(See Related VCDS Blogs: (1) Problem/Solution , (2) Positioning, (3) ROI )

VCDS Positioning over other Version Control Tools

Let’s compare the workflow provided by VCDS over something like ClearCase. First, VCDS is more than just versioning. VCDS is really a view of n-number of NETeXPERT systems built on top of CVS. ClearCase would not offer this function as it relates to NETeXPERT, it would only keep versions of files (i.e: Package Administration (PA) files). A ClearCase user would have to manually export PA files from NETeXPERT and most likely check the entire set of PA files (potentially zipped) into ClearCase. With VCDS, you would simply click on an Event, for example, and select Commit from a menu to commit it to CVS.

Furthermore, as with Gateway Central, there is a tree view and a table view of the objects, both of which are customizable and display NETeXPERT-specific information about the objects. All tree and table entries are color-coded as well, to indicate each object's status as compared to the "repository" version (the version that is checked into CVS). So if a rule writer changes an Event on one system, it will show up as red in the client to indicate that it is different than the HEAD revision in CVS. The user can then do a diff in the client to see what is different through a VCDS menu selection.

VCDS supports Events, Methods, and Dailogs today and Longview Software is adding Operators, Alert Filters, Column Definitions, and Dialog Substitutions. For the current supported types (Events, Methods, and Dialogs), VCDS allows for full viewing of all content (i.e. viewing rule bodies and dialog graphs).

The VCDS client also shows the content of the working directory where the files are checked out. So, even though you cannot directly view other types in the client at this time, we support PA importing of anything. If the user has other types of items checked into CVS, they can view the raw files in the VCDS client and deploy them to any and all systems that are registered with VCDS. This is also a benefit over ClearCase in that they would have to manually checkout files and manually PA them into each and every system that needs the item. If they have a need to manually export and commit unsupported types, they can do so, and the server supports scheduled working directory refreshing that will pull in any changes. VCDS currently only supports a basic set of CVS operations (i.e. we do not support tagging and branching).

VCDS is currently in the early adopter phase and we are continuing to invest in it to support all NETeXPERT types as well as additional version control operations. For example, Longview Software is discussing the additional ability of extracting all related NETeXPERT object types for a Manager Class such as but not limited to rules, methods, alert definitions, etc. The framework for VCDS has been designed in such a way that adding support for more object types could be done in relatively brief periods of time. Plus VCDS offers many features beyond simple versioning that one just won't get with any other product.

VCDS is contractually licensed. There are no software server licenses. VCDS is purchased as a commercial license with support and downloaded from our website.

For more details on VCDS see related blogs: Problem/Solution or ROI and pricing

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