Recommended OGAT development practices

Developers working with OGAT should be rigorous in their approach to the entire development process.

If you have multiple developers working on CCMS Output Generator, coordinate with one another to prevent conflicts. MadCap Software recommends that developers and development teams follow these guidelines:

  1. Limit the number of developer users.
  2. Do not concurrently edit the same files.
    CAUTION: Since files are shared across the Development Environment, developers can overwrite each others' changes. If developers overwrite or prematurely commit each others' changes, the developers need to address this internally, rather than attempting to involve IXIA CCMS Customer Support.
  3. Assign ownership of specific files to specific developers. A developer who needs to make changes to a file owned by another developer can request that the owner make the necessary changes. This prevents overwrites, duplication of work, and potential loss of work.
  4. Assign a lead developer as owner to manage all OGAT commits, updates, and conflicts.
  5. Only commit modifications when all developers agree they are ready for a commit.
    CAUTION: Commits in the Development Environment are all-inclusive, which means that developers can accidentally commit other developers' incomplete work.
  6. Document and track your changes using an approved method, such as release notes.
    Note: Make temporary copies of files at various stages of success, by saving them in a folder you can create in the F: drive. Do not make extra copies or iterative copies of your work-in-progress files in the OGAT files directory. These will get added to the repository with your commit.
  7. Each time you connect to the sytem to interact with Development files, run update_local.bat to update your local files with any interim updates made to Test, so that you avoid reversing modifications with a commit.