The Roundtable TSMS 12.6.1 patch is now available.
Download the Roundtable TSMS 12.6.1 Windows GUI Client and Server patch today.
View the release notes.
If you are on OpenEdge 11.7 or higher and are not on the latest version of Roundtable TSMS, it’s time to benefit from the latest that Roundtable TSMS has to offer. Contact us at hello@roundtable-software.com to request your upgrade today.
Franklin, TN – Roundtable® Software has announced the availability of the next release of its industry-leading software configuration management solution Roundtable TSMS 12.6. Roundtable TSMS 12.6 rolls-up all 12.5 service packs and includes the new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.
Whereas 12.5 focused on widening the Roundtable TSMS ecosystem with third-party solutions, such as improved issue tracking with Jira, code quality analysis on SonarQube on CABL, and the introduction of Roundtable Commander (Beta), a command line client for Roundtable TSMS, Roundtable Software Director of Business Development Jaclyn Barnard says that 12.6 takes a quieter course.
“As much as anybody, we’d like to introduce a shiny new thing with every release. That doesn’t always fit the Roundtable promise, which is, first and foremost, to deliver a robust, reliable, high-performance solution – one that continuously supports what our customers need to do and how they want to do it, not get in their way. Your software configuration management solution should not be something that you have to continously think about; it should be your silent, steady partner who helps you reliably deliver what matters most time and time again.”
12.6 prioritizes performance improvements and bug fixes. It also includes a few new features and some strategic retooling with OpenEdge.
New features in the 12.6 GUI client include a Quick Search feature on the tabletop (and improved tabbing between views), ‘Active Task’ and ‘Case Sensitive’ options in Workspace Contents Search, and the option to Delete Expired Sessions in the Session Viewer. The 12.6 GUI client also stores user preferences and credentials per repository.
An enhancement across both GUI and plug-in clients, 12.6 now checks for WIP dependencies prior to committing code changes to the repository.
“Some of our customers have strict requirements when it comes to committing code changes. The new feature will warn developers: it gives them a chance to ensure that their changes will not be negatively impacted if one of those WIP references are reverted,” says Jeff Ledbetter, Product Architect at Roundtable Software. A ‘Suppress WIP Dependency Warning’ has been added in the Security Group maintenance window (GUI) and in the Permission Group properties (plug-in) accordingly. “It [checking for WIP dependencies] is a good configuration management practice, but you can disable it,” adds Ledbetter.
The plug-in for 12.6 also utilizes a new API developed in conjunction with Progress that helps to minimize the impact of tooling in an OpenEdge project for customers using Progress Developers Studio 12.8.
“Roundtable automatically manages the PROPATH in OpenEdge projects, which caused the tooling feature to run more frequently than necessary,” says Ledbetter. “Progress helped us out with a new API which allows us to control the tooling and improve performance.”
“That’s another Roundtable promise,” Barnard adds. “Our customers can count on the fact that Roundtable and Progress are always working together in the best interest of our shared customers when it comes to Roundtable TSMS. We have been partnered on this very point for more than 25 years.”
In addition to these updates, Roundtable TSMS 12.6 includes other GUI client, plug-in client, server enhancements. To see the full list of new and enhanced features, read the Roundtable TSMS 12.6 Update Bulletin. Roundtable TSMS 12.6 is compatible with OpenEdge 11.7 and higher.
About Roundtable Software
Roundtable Software delivers the leading Software Configuration Management solution for Progress OpenEdge development. Fortune 500 companies to SMBs worldwide trust Roundtable TSMS and its complementary solutions to manage the entire software development lifecycle of their proprietary and purchased applications. Its solutions reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, and ensure IT compliance. Roundtable Software is a Progress Technology Alliance Partner. www.roundtable-software.com
The Roundtable TSMS 12.5.1 patch is now available.
Download the Roundtable TSMS 12.5.1 Windows GUI Client and Server patch today.
View the release notes.
If you are on OpenEdge 11.7 or higher and are not on the latest version of Roundtable TSMS, it’s time to benefit from the latest that Roundtable TSMS has to offer. Contact us at hello@roundtable-software.com to request your upgrade today.
Franklin, TN – Roundtable® Software has announced the availability of the next release of its industry-leading software configuration management solution Roundtable TSMS 12.5. With 12.5, Roundtable delivers improved integration with Jira issue tracking, tools to support code quality analysis on SonarQube with CABL, and new features based on customer feedback.
“Roundtable TSMS continues to be the solution that OpenEdge development teams trust to manage their enterprise applications. While the principles of the software configuration management do not change much over time, ways to improve the work within these systems and those systems that support them do,” says Jaclyn Barnard, Director of Business Development at Roundtable Software. “The vision for 12.5 and moving forward, quite frankly, is to provide clear pathways for connecting standalone products that add tremendous value to the work being done in and managed by Roundtable TSMS.”
In direct response to customer requests, Roundtable TSMS 12.1 introduced out-of-the-box open-source integration with the Jira issue tracking. The integration enabled users to search for a Jira issue, associate it with a corresponding Roundtable task, and update the issue status all from within Roundtable. It eliminated the need for users to toggle between two systems to begin work on and update the status of an issue.
“After receiving feedback from our users, we wanted to improve and expand our Jira integration in Roundtable TSMS 12.5,” shares Jeff Ledbetter, Product Architect at Roundtable Software.
“Giving our customers the ability to store their Jira credentials in the Roundtable repository,” he continues, “makes the integration easier to set-up and more flexible. Since some Jira users have added custom fields to store Roundtable task information, we wanted to add the ability to update that data for them. Adding components that will allow Roundtable to automatically update a Jira issue with a Roundtable task number and task objects provides a seamless integration.”
Rolled up from a 12.4.1 service pack, Roundtable TSMS 12.5 formally delivers the option for analysis of OpenEdge procedural and object-oriented code on the SonarQube platform with CABL 2.19.
“Riverside Software has developed a means to leverage the SonarQube platform for analysis of ABL code with CABL. We in turn partnered with Riverside Software to facilitate integration CABL with our latest release,” shares Barnard. “Cleaner and safer ABL code is win for everyone in the Progress community. We all take pride in (and benefit from) the robust reputation of OpenEdge enterprise applications in our industry. Our customers already deliver top of the line applications. We could not pass up the opportunity to add this substantial convenience. A big thanks to Gilles Querret for CABL and this collaboration.”
Roundtable TSMS 12.5 adds more control for object backups and delivers GUI Client improvements.
“Something that is unique to Roundtable is our ability to store the history of work-in-process code in the repository. Some users wanted to keep those backups around longer than we had anticipated, so we made it more flexible,” shares Ledbetter.
“Regarding the GUI client,” he continues, “we recognize that it is still popular with our customers, so we want to continue to make usability improvements. Changes like remembering browse column-widths or new search options make our customers more productive which makes us happy.”
In addition to these updates, Roundtable TSMS 12.5 includes other GUI client, plug-in client, and server enhancements. To learn more about Roundtable TSMS 12.5 and to see the full list of new and enhanced features, read the Roundtable TSMS 12.5 Update Bulletin.
About Roundtable Software
Roundtable Software delivers the leading Software Configuration Management solution for Progress OpenEdge development. Fortune 500 companies to SMBs worldwide trust Roundtable TSMS and its complementary solutions to manage the entire software development lifecycle of their proprietary and purchased applications. Its solutions reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, and ensure IT compliance. Roundtable Software is a Progress Technology Alliance Partner. www.roundtable-software.com
Download the Roundtable TSMS 12.4.1 Windows GUI Client and Server patch.
View the release notes.
Learn more about Roundtable TSMS and SonarQube from our Kbase.
If you are on OpenEdge 11.7 or higher and are not on the latest version of Roundtable TSMS, it’s time to benefit from the latest that Roundtable TSMS has to offer. Contact us at hello@roundtable-software.com to request your upgrade today.
For some organizations, authenticating against Active Directory is a security requirement for all internal applications. While there are various ways to achieve this for OpenEdge applications, our very own Roundtable Architect Jeff Ledbetter chose this approach for Roundtable TSMS.
Our chosen approach to implementing Active Directory authentication for our Roundtable TSMS recognizes the following:
By default, Roundtable uses the _user table to identify users and provide application security. Therefore, _user records must still exist even if the user is authenticated externally. To facilitate implementation, the callback procedure should also automatically create the _user records, as necessary.
Implementation of Active Directory with this approach requires a few steps:
1. Create a callback procedure. The sample callback procedure provided uses the .NET System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement package to facilitate authentication of user credentials against the Active Directory domain.
2. Using the OpenEdge Data Administration tool, create a custom authentication system with its callback procedure referencing our callback procedure.
3. Create a security domain that uses the custom authentication system. Roundtable users will then use that domain when logging into Roundtable.
For more detailed information on ABL callback authentication procedures, please see the “Creating an ABL Authentication Callback Procedure” topic in the OpenEdge Programming Interfaces > Application Security section of the OpenEdge user guide.
After connecting to the Roundtable database, open the OpenEdge Data Administration tool and choose Admin > Security > Domain Maintenance > Authentication Systems from the main menu to open the Authentication Systems dialog. Select Create to create a new authentication system.
Configure the new authentication system like the example below. As a best practice, the callback procedure should be placed in a directory in your PROPATH. Otherwise, you can specify an absolute path.
In the Data Administration tool, choose Admin > Security > Domain Maintenance > Domains to open the Domains dialog. Select Create to create a new security domain. Configure the new domain system similar to the example below.
To work with the sample callback procedure, the Name of the domain should be the name of the Active Directory domain you wish to authenticate against. In this example, the name of the Active Directory domain is ‘roundtable’. The Access Code is an arbitrary value used when the client-principal object is sealed.
Use the following callback procedure to authenticate user credentials against the Active Directory domain. This callback procedure uses the .NET System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement package.
/*
callback.p
Example callback routine that authenticates against an active directory
Note: Assumes that domain provided is a valid active directory domain.
*/
ROUTINE-LEVEL ON ERROR UNDO, THROW.
USING Progress.Security.*.
USING System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.*.
LOG-MANAGER:LOGFILE-NAME = "callback.log".
/*LOG-MANAGER:CLEAR-LOG().*/
PROCEDURE AuthenticateUser:
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER phCP AS HANDLE NO-UNDO.
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER pcSystemOptions AS CHARACTER EXTENT NO-UNDO.
DEFINE OUTPUT PARAMETER piPAMStatus AS INTEGER INITIAL ? NO-UNDO.
DEFINE OUTPUT PARAMETER pcErrorMsg AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO.
DEFINE VARIABLE objContext AS PrincipalContext.
DEFINE VARIABLE objUser AS UserPrincipal.
DEFINE BUFFER bUser FOR rtb._user.
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE('*** Executing AuthenticateUser ***').
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE('User is: ' + phCP:USER-ID).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE('Domain is: ' + phCP:DOMAIN-NAME).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE('Attemping to validate against active directory..').
/*
Domain name provided at login should be valid AD domain.
*/
objContext = NEW PrincipalContext(ContextType:Domain,phCP:DOMAIN-NAME).
IF objContext:ValidateCredentials(phCP:USER-ID,phCP:PRIMARY-PASSPHRASE) THEN DO:
piPAMStatus = PAMStatus:Success.
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE('Success.').
/*
If user does not exist in _user table, create user account.
*/
FIND bUser NO-LOCK
WHERE bUser._userid = phCP:USER-ID NO-ERROR.
IF NOT AVAILABLE(bUser) THEN DO TRANSACTION ON ERROR UNDO:
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE('Attemping to create _user record..').
objUser = UserPrincipal:FindByIdentity(objContext,phCP:USER-ID).
CREATE bUser.
ASSIGN
bUser._userid = phCP:USER-ID
bUser._user-name = objUser:NAME
bUser._password = ENCODE("").
CATCH e AS PROGRESS.Lang.SysError:
piPAMStatus = PAMStatus:Custom.
pcErrorMsg = "Unable to create _user record. " + e:getMessage(1).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(pcErrorMsg).
END CATCH.
FINALLY:
DELETE OBJECT e NO-ERROR.
END FINALLY.
END.
END.
ELSE DO:
piPAMStatus = PAMStatus:Custom.
pcErrorMsg = "You shall not pass!".
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(pcErrorMsg).
END.
RETURN.
FINALLY:
DELETE OBJECT objContext NO-ERROR.
DELETE OBJECT objUser NO-ERROR.
END FINALLY.
END. /* AuthenticateUser */
PROCEDURE AfterSetIdentity:
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER phCP AS HANDLE NO-UNDO.
DEFINE INPUT PARAMETER pcSysOptions AS CHARACTER EXTENT NO-UNDO.
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE("*** Executing AfterSetIdentity ***").
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('QUALIFIED USER: &1', phCP:QUALIFIED-USER-ID)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('LOGIN-STATE: &1', phCP:LOGIN-STATE)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('LOGIN-STATE-DETAIL: &1', phCP:STATE-DETAIL)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('SESSION ID: &1', phCP:SESSION-ID)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('EXPIRATION: &1', phCP:LOGIN-EXPIRATION-TIMESTAMP)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('DOMAIN TYPE: &1', phCP:DOMAIN-TYPE)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('DOMAIN: &1', phCP:DOMAIN-NAME)).
LOG-MANAGER:WRITE-MESSAGE(SUBSTITUTE('SEALED: &1', phCP:SEAL-TIMESTAMP)).
RETURN.
FINALLY:
LOG-MANAGER:CLOSE-LOG().
END FINALLY.
END.
To use the sample callback procedure provided, you must create an assemblies.xml file with the following content.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<references xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<assembly name="System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
</references>
The final step is to begin using the new domain when logging into Roundtable. With the domain specified, the callback procedure associated with the provided domain will execute, validate against Active Directory, and establish a session in Roundtable.
If you have followed these steps, you have now implemented Active Directory authentication in Roundtable TSMS.
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Franklin, TN – Roundtable® Software has announced the availability of the next release of its industry-leading software configuration management solution Roundtable TSMS 12.4. With 12.4, Roundtable has added more security options, expanded its audit trail, and improved the developer experience.
“Roundtable TSMS continues to be the solution that Fortune 500 companies to SMBs worldwide trust to manage their OpenEdge enterprise applications. While the principles of the software configuration management do not dramatically change over time, security and audit requirements certainly do,” says Jaclyn Barnard, Director of Business Development at Roundtable Software.
“As with our prior release 12.3,” Barnard continues, “12.4 not only equips our customers to meet those increasing demands but also recognizes that not all may be subject to them at this time. (Who wants to change their password every 60 days? Not me.) With many of these new features also comes an on/off switch. With 12.4, you are prepared but are not forced into implementing anything until you are ready. In the meanwhile, you can continue to benefit from many of our other new enhancements.”
New enhancements include:
More Security Controls
Roundtable TSMS 12.4 continues to add to the trajectory of security improvements launched in the prior release. With 12.3, Roundtable strengthened its security options, allowing managers to implement stricter password rules as well as more granularly distribute administrative duties with the introduction of the new Security Administrator role and new permission groups. With 12.4, managers may set password expiration days, choose to allow/disallow local credentials for login, and track last logins.
Roundtable Product Architect Jeff Ledbetter explains, “Many of our customers have strict compliance requirements across the entire application lifecycle. Their auditors not only want to see stricter security controls and auditing in their own applications, but also in the tools they are using to manage their application development.”
More Audit Data
Roundtable TSMS 12.4 continues to add to the trajectory of audit data as well. With 12.4, Roundtable captures audit data for Workspace and System changes. With the addition of security controls, Roundtable has added corresponding login data to user reports.
“As one of our customers put it, ‘we [developers] are in and out of Roundtable every day.’ It is where they live. It is where all substantial development work occurs. The possibilities are practically endless for capturing audit data,” says Barnard. “We have been working with our customers to identify what they want or need that they are not already seeing and ensuring this data is readily available to them.”
Improved Object Searching
Among a series of other usability and performance improvements, Roundtable TSMS 12.4 extends the Eclipse open resource dialog in the plug-in client for improved object searching.
“We wanted to give our users a more integrated feel with the Eclipse (Progress Developers Studio) environment. Extending the open resource dialog provides a more native platform experience for searching and opening objects from Roundtable.”
In addition to these updates, Roundtable TSMS 12.4 includes other GUI client, plug-in client, and server enhancements. To learn more about Roundtable TSMS 12.4 and to see the full list of new and enhanced features, read the Roundtable TSMS 12.4 Update Bulletin.
About Roundtable Software
Roundtable Software delivers the leading Software Configuration Management solution for Progress OpenEdge development. Fortune 500 companies to SMBs worldwide trust Roundtable TSMS and its complementary solutions to manage the entire software development lifecycle of their proprietary and purchased applications. Its solutions reduce time-to-market, improve product quality, and ensure IT compliance. Roundtable Software is a Progress Technology Alliance Partner. www.roundtable-software.com
Download the Roundtable TSMS 12.3.2 patch.
View the release notes.
If you are on OpenEdge 11.7 or higher and are not on the latest version of Roundtable TSMS, it’s time to benefit from the latest that Roundtable TSMS has to offer. Contact us at hello@roundtable-software.com to request your upgrade today.
It’s a common misconception that Roundtable TSMS is for “just for developers.” In this blog, Randall K. Harp, Roundtable Software Engineer, and Jaclyn Barnard, Roundtable Director of Business Development, reveal that there’s much more “management” in Roundtable TSMS than you may think.
While software vendors are continuously delivering new or more powerful tools for developers – multi-view GUIs, code-completing editors, cross-reference tools – you’re probably left wondering, “What about me? Where are the tools that help managers of these software development efforts?”
You are not mad about it. (Productivity boosters are good for everyone.) However, you too have increasing demands. You need to get new releases out on time, under budget, and with very few defects (if any at all). It’s not just about delivering on plan. At the helm, you are responsible for shaping best practices while assessing the productivity of your team.
In too many cases, software development managers are relegated to tools outside of the development environment to fulfill those objectives: separate project management applications, separate spreadsheets for tracking and reporting development metrics, and often separate timesheets for tracking developer activity. You shouldn’t have to be technologically separated from the team that you are managing.
Roundtable TSMS is the Total Software Management System. While Roundtable TSMS offers productivity tools to developers, it serves up just as much on the management side too.
Role-based Permissions
Continuously assessing the productivity of your developers doesn’t mean that you want to – or need to – micromanage them. Fortunately, Roundtable TSMS offers role-based permissions that allow managers to delegate responsibilities to trusted team members, such as adding and removing users, resetting passwords, and adjusting permissions for developers on a per-baseline basis. Being able to delegate responsibilities fosters autonomy. An autonomous team does not have to ask a manager to handle an administrative function while he or she is on vacation.
Tasks
For the real business of assessing developer productivity, Tasks in Roundtable TSMS enable team managers to keep their developers on task. Tasks allow managers to not only assign priorities but also to easily see who is working on what and how long they’ve been working on it. (With features like Shelf, managers can also encourage code sharing and reviews between team members to help move struggling developers and/or stagnated projects further along.) For those organizations using Jira for issue and/or project tracking, Roundtable TSMS’s Jira integration extends additional real-time insight to key development metrics.
Workspaces
Tasks, of course, contribute to the bigger picture of application development. To help you deliver on-time releases with fewer defects, Roundtable’s Workspaces are a valuable asset. Used as lifecycle stages, Agile sprints, or custom configurations, Workspaces offer delineated baselines to guard against stealthy bugs, establish workflows to promote consistent methodology, and provide well-defined roles and responsibilities for each baseline to ensure consistent processes.
Reports
While consistent processes in Workspaces offer both immediate and future benefit, Reports in Roundtable TSMS provide consistent and comprehensive insights. With optional levels of detail, release reports show the scope of changes between software releases, helping to ensure that a release meets requirements. Release reports can also assist managers with time allocation and cost evaluation to refine estimates for future projects. Blame reports provide non-destructive, in-line attribution to code changes, helping managers evaluate and guide individual developer efforts to achieve higher software quality.
As its name suggests, Roundtable TSMS is a tool for managers. With per-baseline role assignments, Tasks, delineated baselines, configurable workflows, and more, Roundtable TSMS helps make a software development manager’s job easier. Since it also has some features that developers love too, Roundtable TSMS is a win for the whole team.
To learn more about how Roundtable TSMS can help you better achieve your goals for your team, aligning both developer productivity and management priorities in one Total Software Management System, contact Roundtable Software today.
It’s easy to get caught up in the death-or-glory dash of delivering what end-users want (or didn’t know they wanted) quickly. How helpful is it when this fast pace leads to costly mistakes from unintentional errors and burnout from chasing bugs down?
In this blog, Randall K. Harp, Roundtable Software Engineer, and Jaclyn Barnard, Roundtable Director of Business Development, make the case that a seemingly slower, more disciplined approach yields better results in the long run.
Your team needs to make software changes fast.
While your development team struggles to meet delivery deadlines, industry buzz about the latest technology has your application stakeholders asking: “How soon can we start using that?”
In a mad dash to deliver the next update, disciplined development practices are often pushed aside, resulting in ambiguous responsibilities, a high risk of regression bugs, missing dependencies, and a far more difficult task of rolling back to a stable configuration if and when things go wrong. Even if you maintain a good record of who made what changes where, when they were made, and why they were made, slapdash release and workflow management spell trouble for your users and your team’s reputation. Do these means really meet the intended end?
No matter your development methodology (Agile, DevOps, Waterfall), the proven processes of professional configuration management can boost your team’s productivity and improve software quality. These principles enable teams to know the pieces that make up your application, direct who can change what and where, and make sure that your releases contain what they are supposed to – all while earmarking stable states that can be easily recreated for fallback or troubleshooting. Furthermore, unlike scrambling to get things done, well-defined, repeatable processes lend themselves to automation for additional speed.
“Our productivity and quality improved dramatically right out of the gate with Roundtable because we had so much more control over who was changing a particular program at any given time. In fact, that first year our time to market decreased by 12 months. The tools in Roundtable make it possible for one software engineer to build deployments for all of our customers using about 10% of that person’s time over the course of a version. Prior to Roundtable, it took 40% of one software engineer’s time just to handle organizing our local testing environments.”
Mark Opfer, Senior Software Architect, DMSi
A comprehensive software configuration management system like Roundtable TSMS provides these capabilities, but only brings benefit when a team makes the commitment. Granted, words like “configuration” and “management” may not offer the same level of excitement as a marathon effort filled with caffeine and energy bars to rally to cutting the next release, but you’ll discover that practicing organized processes promotes organized thinking, and that organized change history prevents frantic searching for where things went wrong and that is a true time-saver.
“It’s because of Roundtable that I now have a life. Prior to Roundtable, I usually got home from work in time to tuck my kids into bed. By the end of our first year of using Roundtable, I was getting home in time to have supper with them because I wasn’t spending so much time chasing the bugs and phantom bugs that came from uncontrolled code movement.”
Mark Opfer, Senior Software Architect, DMSi
High quality software is something that everyone can be proud of. If your development team isn’t experiencing (or fully experiencing) the organizational and productivity benefits that Roundtable TSMS offers, contact Roundtable Software today. To read the case study referenced above, “DMSi Improves Time to Market, Reduces Defects by 50% with Roundtable TSMS,” follow this link.