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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…

Is the Software Installed?

November 8, 2007 I went to update Windows Live Writer this morning because I am a technology whore and I like to run with the cool kids. The installer yielded a WTF basket of confusion that ended with me wondering if I had actually installed the software which, in fact, I had not. Most installers use the wizard motif with a workflow that goes something like next, accept EULA, next, next, Install, Finish. Here is my experience trying to install Windows Live Writer with accompanying internal dialog. The Download Google Windows Live Writer. --- Click on Writers Zone. --- Windows Live Writer: Out of Beta   Windows Live Writer 2008 (version 12.0.1366.1026) Click on the lovely shiny Download button. Wasn't that supposed to start the download? --- Get it free Excellent, I am using software whose target audience are smug people. Click on…

Unit Testing a Web Service

November 7, 2007 Dovetail sells a web services for Clarify product that consists of a SOAP flavored web service and a handy client library. To make sure all is continuously well we have NUnit integration tests that exercise the client library making calls against the web service. Our first iteration of the testing the web service involved launching Cassini and then later the development web server that comes with Visual Studio 2005 to host our web service under test. The configuring and launching of this process (WebDev.WebServer2.exe) has  been fragile and prone to failure. Yesterday while setting up a new integration server I flailed for an hour trying to get the web server running. My defeat turned into victory after I found Phil Haack's post on Using WebServer.WebDev For Unit Tests which taught me how remove our dependency on the executable web server…

Firing Business Rules based on the business hours of a queue

November 6, 2007 One of our customers posed an interesting problem to me this week. They have offices in different locations, in different time zones, with different business hours. The employees in these offices work on different hours from one another, meaning that while one group is working, another group is not working, and vice-versa. The issue comes in when one group dispatches a case to a queue to be worked by the other group. More specifically, the issue is when the queue members should get notified by RuleManager. If the queue members are off-hours, then they should get notified as soon as their next work day starts. Seems like it should be straight-forward. Let's give it a go. First Try Let's create a specific test example to illustrate the notification process. I created two sites, the Texas Support Center (in CST), and…

CodePlex subverts our desires

I am really behind the curve on this but I was very excited when I heard that CodePlex is now supporting Subversion for source code control. After reading more closely it appears that they are merely providing bridgeware that allows you to use TortoiseSVN as a front end to CodePlex's Team Foundation Server. The number one new feature request from users is for CodePlex to support Subversion.  Specifically what users are telling us they want is the features and experience they get when using TortoiseSVN as a source control client.  It is important to us on the CodePlex team to provide our users the features they want and need to have the best experience possible, and so we will soon be offering support for using TortoiseSVN with CodePlex. How did their users' desire to have CodePlex add support for Subversion…

What we need is a user story

October 31, 2007 There was an interesting discussion this week over on the Clarify IT Toolbox list - interesting (to me) not so much because of the technical question, but because how it brings to light user stories, or lack thereof. The original question: How Can I custimize the process of "Accepting" a case. I want to have a msgbox before a case is accepted. Some of the discussion: what is your customisation exactly ?  what will appear in your msg box ? I just want to display a message Box before a case is accepted.msgbox can contain any text message like "Hello". Do you want the message box to appear before the accept dialogue appears? "Before a case moves to the default wipbin (because I am having only one wip bin), a msgbox with some text should poped up." You still fail…

My free resume tip of the day: include your contact information

October 29, 2007 I received a resume today from someone looking for a job. It was forwarded from a job search board. His resume has his name, but no contact info. Not a phone number, email address, website, physical address - nothing. Guess who won't be getting a call from me. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this isn't the first time this has happened either. I've received similar resumes in the past. Unreal. Got Clarify Skills? Anyway, if your resume includes your contact info, your Clarify skills are kickin', and you'd like to work with great developers, community leaders, Agile VPs, extraordinary testers, and me, in one of the coolest cities in our land, tell me why you'd make a great addition to our technical team, helping us develop and support our customers.

Quick auto-login to Dovetail Agent (fcClient)

In a call center, most agents tend to stay logged into their CRM application all day long, as it is their primary use application. However there are also many other users who simply log in occasionally, do what they need to do, then log back out again. Personally, I fall into the later category. I log in and out of our Dovetail system all day long. Even more so, I log in and out of my development instance all day long. Which means every time I log in, I have to re-enter my password. Actually, I have to open IE, click my bookmark for my development Dovetail Agent site, enter my password, and click the Login button. Since I do this all day long, I wanted an easier way to do this. One Click Access Dovetail Agent (formerly fcClient) needs…

Intellisense for editing NAnt build scripts

This post is inspired by a thread on the Alt.Net yahoo group complaining that authoring NAnt build scripts is a pain. I agree to a point but until a better build system is ready I want to help fellow NAnt disciples by sharing one of my favorite tricks for boosting NAnt scripting productivity. This is a quick guide on getting Intellisense working for NAnt under VS.Net 2005 and better yet some automation to do it for you.     The basics   Included with each NAnt release is a schema file that includes all the legal elements and attributes annotated with documentation on how to use them. After copying this file into your VS.Net XML schemas directory you get Intellisense when editing XML files with appropriate the NAnt namespace declared (the NAnt FAQ).   Automate it   While you could look for the schema file and…

cctvtmmain : a useful, but broken, and poorly named, utility for closing child cases

October 26, 2007 We recently received an inquiry from a customer asking about Clarify's cctvtmmain utility. Specifically, it was throwing a useless error message, and they wanted our help. Our first response was WTF is cctvtmmain? A little research, and we discovered that its a utility for working with parent and child cases. From the Clarify documentation: The Enterprise Service Manager uses parent and child cases. With parent and child cases, you can associate a group of problems with a common cause. The parent case identifies the root cause. A child case is a customer problem that arises due to the root cause and is linked to the parent case. A child case differs from a Subcase, which is a way for subdividing a case for parallel work by different employees on the same customer problem. For example, suppose a WAN outage occurs…