbitrary SourceGear Vault command.
Vault Delete Deletes files and folders from a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault File Enumerator
Returns a collection of files stored in a SourceGear Vault repository and
executes child operations for each file of this collection.
Vault Get File(s) By Label Gets files from a SourceGear Vault repository by label.
Vault Get File(s) By Version Gets files from a SourceGear Vault repository by version.
Vault Get Latest Version Gets the latest version of files from a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Label Sets a label to files or folders within a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Uncloak Uncloaks a folder in a SourceGear Vault repository.
Vault Undo Check Out Undoes the checkout of files under a SourceGear Vault repository.
For more information on operations of this group see SourceGear Vault Category in the Version Control
Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
SourceOffSite Category
The SourceOffSite category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
SourceOffSite Add Adds files to a SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Check In Checks in files to a SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Check Out Checks out files from a SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Create Project Creates a new project within a SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Custom Command Executes custom SourceOffSite command.
SourceOffSite Delete Deletes files from SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Enumerator Obtains a collection of files stored in a SourceOffSite
repository and performs child operations for each file in the
collection.
SourceOffSite Get Latest Version Gets the latest version of a file from a SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Get Project By Label Gets the project sprecified by label from a SourceOffSite
repository.
SourceOffSite Label Project Creates a label in a SourceOffSite repository.
SourceOffSite Undo Checkout Undoes the checkout of files under a SourceOffSite repository.
The operations require that the client application of SourceOffSite be installed on your computer.
Otherwise, an error will occur.
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Operations Reference
For more information on operations of this group see SourceOffSite Category in the Version Control
Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
SQL Category
The SQL category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Back Up Database Backs up the specified Microsoft SQL Server database.
Check Database Checks the integrity of objects in the specified Microsoft SQL Server
database.
Clean Up Database Removes unused space from the specified Microsoft SQL Server
database.
Execute DTSRun Executes the specified DTS package.
Execute SQL Script Runs an SQL script that accesses a Microsoft SQL Server instance.
Execute SQL Statement Executes an SQL query against the specified Microsoft SQL Server
database which is accessed via OLE DB.
Execute Stored Procedure Executes the specified stored procedure from a particular Microsoft SQL
Server database which is accessed via OLE DB.
Rebuild Indexes Rebuilds indexes on tables in the specified Microsoft SQL Server
database.
Restore Database Restores the specified Microsoft SQL Server database from the backup
file.
Run SQL Best Practices
Analyzer
Uses Microsoft SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer to verify whether
common best practices are implemented in the specified Microsoft SQL
Server database.
Update Statistics Updates information about distribution of key values in the specified
Microsoft SQL Server database.
For more information on operations of this group see SQL Category in the General-Purpose Operations
document or in on-line help.
Standard Category
The Standard category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Break Exits the current loop or enumerator operation. This is an analogue if
the break statement in programming languages such as C++ or the
Exit statement in Visual Basic.
Case Executes the child operation(s) if the Switch expression value
matches the specified value.
Catch Executes the child operations if an error occurs during execution of
child operations of the preceding Try operation. This is an analogue
of the catch statement in such programming languages as C++ and
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Operations Reference
Visual Basic, or except in Delphi.
Dependent Group Groups operations that are prerequisites or depend on another
operation group.
Else Executes the child operation(s) if the condition of the If... operation or
all Case operations that precedes the Else operation is not met.
Finalization Executes the child operation(s) right before the macro run is finished.
Finally Executes the child operations regardless of the possible errors that
occurred during execution of child operations of the preceding Try
operation. Generally, it is applied to ensure that the used recourses are
released. This is an analogue of the finally statement in such
programming languages as C++, Visual Basic or Delphi.
For Loop Executes the child operation(s) in a loop. This is an analogue of the
for statement in programming languages such as C++, Visual Basic
or Delphi.
Go to Label Transfers macro execution to the specified Label operation. This is an
analogue of the goto statement in programming languages.
Group Lets you organize several operations into a group. The grouped
operations can be executed one after another as well as
simultaneously.
If Previous Operation Fails Executes the child operation(s) if an error occurred during execution
of the previous operation in the macro.
If Previous Operation
Succeeds
Executes the child operation(s) if execution of the previous operation
in the macro was successful.
If ... Then Checks the condition and performs the child operation(s) if the
condition is True.
Initialization Executes the child operation(s) right after the macro run is started.
Label Marks a particular point in the macro.
List Enumerator Obtains a collection of list items and then performs child operations
for each item in the collection.
Log Message Posts a custom message to the log.
Run Library Submacro Executes a library submacro.
Run Submacro Executes operations of a submacro.
Script Lets you create a custom script in any of the 3 supported scripting
languages.
Set\Reset Variable Value Sets or restores the default value of a variable from a macro.
Stop Macro Execution Stops the macro run without any conditions.
Submacro Organizes a set of operations into a submacro. You can call the same
submacro using the Run Submacro operation from different places in
your macro.
Switch Executes one of the several operations or groups of operations,
depending on the expression value. This is an analogue of the switch
statement in such programming languages as C++ or Delphi, or
Select Case statement if Visual Basic.
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Operations Reference
Try Introduces a block of protected operations. Executes the child
operation(s) and, if an error occurs, executes child operations of the
following Catch or Finally operation. This is an analogue of the try
statement in such programming languages as C++, Visual Basic or
Delphi.
While Loop Performs the child operation(s) in a loop. This is an analogue of the
while statement in such programming languages as C++, Visual
Basic or Delphi.
For more information on operations of this group see Standard Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
StarTeam Category
The StarTeam category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Get Changes From StarTeam Gets a list of modified, added and removed items from a StarTeam
repository.
StarTeam Add Adds files to a StarTeam repository.
StarTeam Apply Label Labels particular file revisions in a StarTeam repository with a view
label or a revision label.
StarTeam Check In Sends changes made to working copies of files to a StarTeam
repository.
StarTeam Check Out Checks out working copies of files from a StarTeam repository.
StarTeam Create Label Creates a view label or a revision label in a StarTeam repository.
StarTeam Custom Command Executes a StarTeam command supported by stcmd.exe.
StarTeam Delete Local Deletes files from a working folder mapped to a StarTeam
repository's folder.
StarTeam File Enumerator Obtains a collection of files stored in a StarTeam repository and
performs child operations for each file in the collection.
StarTeam Lock Locks files in a StarTeam repository.
StarTeam Remove Removes files from a StarTeam repository.
StarTeam Unlock Unlocks files in a StarTeam repository.
StarTeam Update Status Updates file statuses in a StarTeam repository.
For more information on operations of this group see StarTeam Category in the Version Control Systems
Operations document or in on-line help.
String Manipulation Category
The String Manipulation category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Path Manipulation Allows you to perform various actions over path strings:
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Operations Reference
String Add Breaks
extract path parts, convert long file names to short ones and
vice versa, convert relative paths to absolute ones and so on.
Inserts line breaks at specified locations in a string.
String Casing Changes the string case to lowercase, uppercase or sentence
case.
String Concatenation Concatenates two strings.
String Encryption Encrypts or decrypts a string.
String Padding Pads a string with the specified character.
String Quoting Encloses a string in single or double quotes or removes
enclosing quotes.
String Replace Replaces the specified substring with another one.
String Reverse Reverses characters or words in a string.
String Substring Extracts a substring from a string.
String Trimming Removes leading and/or trailing spaces from a string.
For more information on operations of this group see String Manipulation Category in the General-
Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Subversion Category
The Subversion category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Get Changes From Subversion Gets a list of modified, added and removed files from a Subversion
repository.
Subversion Add Adds files, directories, or symbolic links to Subversion’s repository.
Subversion Checkout Checks out working copies of files from the repository.
Subversion Cleanup Cleans up working copies by removing locks that resume unfinished
operations.
Subversion Commit Sends changes made to working copies of files to the repository.
Subversion Copy Copies files between a working copy and the repository.
Subversion Custom Command Executes a Subversion command.
Subversion Export Exports a clean directory tree.
Subversion File Enumerator Gets information about files kept in Subversion’s depot without
accessing their contents and saves this information to a variable.
Subversion Import Commits a copy of PATH to URL recursively.
Subversion Info Iterates through files and folders in a working copy and saves
information about each item to a variable.
Subversion MkDir Creates a new directory under Subversion.
Subversion Revert Undoes all changes made to local copies of files kept in the
repository.
Subversion Status Gets the status of working copies of files and directories and posts it
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to the log or saves it to a variable or to a file.
Subversion Update Updates working copies of files.
Subversion Version Gets the version of a working copy.
Operations Reference
For more information on operations of this group see Subversion Category in the Version Control System
Operations document or in on-line help.
Surround SCM Category
The Surround SCM category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Get Changes From Surround SCM Gets a list of modified, added and removed files from a
Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM Add Adds files to a Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM Check In Sends changes made to working copies of files to a Surround
SCM repository.
Surround SCM Check Out Checks out working copies of files from a Surround SCM
repository.
Surround SCM Commit Changelist Sends changes made to working copies of files within the
specified changelist to a Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM Create Branch Creates a new branch in a Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM Create Repository Creates a new folder in a Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM Custom Command Runs an arbitrary Surround SCM command.
Surround SCM Delete Deletes files and folders from a Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM File Enumerator Returns a collection of files stored in a Surround SCM
repository and executes child operations for each file of this
collection.
Surround SCM Freeze Branch Prevents users from making changes to files stored in the
specified branch.
Surround SCM Get Gets files from a Surround SCM repository.
Surround SCM Label Sets a label to files or folders within a Surround SCM
repository.
Surround SCM Undo Check Out Undoes the checkout of files within a Surround SCM
repository.
Surround SCM Unfreeze Branch Unfreezes the previously frozen branch.
For more information on operations of this group see Surround SCM Category in the Version Control
Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Team Coherence Category
The Team Coherence category includes the following operations:
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Operations Reference
Operation Description
Get Changes From Team Coherence Gets a list of modified and added files of a Team Coherence
repository.
Run Team Coherence Command Runs a Team Coherence command.
Team Coherence Add File(s) Adds files to a Team Coherence repository.
Team Coherence Assign Label Assigns a version label to a specific revision of files under a
Team Coherence repository.
Team Coherence Check In File(s) Checks in files from your working folder to a Team Coherence
repository.
Team Coherence Check Out File(s) Checks out files from a Team Coherence repository to your
working folder.
Team Coherence File Enumerator Obtains a collection of files stored in a Team Source repository
and then performs child operations for each file in the
collection.
Team Coherence Get File(s) Obtains a specific revision of files stored in a Team Coherence
repository.
Team Coherence Promote File(s) Promotes files stored in a Team Coherence repository to the
next promotion level defined in that repository.
Team Coherence Remove File(s) Removes files from a Team Coherence repository.
Team Coherence Remove Project or
Folder
Removes a project or a folder from a Team Coherence
repository.
Team Coherence Undo Check Out Undoes the checkout of files under a Team Coherence
repository.
For more information on operations of this group see Team Coherence Category in the Version Control
Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Team Foundation Version Control Category
The Team Foundation Version Control category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Add File(s) And Folder(s) to TFVC
Adds files and folders to the Team Foundation Version Control
repository.
Copies an item from one location to another in the Team
Branch in TFVC
Foundation Version Control repository and in the local
workspace.
Check in File(s) to TFVC
Checks in files to the Team Foundation Version Control
repository.
Check Out File(s) From TFVC
Checks out files from the Team Foundation Version Control
repository.
Delete File(s) And Folder(s) From Removes files and folders from the Team Foundation Version
TFVC
Control repository.
Delete Label From TFVC Deletes labels from files kept in the Team Foundation Version
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Get Changes From TFVC
Control repository.
Operations Reference
Gets a list of modified, added and deleted items from the Team
Foundation Version Control repository.
Get File(s) From TFVC
Gets the specified files from the Team Foundation Version
Control repository.
Creates, modifies, or displays information about mappings
TFVC Working Folder
between workspace folders and corresponding Team
Lock in TFVC
Foundation Version Control repository folders.
Locks or unlocks files or folders in the Team Foundation
Version Control repository.
Merge in TFVC
Applies changes from one branch of the Team Foundation
Version Control repository into another.
Rename or Move in TFVC
Renames or moves files stored in the Team Foundation Version
Control repository.
Set Label to TFVC File(s)
Specifies labels for files stored in the Team Foundation
Version Control repository.
Undelete in TFVC
Restores items that were previously deleted from the Team
Foundation Version Control repository.
Undo the Pending Changes in TFVC
Deletes pending changes from the workspace of the Team
Foundation Version Control repository.
Unlabel in TFVC
Removes a label from an item in the Team Foundation Version
Control repository.
For more information on operations of this group see Team Foundation Version Control Category in the
Version Control Systems Operations document or in on-line help.
Unit Tests Category
The Unit Tests category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Run JUnit Test Runs a unit test of your .NET code using JUnit.
Run MSTest Runs a unit test of your .NET code using MSTest.
Run NUnit Test Runs a unit test of your .NET code using NUnit.
For more information on operations of this group see Unit Tests Category in the Testing, Profiling and
Issue-Tracking Operations document or in on-line help.
VMware Server Category
The VMware Server category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Capture/Release Virtual Machine’s Captures a CD, DVD or floppy drive making it available to a
Device (VMware Server)
virtual machine, or releases a drive that has been captured
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Operations Reference
previously.
Get Shared Variable Values (VMware Obtains the values of one or more shared variables from the
Server)
guest operating system running on virtual machine.
If OS Is Loaded (VMware Server) Executes the child operation(s) if the operating system was
loaded successfully on the virtual machine.
If Virtual Machine Is ... (VMware
Server)
If Virtual Machine’s Device Is ... (VM
ware Server)
Pause/Resume Virtual Machine
(VMware Server)
Reboot/Reset Virtual Machine
(VMware Server)
Register/Unregister Virtual Machine
(VMware Server)
Run Virtual Machine (VMware
Server)
Set Shared Variable Values (VMware
Server)
Shut Down/Turn Off Virtual Machine
(VMware Server)
Virtual Machine Enumerator
(VMware Server)
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Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual machine is in a
particular state.
Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual machine’s CD,
DVD or floppy drive is in a particular state.
Pauses or resumes a virtual machine.
Resets a virtual machine or reboots the operating system on
the virtual machine.
Registers or unregisters a virtual machine on VMware server.
Runs a virtual machine on VMware server.
Assigns the values to existing shared variables or creates new
shared variables.
Turns off a virtual machine or to shuts down the operating
system on the virtual machine.
Obtains a list of virtual machines installed on current
VMware server and executes child operations for each
machine in the list.
For more information on operations of this group see VMware Server Category in the General-Purpose
Operations document or in on-line help.
VMware Workstation Category
The VMware Workstation category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Capture/Release Virtual Machine’s Device Captures a CD, DVD or floppy drive making it
(VMware Workstation)
available to a virtual machine, or releases a drive
that has been captured previously.
Create Virtual Machine Snapshot (VMware Creates a snapshot storing the current state of a
Workstation)
virtual machine.
Delete Virtual Machine Snapshot (VMware
Workstation)
Deletes a snapshot specified by name.
Execute Guest OS Command (VMware Executes the chosen command on a guest
Workstation)
operating system.

240
Operations Reference
If OS Is Loaded (VMware Workstation) Executes the child operation(s) if the operating
system was loaded successfully on the virtual
machine.
If Virtual Machine Is ... (VMware Workstation) Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual
machine is in a particular state.
If Virtual Machine’s Device Is ... (VMware Work
station)
Pause/Resume
Workstation)
Virtual Machine (VMware
Powered On Virtual Machine Enumerator
(VMware Workstation)
Reboot/Reset Virtual Machine (VMware
Workstation)
Revert To Virtual Machine Snapshot (VMware
Workstation)
Executes the child operation(s) if a virtual
machine’s CD, DVD or floppy drive is in a
particular state.
Pauses or resumes a single virtual machine or a
group of virtual machines.
Obtains a list of VMware virtual machines that are
currently powered on and executes child
operations for each machine in the list.
Resets a single virtual machine or a group of
virtual machines or reboots the guest operating
system on the virtual machine(s).
Restores the virtual machine to the state of a
specified snapshot.
Run Virtual Machine (VMware Workstation) Runs a single virtual machine or a group of virtual
machines on VMware Workstation.
Shut Down/Turn Off Virtual Machine (VMware
Workstation)
Virtual Machine Snapshot Enumerator
(VMware Workstation)
Turns off a single virtual machine or a group of
virtual machines or shuts down the operating
system on the virtual machine(s).
Obtains a list virtual machine snapshots and
executes child operations for each snapshot in the
list.
For more information on operations of this group see VMware Workstation Category in the General-
Purpose Operations document or in on-line help.
Wait Category
The Wait category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Wait for Date and Time Delays the macro execution for the specified time period, or
until the specified date and time occur.
Wait for File Delays the macro execution until the file attributes are
checked, file exists or does not exist, file contents are
changed or meets the condition, or until the specified time
period elapses.
Wait for INI File Delays the macro execution until the specified section, key or
key value exists or does not exist, the specified key value is
changed or meets the condition, or until the specified time
period elapses.
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Operations Reference
Wait for Process Delays the macro execution until the desired process is
created, or until the specified time period elapses.
Wait for Registry Delays the macro execution until the predefined key or key
value exists or does not exist, the specified key value is
changed or meets the condition, or until the specified time
period elapses.
Wait for Remote Computer Delays the macro execution until the specified remote
computer responds, or until the specified time period elapses.
Wait for Variable Delays the macro execution until a macro variable is assigned
the specified value, or until the specified time period elapses.
Wait for Window Delays the macro execution until the desired window is
created, or until the specified time period elapses.
Wait for XML File Delays the macro execution until the specified node, attribute
or its value exists or does not exist, the specified node or
attribute value is changed or meets the condition, or until the
specified time period elapses.
For more information on operations of this group see Wait Category in the General-Purpose Operations
document or in on-line help.
WMI Category
The WMI category offers operations that let you use functionality of Windows Management
Instrumentation in your macros. Windows Management Instrumentation is a component of Windows
operating systems that is aimed at collecting computer management information in the enterprise
environment and performing various administrative tasks. The WMI operations operations that let you
automate these tasks with ease. The category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
COM Class Enumerator (WMI) Obtains the collection of COM classes registered on a
computer and performs child operations for each element of
this collection.
Control NT Service (WMI) Starts, stops or pauses the service run.
Get COM Class Extended Info (WMI) Obtains extended information about a COM class registered
on a computer.
If COM Class Is Registered (WMI) Checks whether a COM class is registered on a computer and
performs child operations according to the result of the
check.
If Process Is Running (WMI) Checks whether a process is running and performs child
operations according to the result of the check.
If Service Is Running/Stopped/Paused
(WMI)
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241
Checks whether a service is running (stopped or paused) and
performs child operations according to the result of the
check.
Install Application (WMI) Installs or advertises an application on the local or remote
computer.

242
Operations Reference
NT Service Enumerator (WMI) Obtains the collection of services registered on a computer
and performs child operations for each element of this
collection.
Process Enumerator (WMI) Obtains the collection of processes running on a computer
and performs child operations for each element of this
collection.
Remote Shutdown/Power Off/Reboot Shuts down, powers off or reboots a remote computer.
(WMI)
Run Process (WMI) Launches an application.
Terminate Process (WMI) Terminates a running process.
Uninstall/Reinstall Application (WMI) Uninstalls or reinstalls an application on the local or remote
computer.
Upgrade Application (WMI) Upgrades an application installed on the local or remote
computer.
For more information on operations of this group see WMI Category in the General-Purpose Operations
document or in on-line help.
XML Category
The XML category includes the following operations:
Operation Description
Create XML File Creates a new XML file.
Create XML Node Creates a new node in an XML file.
Delete XML Node/Attribute Deletes a specific node or node attribute from an XML file.
Get XML Value Obtains a value from an XML file.
If XML Node/Attribute Exists Checks whether a specific node or attribute exists in an XML
file and performs child operations according to the result of
the check.
Merge XML Files Merges two XML files.
Set XML Value Sets a value stored in an XML file.
Transform XML File Applies an XSL transformation to an XML file.
Validate XML File Validates an XML file against DTDs and schemas.
XML Attribute Enumerator Obtains a collection of nodes in an XML file and then
performs child operations for each node in the collection.
XML Node Enumerator Obtains a collection of XML node attributes and then
performs child operations for each attribute in the collection.
For more information on operations of this group see XML Category in the General-Purpose Operations
document or in on-line help.
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Index
Index
.bbp files .............................................................47
.bxp files .............................................................47
.msbuild files ......................................................47
.NET Tools Category........................................207
.proj files.............................................................47
.target files ..........................................................47
.tasks files ...........................................................47
.vmp files ............................................................47
A
absControl – About...........................................142
ABSOPENEDPROJECTDIR.............................96
Adding operations to macros..............................40
Adjusting operations in macros ..........................40
Analyzing results of macro runs.........................57
Append From File – menu and toolbar item.......47
AQCommunity ...................................................21
Archivers Category...........................................208
Authenticode Category.....................................208
Automated Build Studio .......................................7
Basic concepts ................................................26
Command-line arguments.............................189
Community site ..............................................21
Exit codes .....................................................191
FAQ ................................................................21
Getting support ...............................................21
Macro libraries..............................................104
Newsgroups ....................................................21
Overview ..........................................................7
Samples...........................................................22
Using With Windows Firewall .......................23
What’s new.....................................................16
Working via COM........................................195
Automated Build Studio Client/Server.....119, 133
API................................................................142
Build notifications ........................................135
Connection parameters .................................127
Gadget for Windows Vista Sidebar ..............139
Overview ......................................................119
User permissions ..........................................125
Using the Client/Server functionality ...........119
Web Interface ...............................................133
Automated Build Studio Gadget – About.........139
Automated Build StudioSystem requirements....10
Automated Macro Player....................67, 189, 191
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243
About ..............................................................67
Command-line arguments.............................189
Exit codes .....................................................191
Using With Windows Firewall .......................23
AutomatedQA Tools Category.........................209
B
Basic concepts ....................................................26
Batch Run – menu and toolbar item ...................55
bbp files ..............................................................47
Begin a progress group – property......................43
Borland Compilers Category ............................210
Breakpoints.......................................................173
About ............................................................173
Conditional breakpoints................................174
Breakpoints panel .............................................176
Build requests ...................................................154
About ............................................................155
About request-based build triggers...............160
Configuring build triggers ............................155
Managing build nodes...................................162
Preparing macros for request processing......155
Submitting, editing and deleting requests.....157
Viewing reports ............................................164
Build strategies ...................................................70
Build Tools Category........................................211
Burn CD/DVD Category ..................................211
bxp files ..............................................................47
C
Changing operation properties............................43
Charts................................................................165
About ............................................................165
Chart types....................................................168
Charts panel ..................................................165
Moving data from one computer to another .169
Viewing data stored on another computer ....169
CheckTimeOutMode property..........................183
Child operations..................................................26
Client/Server............. See Automated Build Studio
Client/Server
COM – Working with Automated Build Studio
via .................................................................195
Command-line arguments.................................189
Communication Category.................................212

244
Community site ..................................................21
Concurrent execution of operations....................91
Concurrent Versions System Category.............212
Conditional breakpoints....................................174
Configurations ....................................................47
Connection parameters .....................................127
Constants ......................................................94, 96
About ..............................................................96
Basic concepts ................................................26
Creating ..........................................................97
Using in macros..............................................94
Using in operation properties .........................99
Using in scripts .............................................101
Continuous integration support ..........................70
Creating a new macro.........................................37
D
Debugging macros............................................170
About ............................................................170
Breakpoints panel .........................................176
Conditional breakpoints................................174
Running macros partially..............................172
Running to the cursor ...................................173
Stepping through the macro..........................172
Using breakpoints.........................................173
Watches panel...............................................175
DelphiScript......................................................179
Dependencies between macro operations...........85
Dependent groups...............................................86
About ..............................................................86
Example..........................................................87
Description – property........................................43
Different Configuration Settings – column ........47
Distributed builds ...............................................77
About ..............................................................77
Creating macros for ........................................79
Scenarios.........................................................78
E
Enable build request – option (Client/Server) ..155
Enabled – property .............................................43
Enabled in Configurations – column ..................47
Environment attribute.........................................94
Environment variables......................See Variables
Errors ..........................................................60, 181
Handling errors in macros ..............................60
Handling exceptions in scripts......................181
Exceptions – Handling exceptions in scripts....181
Execute Category..............................................213
Execute method ................................................183
Exit codes .........................................................191
Export – menu item ............................................57
Index
Exporting macro run results................................59
F
FAQ ....................................................................21
Files and Directories Category .........................213
Firewall – Using Automated Build Studio and
Windows Firewall...........................................23
Frequently asked questions.................................21
Frequently Used Category ................................214
FTP Category....................................................214
G
Gadget...............................................................139
Getting support ...................................................21
Global variables................................See Variables
Go to Message – menu and toolbar items...........57
H
Handling .....................................................60, 181
Errors in macros..............................................60
Exceptions in scripts.....................................181
Help Compilers Category .................................215
HTTP Category.................................................216
I
Incrementing the Build Version Number ...........65
Inserting one macro into another ........................47
Installers Category............................................216
Integration With Visual Studio.................111, 114
About ............................................................111
Key features..................................................111
Running ABS macros from Team Explorer .114
Interactive Category .........................................217
Internet Information Services (IIS) Category ...217
Issue Tracking Category...................................218
J
JediVCS Category ............................................219
JScript ...............................................................179
L
Libraries............................................................104
About macro libraries ...................................104
Tutorial .........................................................105
Library submacros ............................................104
Loading macros ..................................................47
Local variables..................................See Variables
Log panel ......................................................26, 57
About ..............................................................26
Working with..................................................57
Log to summary – property ................................43
Logging Category .............................................220
Logging macro runs............................................56
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Index
M
Macro configurations..........................................47
Macro File node (Integration with Team Explorer)
......................................................................114
Macro libraries..................................................104
Macro panel ........................................................26
Macro presets....................................................121
Macro run results – Exporting............................59
Macro runs..............................................55, 57, 67
Analyzing results of macro runs.....................57
How to run a macro ........................................55
Pausing macro runs.........................................55
Scheduling macro runs ...................................67
Stopping macro runs.......................................55
Triggered by changes in files under source
control.........................................................70
Macro Runs node (Integration with Team
Explorer).......................................................114
Macros ..........................................................37, 47
About ..............................................................26
Calling operations from scripts.....................183
Changing operation properties........................43
Changing operation properties from scripts .183
Creating a new macro.....................................37
Debugging ....................................................170
Dependencies between operations..................85
Handling errors in macros ..............................60
Incrementing the build version number..........65
Inserting one macro into another ....................47
Libraries........................................................104
Loading of ......................................................47
Logging macro runs........................................56
Saving of.........................................................47
Sending notifications from macros.................58
Using variables and constants.........................94
Working with operations and operation
properties in scripts...................................183
Message – column ..............................................26
Microsoft Compilers Category .........................220
Microsoft Compilers for Smart Device Category
......................................................................221
Microsoft Source Server Category ...................221
Microsoft Virtual PC Category.........................222
Microsoft Virtual Server Category ...................222
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe Category ............223
Misc Category ..................................................224
Modifying operation properties ..........................43
Moving charts data from one computer to another
......................................................................169
msbuild files .......................................................47
Copyright © 2002-2008 AutomatedQA Corp. support@automatedqa.com
245
MSBuild projects – Running ABS macros from
......................................................................113
MSBuildABSTask.dll assembly – About .........113
Multi-threaded execution of operations..............91
MySQL Category .............................................224
N
Newsgroups about Automated Build Studio ......21
Next Build – Item in Web Interface .................162
Notifications ...............................................58, 135
Automatic build notifications .......................135
Sending from macros......................................58
O
Object Model ....................................................180
Operation order in macros – Changing of ..........40
Operation properties ...................................43, 183
About ..............................................................43
Changing from scripts...................................183
Operations
About ..............................................................26
Adding operation to macros............................40
Calling operations from scripts.....................183
Changing operation properties in scripts ......183
Changing the operations order in macros .......40
Dependencies between operations..................85
Removing from macros ..................................40
Working with operations in scripts...............183
Operations panel .................................................26
Oracle Category................................................225
Order of operations in macros – Changing of ....40
Other Compilers Category................................225
P
Parallel builds .....................................................77
Parallel execution of operations..........................91
Patch Management Category............................226
Pause – menu and toolbar item...........................55
Perforce Category .............................................226
Prepare Code Category.....................................227
proj files..............................................................47
PSTools Category .............................................227
PVCS Category.................................................228
R
Rational ClearCase Category............................228
Read/Write Category ........................................229
Remote Macro Execution Category..................229
Removing operations from macros.....................40
Requests section (Web Interface) .....................161
Results of macro runs ...................................57, 59
Analyzing........................................................57
Exporting ........................................................59

246
Run – menu and toolbar item .............................55
Run From Selected Operation – menu and toolbar
item.................................................................55
Run Selected Operation – menu and toolbar item
........................................................................55
Run Selected Operation with Children – menu and
toolbar item.....................................................55
Run submacro if operation fails – property ........43
Running Build – Item in Web Interface ...........162
Running macros......................................55, 67, 70
Analyzing results of macro runs.....................57
From MSBuild projects ................................113
From Visual Studio Team Explorer..............114
How to run macros .........................................55
Running at certain point in time .....................67
Running when files under source control get
changed.......................................................70
Scheduling macro runs ...................................67
Running macros partially..................................172
Running to the cursor .......................................173
S
Samples...............................................................22
Saving macros ....................................................47
Scheduling macro runs .......................................67
Scripts in Automated Build Studio...........179, 181
Basics............................................................179
Calling operations from scripts.....................183
Changing operation properties from scripts .183
Handling exceptions in scripts......................181
Object model ................................................180
Using variables and constants in scripts .......101
Working with operation properties in scripts183
Select Message – menu and toolbar item ...........57
Sending notifications ..................................58, 135
Automatically ...............................................135
From macros...................................................58
Server..See Automated Build Studio Client/Server
Show History – toolbar item...............................57
Sounds for Automated Build Studio Events.....202
Source Code Tools Category............................230
SourceGear Vault Category..............................230
SourceOffSite Category....................................231
SourceSafe Category ........................................223
SQL Category...................................................232
Standard Category ............................................232
StarTeam Category...........................................234
Stepping through macros..................................172
Stop – menu and toolbar item.............................55
Stop execution if operation fails – property .......43
Stored variables ................................See Variables
Index
String Manipulation Category ..........................234
Subversion Category.........................................235
Support – Contacting AutomatedQA support team
........................................................................21
Supported tools...................................................11
Surround SCM Category ..................................236
System constants.............................. See Constants
System requirements...........................................10
System variables...............................See Variables
T
target files ...........................................................47
tasks files ............................................................47
Team Coherence Category ...............................236
Team Explorer – Running ABS macros from ..114
Team Foundation Version Control Category....237
Technical support ...............................................21
Thread-relative attribute .....................................94
Time with Children – column.............................26
Timeout – property .............................................43
Tracing Task Triggers ........................................74
Triggers.............................................................160
About request-based build triggers...............160
Build requests' processing ............................160
U
Unique name – property .....................................43
Unit Tests Category ..........................................238
User interface – Overview..................................31
User permissions – Automated Build Studio
Client/Server.................................................125
Using breakpoints.............................................173
Using macro configurations................................47
Using the Client/Server functionality ...............119
V
Variables.............................................................94
About ..............................................................94
Basic concepts ................................................26
Command line initialization .........................102
Creating ..........................................................97
Using in macros..............................................94
Using in operation properties..........................99
Using in scripts .............................................101
VBScript ...........................................................179
Version Number – Incrementing ........................65
Viewing charts data stored on another computer
......................................................................169
Viewing results of macro runs............................57
Visual SourceSafe Category.............................223
Visual Studio ............................................111, 114
About integration with..................................111
www.automatedqa.com Automated Build Studio by AutomatedQA Corporation

Index
Running ABS macros from Team Explorer .114
vmp files .............................................................47
VMWare Server Category................................238
VMWare Workstation Category.......................239
W
Wait Category...................................................240
Watches panel...................................................175
Web Interface – About .....................................133
What’s new.........................................................16
Windows Firewall – Using Automated Build
Studio and Windows Firewall ........................23
WMI Category..................................................241
Copyright © 2002-2008 AutomatedQA Corp. support@automatedqa.com
247
Working With Automated Build Studio via COM
......................................................................195
Working With Source Control Systems ...........193
Writing Scripts in Automated Build Studio......179
Basics............................................................179
Calling operations from scripts.....................183
Changing operation properties from scripts..183
Handling exceptions in scripts......................181
Object model.................................................180
Using variables and constants in scripts .......101
X
XML Category..................................................242