XOG (XML Open Gateway) Best Practices Webinar UK Edition – Replay the Webinar with Q & A Transcript.

Posted @ 03/23/2015  01:30 PM By Marc Latreille

presidents_itroi-150x150-1The webinar was a huge success with our valued partner in the UK CQC Solutions, We had the best Question & Answer session to date from any of our previous webinars. Federico Pena Bio (seen in the left pic) knocked it out of the park, and provided clear informative answers to all the questions, see the transcript below.

 


 

 

Our Twitter hashtag #CAXOG includes all sorts of info and links to some of the resources and tools mentioned from the webinar.  Additionally, there is a thread at CA Communities that has several examples/scripts and a review of XOG & Query Bridge that was used during this webinar: https://communities.ca.com/message/241757789#241757789  

The slide presentation for this webinar can be downloaded here.


QUESTIONS & ANSWERS TRANSCRIPT:

Q – What is Federico using for running the XOG?
A – See #CAXOG We have a tool called the ZOG & Query Bridge. It allows single or multiple ZOG requests, with XSLT support. See Min 32:09 for a quick demo of the XOG & Query client for CA PPM http://www.itroisolutions.com/xog-sql-query-ca-ppm …

Q – Is the web-based CA PPM XOG client version of this tool available at no cost?
A – Yes it is, here you go http://www.itroisolutions.com/xog-sql-query-ca-ppm also if you are in the US, I
have a Desktop version I can mail you – if in Europe CQC Solutions has some they can mail if you like. Or, you can download the XOG & Query Bridge desktop version here.

Q – Are there any XOG Bridge Examples and Documents on the site we can start with?
A – #CAXOG Here is the link to the XSLT Examples and Tips & Tricks file: http://www.itroisolutions.com/xog-sql-query-ca-ppm

Q – Is there any way for the XOG not to output all the data (views, lookups, etc). We have had cases where not just 1 object is in the output XML, even when trying to read only 1 custom object that we had to migrate.
A – See Min 21:55 for the detailed answer.

Q – Have you considered using RegEx in NP++ instead of XSLT?
A – See min 28:05 for the detailed answer. We have, we found Regular Expressions are not quite as flexible as XSLT. The primary purpose of XSLT is to manipulate XML data. The problem we found with Regular Expressions is that with one simple character, you can kill something and not know it. XSLT is structured in an easier way, allowing you to manipulate XML files much easier.

Q – How do you auto-submit or auto-approve financial plans via a process or gel script? Any example you can send would be greatly appreciated.
A – Please reach out to our support team and they can send you some GEL Scripts. – It will use XOG to auto approve – also a GEL/ Integration Best Practices webinar is on the docket for April 22nd.

Q – Can you please provide some options and detail regarding XOG actuals to CA PPM?  Via transaction object or timesheet object.
A – See min 25:00 for the detailed answer- YES – both are supported ways to get actual into CA PPM. Please reach out to our support team for some examples.

Q – How do you exclude a parent object when reading?
A – See Min 30:00 for the detailed answer.

Q – Does version number in the header tag actually makes a difference? We’ve used from 8 to 13 and seen no change in the way the data is moved or shown.
A – See Min 26:47 for the detailed answer. Only if the version in your header is greater than your CA PPM version.

Q – Can we get API to XOG action items?
A – Yes, but there is limitations. See Min 31:00 for the detailed answer.

Q – Regarding performance of processes in Clarity PPM that use XSLT, would you recommend them? We’ve seen a heavy impact on run times of our processes that have custom scripts. Any tips regarding performance?
A – See Min 40:37 for the detailed complex answer. This is Gel related question. If Gel is not written correctly, it will be your worst nightmare.

Q – OK I might be skipping ahead, but regarding autonumbers in CA PPM, how do you go about them when they are not custom objects? I know for a fact that customs can be easily done with a few header settings but in ideas/projects it doesn’t seem to work the same way (we’ve actually had to use some procedures to get next IDs and such…)
A – See Min 35:50 for the detailed complex answer.

Q – You didn’t make it to the Query API section, but can you discuss how you approach the 10000 node limit if returned data?
A – See min 56:29 for the detailed answer. That is an application restriction, because it’s not on the Query API.