It is possible to catalog a test status database structure into the CXX. You can restrict the use of production status in Datadictionary to those versions that represent the production or "live" implementation of the database. This means that at any stage in the development of a database structure, the various versions of the database might be alike.
You can catalog the Dataview entities representing the test status databases. You can use multiple versions of a dataview with the same name, but any given program can reference only one of them. Each dataview can represent a different DBID and can differ in any other way. Since the names of the dataviews are the same, you can compile a program to use any of these dataviews just by changing the version column in the program resources table. If the different versions are incompatible, there can, of course, be errors in some of the compilations.
When a new version of a database structure is copied to production status, the existing dataview entities in Prod are re-related to the new production elements. This can require the dataview to be recataloged in CA Ideal to pick up the changes in the underlying database. You should then recompile programs using the dataview. You do not need to change the program source, even in the Resource Table, because the dataview version is unchanged. If the dataview is not affected by the database changes, no recompilation is needed.
You can avoid recompiling if the Production dataview and a Test dataview differ only in the DBID being accessed. In that case, use the CA Ideal ASSIGN or ALTER commands in the program when it is moved between database versions. For example, you can choose to have a final-test database that is a duplicate of the live database. Programs tested against that database can have their DVW DBIDs altered to run against the live copy once the tests are complete, and the programs themselves promoted to production. Alternatively, the programs can be compiled using the Production dataviews and assigned to use the test DBID for development and final testing.
Note: Datadictionary lets you update any Test status entity, regardless of whether it is part of a database definition that was cataloged into the CXX. You have no guarantee that the definition in Datadictionary corresponds to the CXX, except for the Production version. Datadictionary uses the ENABLED attribute to flag the usability of the definition. CA Ideal checks this information when a Dataview is cataloged.
When any change is made to an entity through Datadictionary, Datadictionary automatically disables that entity. Do not reENABLE until the new information is transferred to the CXX and the new dataview information completed. ENABLE operates on an entire BAS or DVW structure, so this is a quick and easy process.
Exercise additional care when using the ASSIGN command. For integrity reasons, this should operate at a database level (ASSIGN DBID) and not table level (ASSIGN DVW) if any updates are performed. Overall, you can compromise database integrity if you use the ASSIGN DVW to point to the table that is in another copy of the database. In this case, you could have partial updates in two different occurrences of the same database. For example, Table A is updated in DB001 but Tables B and C are updated in DB100.
Use ASSIGN DVW for read-only dataviews, for example, allowing a test execution to read live look-up tables that are essentially static.
|
Copyright © 2015 CA Technologies.
All rights reserved.
|
|