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Clarify Form Identifier (Or, What the heck Clarify form is that?)

January 6, 2011 On occasion, while working in the Clarify Classic Client (especially in a customer’s customized environment), I come across a form that I’m not familiar with (might even be a custom form) that I need to dive into the details of. Trying to find this form in UI Editor is not always easy. It’s common that the form name and/or title aren’t very descriptive (this even happens on baseline forms).   So I typically have to start the Clarify client with some debugging and tracing switches, and examine the log file to try and find its form ID. This works, but I think there should be an easier way. An approach from the past   One approach I’ve seen done in the past is to create a custom help file (CHM) that contains the form IDs. Then pressing F1 on a…

How do I know what ID to use for a new table or view?

September 18, 2009 When creating a new table or view in Clarify/Amdocs/Dovetail, a unique ID number must be supplied.How do I know what ID to use?Clarify has defined a range of numbers that are reserved for custom tables and views. They guarantee that they will not use any numbers in this range. So, you need to use a number in this range.There are two ranges reserves for custom IDs: 430-571 and 2000-4999. The rest are reserved for Clarify baseline use.So, you simply need to pick a number in that range that hasn’t yet been used.How do I know what numbers have already been used?The most common method is to export your schema, pick a number, and search your schema to see if its in use. If it is, pick another number, search again. Repeat until you find an available number.A better waySince our…

Some notes on using Oracle 11 Database Instant Client

September 16, 2009 I recently upgraded my day-to-day environment to Windows 7 (64-bit) using MSSQL 2008. This week I needed to do some Oracle work, so I needed to get DovetailAgent working with an Oracle 9 (technically 9.2.0.1.0) database, so I needed Oracle client software. The latest Oracle client version is 11, so I decided to give that a try. The actual Oracle database runs on a VM, so I just needed an Oracle client.   Here are a few notes about getting this working. Install Oracle Instant Client   Install the Oracle 11 Instant Client for your platform.   I installed mine into C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\client_1   I went to edit the tnsnames.ora file, and quickly realized that there wasn’t one. A little googling led me to a helpful blog post at DBAToolZ. Environment Variables   Following the instructions from that blog post, I created a new system environment…

Prepping for a demo

May 20, 2009 I typically have a checklist of things that I go through before I give a demo or presentation. I know Scott Hanselman does as well: Have a Pre-Talk Checklist and Demo Reset The following is a set of checklist items and tips that I use before doing a demo. Demo Prep Close all apps that won't be used. I know this sounds like a duh!, but I've seen no shortage of Outlook toast popups, and Instant Message popups during someone's presentations and demos. Setup a one-click restore of my database. I have a simple BAT file for SQL Server that looks like: sqlcmd -Usa -Psa -Q "restore database dovetail from disk = 'C:db_backupsdovetail.bak' with replace" Start the apps that you'll be using - especially the slow ones. I know Visual Studio takes 4 minutes to startup on my laptop. 4…

Installing Dovetail Classic ASP Web Applications on IIS7

August 19, 2008 Here at Dovetail I recently started developing on a Windows Server 2008 64bit OS. Today I wanted to install Dovetail Agent as a web application on IIS7. I ran into a few problems. After gnashing my teeth for a bit I found a path to goodness. My biggest problem was 64bit related. I hope this post saves you some time getting our web applications up and running. ASP Needs To Be Enabled I believe that by default when you are adding the Web Server (IIS) role to Windows Server 2008 that the ASP feature is not added by default. Start Server Manager select the Web Server (IIS) Role. Click on Add Role Services. Make sure you have at least ASP and Server Side Includes and ASP.NET selected. IIS 6 Management Compatibility You may also want to select the IIS 6…

Customizing Seeker: Indexing and Searching Custom Objects

August 15, 2008 In previous posts, we've covered the basics of Seeker, along with searching custom attributes of an object (such as case.x_notes).Continuing on, lets look at how to index and search custom objects.In our environment, we keep track of the software license keys that we send to our customers, and we do this in our Dovetail system.This is an entirely custom object, so this will make a great example.The License Key TableUsing BOLT, we can quickly see what this table looks like:We need to know the database table information so we can modify the documentSpecifications.xml file. Modify the documentSpecifications.xml fileSeek.exe is the application that performs the actual indexing. The documentSpecifications.xml is the configuration file that seek.exe uses so that it knows what to index.The documentSpecifications.xml file consists of many dovetailDocumentSpecifications. For example, there is a specification for case, one for subcase, one for…

Clarify 6 – still running after all these years

April 22, 2008 I'm currently working with a customer who is running Clarify version 6. Not Amdocs CRM6, but Clarify version 6, or as the marketing brainiacs tagged it - CFO98 (Clarify Front Office 98). I'm amazed that they're still running a 10 year old enterprise application, and haven't upgraded at all in 10 years. On the other hand, it speaks to the power of the system that it continues to work and provide value, despite its age. They're now working with us, so that they can upgrade their database to something more current (Oracle 10g), and they're looking into using out toolset (SchemaEditor, ArchiveManager, fcSDK, BOLT, etc.) so that they can continue to reap value out of their system. Pretty cool.

Creating Windows Installers Using WIX: The Journey Begins

December 7, 2007 We all use them. Installers. They help get that sexy, shiny, new software safely onto our PCs and into our lives letting us frolic and play. Later, if things go sour or if the thrill is gone the installer is still there to reverse the process to help arbitrate the separation and keep what's yours intact. Recently I needed to make an installer for a web application product we have called Bolt. Dovetail's own Gary Sherman created Bolt and it was good. It is a great too if you are a Clarify developer. Exciting things are in store for Clarify users regarding Bolt but I can't steal that thunder. Creating the installer for Bolt made me realize I have a lot locked up in my head about deploying software. This is the first in a series of posts that are…

Migrate a business rule from one database to another

November 13, 2007 I was working with a customer today, and they mentioned that one task that is problematic for them is moving business rules from their test database into the production database. Currently, the business rule is manually created via the Clarify Client in the test instance, and then when its all working, it is then again manually re-entered into the production. Manual re-entry is a point of potential failure. The rule may have been perfect in test, but a simple typo when re-entering it in production can cause havoc.One solution to this issue is to archive the business rule using ArchiveManager or dataex from the test database, and then use ArchiveManager or dataex to import it into production.Business RuleFirst, I created a new business rule in my test system:Object Type:CaseRule Name/Description:New Employee RequestStart Event:DispatchCancel Events:NoneConditions:Case Type = New EmployeeAction Title:Create SubcasesMessage…

Having RuleManager invoke command line scripts

June 26, 2007 I've received a few questions on this recently, so I decided a post is in order.   One of the features in Rulemanager (both the Clarify/Amdocs Rulemanager and the Dovetail Rulemanager) is the ability to have it invoke command line scripts/executables via a business rule action.   For example:   if a case has been in a status of "waiting on customer" for more than 30 days, run a script that will close the case when a new contact is created, run a script that will send the contact data to another system (such as an ERP system) when a case is closed, run a script that will send the customer a satisfaction survey etc.   What kind of scripts can Rulemanager run? Basically, any kind of script or executable, as long as no UI activity or user input is needed.  …