Using Robohelp 8 and ClearCase

[HP-Writer]

I have read that Robohelp and ClearCase don't really work together. It is, however, our tool of choice. No other option, other than SharePoint is available and SharePoint isn't worth anything as a CM tool.

Anyway, my situation is that me and another writer are working on different Robohelp projects interchangeably on a day to day basis. This does not mean we are ever working on the files at the same exact time but it could mean that I work on them in the morning and he works on them in the afternoon. Currently, another team has presented a solution to this problem but I wanted to run it by the community here to see if there was a better way to handle things.

The other team uses Robohelp before checking out any files from ClearCase. This creates hijacked files. When they are done with their work, they check out the hijacked files, and then check them back in to ClearCase. This is fine most of the time but I am hoping there is a better way. If, for example, there is a "key file" that always gets changed regardless of what you are doing in Robohelp, that might be the file to check out prior to starting work. This would give a visual indicator to other people that the files are being worked. It seems, however, that this key file might be different depending on the version of Robohelp you are using. In this case we are using Robohelp 8 and creating "Webhelp" products. We also use ClearCase Remote Client v. 7.

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum is checking out all of the project files, working on them, checking in what files are modified, and undoing the checkout of the files that don't get modified. This has the downside of creating a .keep version of the files that you undo the checkout for.

I know this might sound rather complicated so if you have questions, please let me know.

[infohwyman]

My experience so far is that at the very least, the .cpd file must be checked out, and Robohelp will tell you if any other files must be checked out, as which point you merely check out the files and click OK.

As far as the second solution, you are correct right up to the point where you select all files whose dates have not been updated in ClearCase, and undo the checkout, but there is a box you can uncheck that asks whether to save a .keep file for them.  If you do not have that choice or if it is greyed out, select fewer files at a time to perform the undo checkout on.  It should never force you to have .keep files if all you want to do is undo checkout.

Depending on version and file structure, worst case is that initially Robohelp wants the .cpd file and all db files with the same title in the root, and if there are folders containing chapters of the project, possibly the .fpj files for each of those folders.  Best case, I have had RH8 let me open a project after only checking out the .cpd file.

James Williams

Rockwell Automation contractor