XOG & Query Bridge – IT ROI Solutions

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

IT-ROI Administrator — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 19:52:45 +0000

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

The 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.

Webinar Replay – Learn how to be a XOG Expert

IT-ROI Administrator — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 22:02:00 +0000

Posted @ 10/02/2015 05:02 PM By Marc Latreille

This webinar showed how you can use the free tools in XOG & Query Bridge and combine them to see all the powerful things that you can do with CA PPM.

The webinar demonstrated advanced XOG operations on how the combination of the Data Extraction tool, with the new Data Loader tool, and with the XOG interface could double as a CA PPM migration tool.

Plus, many more real world examples were provided to help XOG & Query Bridge users develop their XOG skills to the expert level.

The New Data Loader XOG Tool

The tool provides a GUI that allows you to easily map Microsoft Excel files into XML (XOG) files, and was fully covered in the webinar.

Replay the webinar

Webinar Topics

How to use and use case examples for the new XOG Data Loader tool.
How to use and use case examples for the XOG Data Extractor tool.
How to use and use case examples for the SQL Query tool.
Combining the three tools to make one super CA PPM tool to show all the great things that can be done.
In-depth questions and answers session.

How to use Microsoft Excel to Map Data into XOG Files, then Update Directly to CA PPM.

Federico Peña — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 02:05:00 +0000

Posted @ 07/17/2015 09:05 PM By Federico Pena

The power of Microsoft Excel is positively dynamic when working with XOG conversions for CA PPM. In case you haven’t heard, IT-ROI continually tries to make PPM simpler, whether it’s small scale to help out worker bees like us or large scale enterprise solutions that we prvide. Everyone wants to save time in their work day, so here is a way to save some of that precious time via Microsoft Excel and IT-ROI’s free-to-use XOG client.

Check out the video tutorial and the 10 steps on how to generate and build your XML files to be able to XOG them directly into CA PPM.

Can’t view YouTube videos? Watch it Here

10 steps on how to automatically generate XML files via Microsoft Excel and XOG them directly into CA PPM

(from the tutorial video):

1) Ensure that your tool bar in Excel has the Developer Tab enabled. If not, follow these steps to enabled it:

In Microsoft Excel > File > Options > Customize Ribbon (in the right menu).
Now make sure that the Developer Tag is checked, then click OK.

2) Now that you have the Developer Tab enabled and selected, you need to select the XML file you want to work with. To do this, click on ‘Source’ in the Developer Tab. This will ask for an XML file. It is critical that you have at least two tags in the XML file, if you don’t, Excel won’t consume and display it correctly. (XML example shown in the tutorial video).

3) Click on ‘XML Maps’ located on the right side at the bottom in the XML Source box. In the subsequent pop-up box, click on ‘Add’. Now navigate to the XML file you want to use, and click ‘OK’. This will build the XML schema for you on the right hand side.

4) Now we decide what parts of the XML file we want to Map. Don’t map any of the header because that stays static. You want to Map everything that is inside of the Project tag (as seen in the tutorial).

5) Drag & drop all the Project data into cell A1 (notice that this will put all the data in that column).

6) Then right click on any cell in the newly formatted column, then go to XML > Refresh XML Data > click ‘OK’ (this brings in the data that is in the XML file).

7) Now you can create any new records that you want for CA PPM swiftly, using Excel’s fantastic click & drag and drag & drop functionality.

8) When your updates are complete, and you’re ready to generate your new XML file, go back to the Developer Tab and click on ‘Export”. Name your new file and save it where you please.

9) To verify your work, you can go back to the new file and open it in Notepad or Notepad++ and you’ll see that it generated a new line for each project (in reference to the tutorial video) that was created.

10) Once the XML files are created, you can copy them and paste them into our free-to-use XOG client (XQ)to XOG them directly into CA PPM.

Congratulations! What lovely XOG files you just created.

CA Clarity PPM Action Items XOG API – Download

IT-ROI Administrator — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 19:23:00 +0000

Posted @ 04/28/2015 02:23 PM By Marc Latreille

The Action Items XOG API was unpublished functionality that CA developed for CA Clarity PPM Version 12. We got our hands on it, and built an App to enable Action Item approval amongst other things from a mobile device.

We love to share, so here you go.

During our XOG best practices webinar a few weeks ago, the following question was asked:

XOG Best Practices Questions and Answers Transcript:

Q – Can we get API to XOG action items?
A – Ask our Expert Support Team, and they will send you the API call for updating Action Items.

Since that time, we have been receiving numerous requests for this directly to Federico himself, so without further ado:

Here are some notes from our lead software engineer:

For this line in the ai_write.xml (part of the download package)

The values for the variables aiId & assId come from the ib_out_ai query
The values for the variables assStatus come from the ib_out_ai_lk query

A big usage note with the Action Items XOG API is that the sessionId being used MUST be for the Clarity resource that the Action Item is Assigned to. A user can only update the Action Items that are assigned to them.

Action Items XOG API

XOG & Query Bridge (XQ) Web Version Change Log

IT-ROI Administrator — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 21:47:00 +0000

Posted @ 03/26/2015 04:47 PM By Federico Pena

Date: July 6, 2016

XOG & Query Bridge Version 1.4.0

New in 1.4.0

Menu integration with Integration Manager.
Several usability and performance improvements.
Bug fixes.

Improvements

New option in XOG tool and NSQL tool to periodically refresh the output preview.
Now Text Files (.txt) are allowed as data sources for Data loader tool.
New Clear button in ‘Transform with XSLT’.
Better visualization for big NSQL queries.

Bugs fixed

The Data loader tool ignores the delimiter when enclosed in double quotes, in any column of the data source file.

Other changes

When running existing queries, the queries list, the filters and the parameters are now displayed in alphabetical order.

Date: January 5, 2016

XOG & Query Bridge Version 1.3.0

New Login Procedure in Version 1.3.0

STEPS TO LOGIN:
All users now must login using their email address that was registered with their account instead of their previous Username and reset their password the first time they login to XQ Version 1.3.0
1) Enter your email address that you registered your XQ account with
2) Click on “Reset Password” and complete the form.
3) Your account is now ready with your new login credentials and happy XOGing

New in 1.3.0

New authentication module based on Keycloak, with a new login procedure.
New Application UI, including selectable themes
New ‘Clear’ button below the input area in SQL tool and XOG tool
Users are now able to set a preferred CA PPM environment
Several usability and performance improvements

Improvements

Execute existing queries improved functionality
The column order in the query output now coincides with the order defined in the SQL statement
“No record found” message removed from the query output during query processing
In the XOG tool the apply stylesheet option is activated only when selecting a zip file
New Bulk XOG request status: ‘IN QUEUE’ to better inform the user about pending requests
Authentication form enabled from the XSL Transformation tool

Bugs fixed

Issues that caused query parameter filters not to display correctly in the SQL tool

Other changes

Modified query execution logic to optimize the application memory consumption

XOG & Query Bridge Version 1.2.1

New in 1.2.1

XQ has improved interactive user documentation. Now it is much easier to search and browser for the help content: http://kb.itroisolutions.com

Improvements

Bugs fixes

Defects in the Data Loader tool.
Refresh button when running a single XOG request now works.

Other changes

Updated: September 8, 2015

XOG & Query Bridge Version 1.2.0

New Data Loader tool:

The big change with version 1.2.0 is the inclusion of a new Data Loader tool. The tool provides a GUI that allows you to easily map Microsoft Excel/CSV files to XOG (XML) files.

New in 1.2.0

A new simple and easy to use GUI that allows the mapping of Micorsoft Excel/CSV files to XOG (XML) files.
Visualization enhancements to the User Guide.
Bugs fixed in the queries execution with parameters.

Improvements

Bugs fixes

Several NSQL execution defects.

Other changes

XOG & Query Bridge Version 1.1.1

New in 1.1.1

XSLT transformations are stored in bulk XOG requests responses (ZIP files) when ‘Apply stylesheet’ is enabled.
‘CA PPM URL’ and ‘CA PPM username’ are added as new columns in the execution history table.
Enhancements in user guide visualization (It is displayed in a more user-friendly document viewer)
Tab navigation is enabled in the ‘Transform XML with XSLT’ tool
Enhancements in ‘Run existing NSQL’ functionality: Dynamic input filter, more user-friendly controls, bugs fixed in the queries execution with parameters, button to refresh existing queries list.
Ability to switch credentials without interrupting XOGs requests in progress.

Improvements

Allow naming of XQ queries: Query name/id validation before overwriting it.
‘Test Connection’ functionality added.
Added buttons in ‘Transform XML with XSLT’ tool: Copy to clipboard (desktop version only), Download XML or Copy to single xog request box.

Bugs fixes

Several NSQL execution defects.
Short filenames error (3 characters or less) during file upload for bulk requests.

Other changes

XOG & Query Bridge Version 1.1.0

New in 1.1.0

New feature to run existing CA PPM queries.
Fixed the footer link to the XQ Blog.
Enhancements in CA PPM login validation and errors messages.
Attach the results in email and send notification now are checked by default.
Ability to synchronize URLs between XQ web and XQ desktop versions.

Improvements

Bugs fixes

URL alias is mandatory
Characters that cause errors in a URL aliases are prohibited ‘-‘, ‘¬’,’:’,’;’ ‘|’

Other changes

New XQ demo video has been added to the login page.

Version 1.0.9

April 14, 2015

New in 1.0.9

Now you can view and edit the name of the NSQL query.
The name of the NSQL query is set to maximum size of 50 characters and special characters are avoided.
Desktop version is now downloaded as a ZIP file.
Desktop version features new artwork (new icon set).
Footer link updated with our Privacy Policy

Improvements

Bugs fixes

Allow naming of NSQL queries, critical errors found when username is too long

Other changes

Corporate logos redirect to related information.

Download the User Guide: XOG-Query-Bridge-UserGuide-v1.0.9

Version 1.0.8

March 16, 2015

New in 1.0.8

Links have been added to the application icons: IT-ROI logo redirects to IT-ROI corporate website, XQ Bridge logo redirects to the application home.
Downloadable files have been added, a suffix indicating the result of the XOG requests: e.g. T3_I2_U1_F0, where:T = Total, I = Inserted, U = Updated, F = Failed
The log generated upon each bulk request has been enhanced to include the XOG request result statistics: number of total, inserted, updated and failed records. It ONLY applies for requests submitted after the installation of the new version.

Improvements

Rename results zip file based on the XOG request result statistics for enhanced usability.

Bugs fixes

Browser cache settings have been disabled.
Error occurring when trying to download the result of a canceled request.

Other changes

Administration features to facilitate the password reset support activities.

Version 1.0.7

March 02, 2015

New in 1.0.7

Connection blocking for HTTP methods: PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS
Clickjacking Protection for Java EE
Error 403 page added, Forbidden Access.
URL-path of the form /xogbridge/../xogbridge have been forbidden.
10 MB limit for Bulk XOG request has been implemented.
Increased performance in database connections, 35% less.

Improvements

Reduced consumption of database connections, 35% less.

Bugs fixed

N/A

Version 1.0.6

February 02, 2015

New in 1.0.6

Several UI/UX tweaks and improvements.
Improvements on user registration authentication data control.

Improvements

Added IDs for all controls to facilitate regression testing.

Bugs fixed

Minor adjustments in web interface

Other changes

N/A

Version 1.0.5

November 21, 2014

New in 1.0.5

Several UI/UX tweaks and improvements.
Added user account administration feature for support activities.

Improvements

UI/UX

Bugs fixed

N/A

Other changes

N/A

Version 1.0.4

November 21, 2014

New in 1.0.4

Version tracking made visible in the application.
Self-explanatory messages during the request and validation of a serial key.
Included support for requesting serial keys in case of more than 6-segment MAC addresses

Improvements

N/A

Bugs fixed

Issues with virtual adapters or obfuscated MAC addresses of more than 6 segments

Other changes

N/A

Version 1.0.3

October 31, 2014

New in 1.0.3

Submission of single XOG requests to any instance of CA PPM.
Submission of bulk XOG requests (using ZIP files) to any instance of CA PPM.
XML transformation utility based on XSLT

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