What’s New in Automated Build Studio 4.0
Below is a list of major changes of Automated Build Studio 4.0.
Overall Improvements
Distributed builds. The Remote Macro Execution category of Automated Build Studio version 4 includes new Remote Group and Remote Execution Stack operations that let you distribute the macro workload among several remote computers. Using this feature, you can dramatically reduce the project build time, perform multi-platform builds, start automated tests on multiple computers in parallel and so on.
Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. Automated Build Studio 4 introduces support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The Microsoft Compilers category includes new operations - Compile Visual Basic 2008 Project, Compile Visual C# 2008 Project and Compile Visual C++ 2008 Project that let you compile projects created in Visual Studio 2008. In addition, the Compile Visual Studio Solution can now be used to compile Visual Studio 2008 solutions.
Support for CodeGear Delphi 2007. Automated Build Studio now supports CodeGear Delphi 2007 for Microsoft Windows. The Borland Compilers category provides new Compile Delphi 2007 for Win32 Project and Compile Delphi 2007 for Win32 Project Group operations that let you compile your Delphi 2007 projects and project groups from macros.
MSBuild project editor. Automated Build Studio 4 lets you create, view and modify MSBuild projects. You can create and edit MSBuild projects the same way you work with macros - by dragging available project elements from the Operations panel to the project and configuring their properties visually.
Support for TestComplete 6 and TestExecute 6. Version 4 supports the next version of AutomatedQA’s software testing utilities - TestComplete and TestExecute. The AutomatedQA Tools category includes 2 new operations that let you run tests created with TestComplete and TestExecute version 6.
Retrieve and modify EXE and DLL file version information. Using the new Get Version Info and Set Version Info operations, you can retrieve version information (such as product name, manufacturer name, version and so on) from executable files and dynamic link libraries and modify this information.
Support for JEDI Version Control System. A new JediVCS operation category includes 11 operations that enable you to interact with JEDI VCS. Using these operations, you can check files in to and out of the repository, get the latest version of files, iterate through project modules, and so on. The new version also includes a special trigger that traces changes in files stored in the JediVCS repository.
Support for Internet Information Services (IIS). Using the new IIS (Internet Information Services) category you can easily manage IIS from your macros. You can create, delete, start and stop IIS web and FTP sites, manage application pools, save and restore the IIS metabase and perform many other actions.
Better management of remote macros. Now you can group and filter remote macros displayed in the Client panel of Automated Build Studio and Automated Build Studio Web Interface. A new Group macros setting in the Client Panel Options dialog lets you specify whether or not the macros are grouped in the panel. Another new option, Hide non-available macros, let you quickly filter macros displayed in the Client panel and hide the ones that the current user cannot launch due to insufficient permissions.
Search and replace text in variable values. In Automated Build Studio 4, you can find and replace text not only in operation properties, but also in macro variables’ values.
Automated Build Studio Gadget. Automated Build Studio includes a special gadget that can be added to Windows Vista Sidebar. Using this gadget you can monitor the macro execution state on local and remote workstations.
Improved Support for Compilers
The Borland Compilers category includes six new operations for compiling Delphi, C++Builder and JBuilder project groups:
Compile Borland Developer Studio 2006 Project Group
Compile Borland Developer Studio 2005 Project Group
Compile Delphi 8 for .NET Project Group
Compile Delphi 4-7 Project Group
Compile C++Builder 3-6 Project Group
Compile JBuilder Project Group
A new Compile Visual Basic 6.0 Project Group operation has been added to the Microsoft Compilers category. You can use this operation to compile a group of Visual Basic 6.0 projects from macros.
The Compile Visual Studio .NET Solution operation has been improved. Now it lets you specify the projects to be built and select their build configurations.
The Help Compilers category now includes three operations for working with the Sandcastle help compiler: Sandcastle HTML Generator, Sandcastle XSL Transformer and Sandcastle Reflection Generator.
The Help Compilers category includes the NDoc 1.31 Help Compiler operation that supports the latest version of the NDoc compiler.
Improved Support for .NET Technologies
The .NET Tools category includes eight new operations for working with popular .NET tools:
The Configure ASP.NET operation provides a visual interface for the .NET Framework aspnet_regiis.exe tool. This operation enables you to configure ASP.NET on the current computer: install or uninstall a specific ASP.NET version, install and update script maps, create client-script directories and so on.
Using the new Edit Assembly Information operation, you can modify assembly attributes in assembly information source files.
The Fix COM References operation allows you to fix references to COM interop assemblies in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET projects.
The Manifest Generation and Editing operation provides an interface to the .NET Framework mage.exe tool. You can use this operation to generate, update and sign manifests for ClickOnce applications.
Using the Native Image Generator operation, which is a wrapper for the .NET Framework ngen.exe tool, you can manage the native image cache for .NET assemblies.
The Resources Generator operation, which provides an interface for the resgen.exe tool, lets you convert between various types of assembly resource files.
The Run AL.EXE and Run SN.EXE operations let you run the Assembly Linker (al.exe) and Strong Name (sn.exe) tools with the specified parameters.
Enhanced Support for Source Control Systems
A new JediVCS category provides operations that let you work with JEDI Version Control System: check files in and out of the JEDI VCS repository, get the latest version of files, iterate through files in a project and so on.
Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Version Control has been added. All operations of the Team Foundation Version Control category and the Team Foundation Version Control File Change trigger now contain the MS VS Version property that specifies which Team Foundation version should be used.
The Concurrent Versions System category includes new operations:
The CVS Login and CVS Logout operations enable you to log in to and out of a CVS repository. After calling CVS Login in your macro, you may skip specifying the authentication information for other CVS operations. CVS Logout cancels this mode.
Using the Get Changes From CVS operation you can get a list of modified, added and removed files from a CVS repository.
Operations of the Concurrent Versions System category now support the server access method. The Access method property now has the corresponding server option that you can use to access the remote repository.
A new StarTeam Remove operation in the StarTeam category lets you remove files from both the StarTeam repository and the local working folder.
Enhanced Working With Files
The Read/Write category contains six new operations that make it easier to work with text, INI and XML files from macros:
The Read From File and Write To File operations let you read the text file contents to a macro variable and write text to a file.
The File Content Enumerator operation allows you to iterate through lines in a text file and perform specific actions on each line.
Using the Get XML Value and Set XML Value operations, you can obtain and modify data stored in an XML file.
Using the new INI File Enumerator operation, you can perform a set of operations over each section or value of an INI file.
Other Changes in Operations
The Installers category includes seven new operations:
Using the Advanced Installer operation, you can build your installation packages with Advanced Installer.
The InstallShield Standalone Build operation allows you to compile your installation program using the InstallShield Standalone Build module.
The MSI Generic, MSI Merge, MSI Transform, MSI Update Properties and MSI Validation operations let you work directly with Windows Installer (MSI) packages, for example, execute SQL queries with databases, update their property values, and so on.
In addition, the InstallShield 7-2008 operation contains a new Additional action property, which enables or disables the -e command-line parameter usage for the IsCmdBld.exe tool.
The FTP category includes a new Synchronize Directories operation that allows you to synchronize directory contents on the local computer and the FTP server.
The Files and Directories category contains the following new operations:
Get File Attribures - Lets you obtain file attributes.
Set Manifest - Enables you to incorporate a manifest into executable files or DLLS.
Set Resource Language - Lets you specify the language of resources stored in executables or DLLs.
A new Wait category provides eight operations that let you delay the macro execution until a specific event occurs: a particular date and time, a file’s contents changes, a process is launched, a remote computer responds, and so on.
A new Misc category has been added. It contains the following operations:
The Create GUID operation can be used to generate a GUID string in various formats.
The If COM Class Registered operation lets you check whether a specific COM class is registered on the current computer.
Using the Get Free Disk Space operation, you can determine the amount of free space available on a local disk drive.
The If Window Exists operation enables you to check whether a particular window is displayed on the screen.
Also, the Comment and Delay operations were moved from the Standard category to the Misc category.
A new If Registry Key or Value Exists operation enables you to check whether a specific key or a value entry exists in the the system registry.
A new List Enumerator operation allows you to iterate through a list of arbitrary items and perform specific actions over them.
The If Remote Macro State Is ... operation has been improved. Now it lets you specify several states that the remote macro will be checked against.
The TestComplete 4-5 and TestExecute 4-5 operations now let you specify a project test item to be run.
The Execute Macro operation has been enhanced. Now it lets you specify input as well as output variables for the macro to be run.
The Validate XML File operation contains a new MS XML Version property that specifies which version of the Microsoft XML parser should be used.
The Extract Files From ZIP File and Extract Files From RAR File operations now allow you to only extract some of the files out of the archive. The operations’ properties dialog contains the new Files To Extract tabbed page where you specify the list of files to extract.
The Set Variable operation was renamed to Set\Reset Variable Value. Now this operation lets you not only modify variable values and stored variables, but also restores their default values.
The Demeanor operation has been renamed to WiseOwl Demeanor.
The Star Team Delete operation has been renamed to StarTeam Delete Local.
Macro Variables and Constants Enhancements
In earlier versions, the values of stored variables were saved to the macro’s file. In version 4, these values can now be saved to an individual file. This feature allows you to have computer-dependent stored variable values. To enable the feature, check the Store values in separate file check box in the Stored Variables dialog.
Ordinary macro variables can now have default values. You can specify this value in the Variables dialog.
Macro variables now have a new Thread-relative attribute. It is useful if your macro contains concurrent operations and controls whether the variable should have separate values for each execution thread. For example, Submacro variables have this attribute set by default.
It is now possible to specify descriptions for macro variables, stored variables and constants. This way, you can document variables and constants used in your macros. The descriptions can also be displayed in the Variables and Constants dialog that is used to specify variables and constants in operation properties, if the Show description option is checked.
Now you can find and replace text in default values of macro variables and values of stored variables and constants.
It is now possible to sort the list of variables and constants in the Variables, Stored Variables, Environment Variables, Constants and System Constants dialogs.
The following system constants have been added:
TESTCOMPLETE6, TESTCOMPLETE6DIR, TESTEXECUTE6 and TESTEXECUTE6DIR. These constants provide information about TestComplete 6 and TestExecute 6.
Miscellaneous
A new Log variables changing setting has been added to macro properties. This option specifies whether Automated Build Studio should post log messages when macro variable values have been changed.
Automated Build Studio includes a new Default project format option that lets you specify the files’ format created when Build Studio starts.
Now the Operation Properties dialog can be invoked right after adding the operation to your macro. You can enable or disable this behavior using the new Show Properties dialog when adding a new item option. The option also works for MSBuild projects.
The XML schema used for creating custom operations has been enhanced. The syntax attribute of the property element, which defines the operation property type, can now have the EncryptedString value. This new type stands for string properties whose values are encrypted and stored in the macro file.