Putting on my Siebel developer hat, I think to all the wonderfully painful hours spent, on all the small, yet numerous time consuming tasks that litter the life of a Siebel professional.
Compared to other software development tools, it is easy to over simply Siebel development by, using wizards, with a bit of drag and drop, sprinkling a few user properties here and there, we can build a basic application without a single line of code. But in the real world, things are much more complex, and it can take a multitude of steps, plus a bit (or a lot) of frustration to get a basic building block established
A simple example is testing Integration Objects. The following link from Siebel Bookshelf describes this process
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E14004_01/books/EAI2/EAI2_IntObjs_CreatingMaint11.html
After creating your IO you must:
1. Create a Workflow
2. Create an EAI Siebel Adapter step with all the required inputs
3. Create an EAI XML Write to file step with required arguments
4. Launch a WF simulation session (and pray that that it starts)
5. Execute the WF steps
6. Open up windows explorer
7. Inspect the output file for the needed results
How about testing a Dot notation expression to retrieve a value from a SiebelMessage?
1. Create a Workflow
2. Create a property to store the result
3. Create an EAI Siebel Adapter step to query an IO
4. Create an Echo step and provide the Dot notation
5. Launch a WF simulation session
6. Execute the WF steps
7. Inspect watch window for the result
Another example, is testing eScript. A typical life cycle of a Siebel coder runs like this.
1. Find a suitable Event Handler or BS
2. Write code
3. Compile code
4. Re launch thick client
5. Trigger code
6. Inspect results
7. Goto step 2 and repeats until it works
Compiling, waiting, executing, and unit testing code iteratively is time consuming and also depressing.
These tasks provide a glimpse into the daily toils of a Siebel developer, and illustrates how many small tasks stack up, easily filling up a days work.
The Harness
Have you wondered if life can be better? Many developers over the years have come up with utilities that make life easier, tools that search the repository, tools that perform script or config reviews, tools that load LOVs, some experts have even come up with tools that generate browser script in 5 seconds!
The Harness, is the accumulation of years of pondering the Impossible in Siebel. It is a tool that aims to compliment Siebel Tools, and even fills in some of the shortfalls of the Siebel product.
The Harness comes packed with a suite of testing, troubleshooting and development capabilities rolled up into a UI with a modern interface. And where Siebel Tools is restricted to your local machine, the Harness was designed to be launched from any thick or thin client connection, which allows it to be useful in even in test and production environments.
The aim of The Harness is simple, to make every developer more productive.
Want to test some eScript that you just dream't of?
Just open up The Harness, start typing in the in-built code editor with, syntax highlighting, code indentation, and code hints, or choose from a defined set of templates, then click a button to execute the code and see the results immediately, without compiling.
Want to see what your newly created IO looks like in XML, Hierarchy or PS?
Just provide the IO name, Id, click a button, and see the preview in real time, with XML aware syntax highlighting.
Top 10 Features
1. Run 100% eScript without compiling
2. Run eScript locally, on the Server, or dispatch it to run on the Server Asynchronously without compiling
3. Simulate any BS any where in the Application with context!
4. Test Dot notation expression for any IO
5. Send/Recieve MQ messages on the fly
6. Generate XML/Hierachy/PropertySet output for any IO
7. Convert from XML to PS/Hierarchy/SiebelMessage on the fly
8. Run DOS commands from the browser
9. Advanced About View, with table information
10. Peek at runtime BusComp variables
In future articles, we'll go through the above list, and show how the Harness can make the lives of your developers more productive, and less depressing. We also take a look at the architecture behind the tool and delve into the design of its features.
For the time being, here's a sneak peek at one of the early alpha versions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGYgHqT26rU
Note: The Harness was built for a client with custom integration requirements. It has since been expanded into a general developers tool.
much appreciated, many time I had similar thought but time never permitted to execute it, kudos to you who made it happen.
ReplyDelete